M1:202 — مدت شش ماه می‌راندند کام / تا به صحتْ آمد آن دختر تمام

Translation: For six months they enjoyed their desires, Until the maiden fully regained her health.

Meaning: This verse describes how the slave-girl and the goldsmith spent six months in union and pleasure, leading to the maiden's apparent recovery from her illness.

This verse recounts a moment in the story of the king's slave-girl and the goldsmith, which appears to be a climax and a resolution: after her union with the goldsmith, the slave-girl spends six months in pleasure and satisfaction, regaining her health. However, one must pay close attention to the nature of this 'health' and this 'satisfaction.' Mowlana uses this narrative, seemingly with a happy ending, as a bridge to his deeper discussion on the essence of love.

I have repeatedly stated that Mowlana draws a sharp distinction between true loves and what he calls 'colored loves' (eshq-ha-yi rangi). These six months of indulgence are a prime example of a love that was 'for the sake of a color' (az pay-e rangi). This love was not founded on the beloved's essential being or an eternal affection, but on the goldsmith's external beauty—his 'color.' This 'color' could be beauty, wealth, or any transient and changeable quality, which, upon its fading, causes the love itself to lose its vibrancy. This is where Mowlana explicitly states: 'Loves that were for the sake of a color / Were not love; in the end, they were disgrace' (eshq-ha-yi k-az pay-e rangi bud / eshq na-bud aqebat nangi bud). This 'disgrace' (nang) signifies not merely a moral failing, but the ultimate emptiness and futility of such a love.

The slave-girl's health during this period is not true health; it is merely a temporary palliative resulting from the fulfillment of a carnal desire. The underlying illness, namely the soul's attachment to something fleeting and unstable, persists. This 'satisfaction' (kāmrānī) is precisely what the divine physician initially warned against, knowing that this path would not lead to genuine healing. Mowlana consistently emphasizes that lasting healing and enduring love depend solely on attaching one's heart to the 'Living One' (zendeh) who is eternal: 'Choose that living Love who is everlasting, / And who is a cup-bearer of life-enhancing wine' (eshq an zendeh gozin k-u bāqī ast / vaz sharāb-e jān-fazāyat sāqī ast). This 'Living One' is God Himself, the 'Ever-Living who does not die' (Hayy al-Lam Yāmūt), and the wine of His union invigorates the human soul, bestowing eternal life.

Philosophies that abandon humans to a baseless loneliness due to existential homelessness have no place in Mowlana's worldview. In Mowlana's view, separation (jodāyī) exists, but not loneliness (tanhāyī). Even at the peak of separation, the Generous Beloved is present and observing. Therefore, even after experiencing transient and 'colored' loves, the door to returning to the 'Generous One' (Karīm) is never closed. As Mowlana himself says: 'Do not say, 'We have no access to that King,' / With the Generous, tasks are not difficult' (to ma-gu mā-rā ba-d-ān shah bār nist / bā karīmān kār-hā doshvār nist). This verse is the pulsating heart of hope in the Masnavi, demonstrating that divine generosity, transcending mere justice, is always welcoming to humanity, even if one has strayed. The slave-girl's temporary 'health' served as a veil to reveal this truth: that apart from 'living love,' every other love is bound by 'color,' and with the fading of that color, it too becomes dim.

Key takeaways

• Apparent healing and happiness derived from superficial loves are temporary and deceptive, fading with the 'color' of the beloved.
• Mowlana's concept of love is not based on 'color' (beauty, wealth, transient qualities), but on the eternal essence of the Beloved.
• The end of 'colored' loves is 'disgrace' or disappointment, and the cooling of the heart, not perfection or permanence.
• True healing comes not from temporary gratification, but from connection with the 'Living' and eternal Beloved.
• In contrast to existentialist thought, Mowlana never speaks of 'loneliness' (tanhāyī), but of 'separation' (jodāyī) which implies an ever-present Beloved.
• The door of hope and return to the 'Generous One' (God) is always open, even after experiencing fleeting and erroneous loves.