M6:1192 — گشت چونی‌بخش اندر لامکان / گرد خوانش جمله چونها چون سگان

Translation: He became a giver of 'how-ness' within the placeless realm; around his table, all 'how-nesses' gathered like dogs. Meaning: This verse portrays a being who, having been liberated from the constraints of 'how-ness' (form and quality) and having arrived at a state of placelessness and formlessness, then becomes the very source of all forms and qualities, holding them in subservience.

This verse emerges from the story of Hilal, describing his profound inner transformation after encountering the Prophet. Rumi, speaking through Hilal, articulates the peak of a mystical experience: liberation from chūnī (how-ness, form, quality, limitation) and the attainment of bī-chūnī (how-lessness, formlessness). Chūnī here signifies form, quality, limitation, and any kind of boundary or finitude. Thus, one who awakens from heedlessness breaks free from all that defines their 'how-ness' and 'form'. This liberation leads to the realm of bī-chūnī, which Rumi refers to as the ḥayātistān-i bī-chūnī — a 'living-garden of formlessness,' a domain of utter life, eternity, and boundlessness, where death finds no access. A being reaching this station transcends from a limited, finite vessel into an absolute infinite; no longer contained by any form, no longer bound by any constraint. Having achieved this liberation, such a being then becomes chūnī-bakhsh, a 'bestower of how-ness.' This means that the one who has become formless now serves as the source for the emergence and endowment of 'how-nesses' upon others. In Rumi's powerful imagery, all chūn-hā (forms, qualities, limitations, and existential manifestations) gather 'like dogs' around the 'table' (khwān) of this formless being, receiving their 'bones'—their very existence and definition—from this transcendent source. This carries a deep philosophical and mystical import: one who achieves the station of unity and becomes immersed in formlessness becomes, in turn, the center for the emanation of multiplicities and forms. Such a being has moved beyond their limited self to a station where infinitude resides within them, and from that infinitude, they bestow life upon the world of forms. This trajectory from the finite to the infinite, and then the return to the realm of forms as their origin and bestower, is one of Rumi's most beautiful and precise expressions of the manifestation of Truth in creation.

Key takeaways

• Liberation from 'how-ness' (form and quality) is the fundamental step towards infinitude.
• Attaining 'how-lessness' means transcending spatio-temporal limitations and reaching eternity.
• One who is freed from 'how-ness' and achieves 'how-lessness' becomes a source for the emergence and adornment of all 'how-nesses'.
• Rumi envisions 'how-lessness' not as an absence, but as a 'living-garden' and the absolute fount of life itself.
• This verse illustrates a mystical peak where the transient being attains permanence, the limited becomes boundless, and subsequently plays a role in secondary creation.