M6:1825 — گر بهر دم نت بهار و خرمیست / هم‌چو چاش گل تنت انبار چیست

Translation: If spring and joy are not for you in every breath, then why is your body, like a heap of flowers, a storehouse of (these) blossoms? Meaning: This is a rhetorical question posed to someone who, in sorrow, denies their present blessings; it asks how one can deny the presence of spring and joy when one's very existence, like a harvest of roses, is a testament to this vibrancy and delight.

In this verse, we encounter a profound rhetorical question posed by Mawlana to those ensnared by sorrow and prone to ingratitude (kufrān-e neʿmat). It addresses the human being who, despite possessing an existence that springs from joy and vitality, chooses to deny it. Mawlana declares, "If spring and joy are not for you in every breath, then why is your body, like a heap of flowers (chāsh-e gol), a storehouse of these blossoms?" The term chāsh-e gol refers to a harvest or pile of roses. The human body itself is a treasure trove of delicacy and freshness, indicative of growth and vivacity. These very limbs bear witness to having felt the gentle breeze of spring in order to blossom and take their form. In essence, your existence is a burgeoning spring, yet you deny it. This point immediately links to the subsequent verse: "The body a harvest of flowers, your thought like rosewater / The rosewater denied the rose, how strange is this!" Here, Mawlana employs the metaphor of the rose and rosewater. Your body is the harvest of flowers, and your thought or spirit is like the rosewater derived from these flowers. The wonder lies in the fact that this rosewater—your very thought and consciousness—denies the rose, its origin and source. It is as if the rosewater has forgotten the presence of the rose, denying its genesis. This precisely illustrates being monker-e hāl (a denier of the present state), where sorrow eclipses one's well-being and prompts the denial of existing blessings and one's intrinsic potential for perfection. Mawlana distinguishes between two types of human character: the "ape-like in their ingratitude" (kapī-khūyān-e kufrān) and the "prophet-like in their gratitude" (nabī-khūyān-e sepās). The kapī (ape or monkey) symbolizes blind imitation and ungratefulness, reminiscent of the Quranic narrative where a group of Jews were transformed into apes (qirada khāsiʾīn) due to their ingratitude and disobedience. These are individuals who, instead of comprehending and appreciating the bounties of existence, deny blessings and stubbornly persist in unbelief. In contrast, the nabī-khūyān are those who embody the prophetic character; they are grateful and thankful, receiving showers of divine grace and benevolence. The path of gratitude is the way of the prophets, while the path of denial is the law of the apes. This verse, like many other passages in the Masnavi, is an invitation to a grateful and positive outlook on existence. Mawlana believes that the world is fundamentally good, and any flaw or crookedness lies not in the cosmos, but in our perception. One who perceives the world as crooked is oneself crooked in vision. Therefore, complaining about a crooked world is, in reality, ingratitude towards a world that is inherently full of spring and joy, even when sorrow may have temporarily arisen.

Key takeaways

• Ingratitude (kufrān-e neʿmat) is the primary impediment to perceiving the inherent spring and joy within oneself.
• Human physical existence (the body) is itself a testament to blessing and joy; to deny it is to deny the very origin of one's being.
• One's thought and spirit should not be like rosewater that denies the rose (its source and origin).
• Mawlana distinguishes between the 'ape-like in their ingratitude' (kapī-khūyān-e kufrān) and the 'prophet-like in their gratitude' (nabī-khūyān-e sepās).
• The rhetorical question of this verse challenges negative and denialist perspectives towards the world and oneself.
• Mawlana believes that crookedness and imperfection often reside in our perception, not in the fundamental architecture of existence.