M6:1976 — یار کرد او عشق درداندیش را / کلب لیسد خویش ریش خویش را

Translation: He made love, the pain-ponderer, his companion; / Just as a dog licks its own wound. Meaning: This verse portrays the profound solitude and self-sufficiency of the lover, who in the depths of their being finds love's pain to be their intimate companion, seeking solace from no one but themselves.

Here, Rumi himself enters a state of passionate intoxication, speaking to us from the strange condition of lovers. He employs the tale of the treasure-seeking pauper, who was wrapped in his own melancholy, to guide us into the lover's inner world. He conveys that it is the lot of lovers to ponder within themselves; they have no other companion or comforter, and in this realm, the one who shares the pain and the one who listens to it are one and the same.

I call this 'pain-pondering love' (ʿishq-i dard-andīsh); a love that contemplates pain, not pleasure. This pain is desirable, for it originates from the Beloved: 'My pain is from the Beloved, and the cure too / My heart is His sacrifice, and my soul too.' This acceptance and contemplation of pain is a key theme in the Masnavi, illustrating that suffering on the path of love is not a cause for complaint, but an inseparable and even cherished part of the spiritual journey.

The analogy of the dog licking its own wound is highly illustrative. Rumi means that the lover reaches a point of realizing, 'No one scratches my back but my own fingernail.' This signifies that the lover is their own solace. In this realm of the lover's solitude, no one comes to their aid. This is not tanha'i (existential loneliness and abandonment), but rather the exalted solitude and self-sufficiency of the lover. The lover is in private communion with the Beloved, and this experience is so pure and unmediated that it leaves no room for any partner.

As Rumi states elsewhere: 'Rejoice, O Love, great partner-consuming!' Love consumes all partnership; it permits no one else to share its core experience. The loving experience is unique and incomparable, one that each person finds solely within their own soul. In this domain, no dweller, no house-resident, is privy to the lover's secret; not due to the Beloved's absence, but due to the precious and unparalleled nature of Love itself, which tolerates no intermediary or associate.

This 'madness' of the lover is not a common insanity that medicine can cure: 'No one is madder than the lover / Reason is blind and deaf to his intoxication / For this madness is not common / Medicine has no guidance for these decrees.' This ecstatic passion is of a different order; it is the unique madness of those who have transcended the realm of conventional reason and stepped into the domain of love. Here, reason becomes blind and deaf before the intoxication of love, incapable of comprehending it. This is precisely where the Masnavi moves beyond naḥw (grammar) to maḥw (effacement), teaching the listener that to grasp these truths, one must move beyond ordinary logic.

Key takeaways

• The lover perceives the pain of love not as a cause for complaint, but as a cherished and constant companion.
• This verse emphasizes the lover's self-sufficiency; they seek solace for their pain from no one but themselves.
• The concept of 'pain-pondering love' (ʿishq-i dard-andīsh) indicates that true love is not pleasure-seeking, but rather introspective and accepting of suffering.
• The lover's solitude is a 'private communion' with the Beloved, distinct from existential loneliness and abandonment.
• The lover's 'madness' on this path transcends conventional reason, governed by principles beyond medicine or logic.
• Rumi's love is 'partner-consuming,' an experience so unique and profound that it tolerates no sharing.