M6:2027 — رو به دریایی که ماهی‌زاده‌ای / هم‌چو خس در ریش چون افتاده‌ای

Translation: Turn towards the Sea, from which you are born a fish; How have you fallen like a straw caught in a beard?

Meaning: Mowlana urges humanity to recognize its oceanic, divine origin and cease clinging to trivial worldly attachments, which are likened to an insignificant straw caught in a beard. It is a call to shed the ephemeral and return to one's boundless essence.

I invite the listener of the Masnavi to a journey, a journey into the depths of their own being. In this verse, Mowlana, addressing all of us, suddenly enters a profound realm of gnosis and, with a resolute and passionate tone, calls us to self-knowledge. He tells us that you are not straw, you are not chaff; far be it from you to sell yourselves so cheaply and attach yourselves to trifles.

Behold! What a wondrous analogy he employs: "khus na'i, door az to rashk-e gowhari" — meaning, you are not merely a jewel, but other jewels envy you. Your essence, your truth, is so valuable and original that no jewel can compare. Why, then? Why have you, like a straw, a blade of grass, an insignificant object, clung to a beard? What does this "beard" symbolize? Undoubtedly, it is an allusion to these myriad worldly attachments, these acts of self-depreciation, this confinement of oneself within trivial bonds that prevent us from returning to our origin.

Here, Mowlana explicitly asks us to "turn towards the Sea" from which we are born. What a sublime ultimate destination! When the name of the Sea is uttered, Mowlana has a grand purpose in mind. In the Masnavi, and indeed in the Divan of Shams, "bahr" or "Sea" symbolizes the entirety of existence. It is the Sea that, in the best possible way, offers us the analogy of absolute, boundless Divine Being. All of existence, for Mowlana, is this tumultuous Sea of knowledge. Prophets and mystics, in Mowlana's view, are the "fish of this Sea"; pure fish that have no attachments. As he himself says: "Māhiyān rā naqd shod az ayn-e āb / nān o āb o jāme o dāru o khāb" (For fish, water itself is cash / Bread, water, clothes, medicine, and sleep). For these fish, the sea water is everything. Their water is God, their bread is God, their breath is God, their aspiration is God. Everything about them is God. They are perpetually awake; "fish do not sleep," and this wakefulness is one of the primary principles in mysticism.

In contrast, there are those Mowlana calls the "earth-bound ones" (khākiyān). These are individuals who have not yet stepped into the Sea; they are captive to the world of earth, the material world, and lower attachments. This verse is for these very earth-bound ones who seem to have forgotten that their nature is of the Sea and of fish, not of straw and chaff. Mowlana, with this fiery address, seeks to awaken us from this heedlessness, to liberate us from this "self-depreciation," and to show us the way back to that boundless Sea of existence. He says, if your goal is the Sea, pass through the stream and the river and rush towards the Sea; do not get entangled in these trivialities and worthless attachments.

Key takeaways

• Humanity's true essence originates from the boundless Divine Sea, and one should not devalue oneself.
• Worldly attachments are insignificant like chaff, holding the soul away from its true origin.
• Mowlana's invitation to the 'Sea' is a call to recognize the absolute essence of existence and return to the soul's true home.
• Mystics and prophets are like 'fish of the Sea,' detached, perpetually awake, and immersed in the truth of being.
• Self-depreciation and clinging to trivialities hinder the soul from reaching its true, boundless destination.