M6:3215 — چون جدا بینی ز حق این خواجه را / گم کنی هم متن و هم دیباجه را

Translation: If you see this Master (khwāja) as separate from the Truth, You will lose both the text (matn) and its preamble (dībāche).

Meaning: Mawlana asserts that if one perceives a realized seeker as distinct from God, one fails to grasp their true essence and the very origin of their being. Their existence has merged with divine Reality, reflecting God's complete beauty and majesty.

This verse from the Masnavi is not merely a profound mystical insight; it is a foundational statement of Mawlana's metaphysics. When he says, "If you see this Master as separate from the Truth, you will lose both the text and its preamble," he emphatically underlines the reality that in the advanced stages of spiritual journeying, no distance remains between the perfected servant and the Truth. The 'Master' (khwāja) Mawlana speaks of is no ordinary servant; rather, he is a seeker who has become "filled with God." He is, in Mawlana's metaphor, a piece of iron so thoroughly heated in the furnace of divine proximity that it acquires all the attributes of fire. One can no longer consider it merely iron; it burns, it illuminates, it gives warmth. It is here that Mawlana boldly declares, "I am fire; if you have doubt or suspicion, test it, put your hand on me." This servant, having become saturated with divine existence, embodies divine attributes and actions. This is the essence of the sacred tradition (Hadith Qudsi) where God states, "My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works until I shall love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, and his sight with which he sees..." Such a servant has approached the Truth so closely that seeing him is seeing the Creator: "His seeing has become the seeing of the Creator."

Therefore, when we perceive this 'Master' as separate from God, we effectively lose the 'text' (matn), which is his essential existence rooted in the Truth, and the 'preamble' (dībāche), which is the origin and source of this existence and manifestation. Mawlana here teaches us to abandon the metaphysics of separation and embrace the metaphysics of union. This union is not limited to the hereafter (Qiyamat); it occurs right here in this world, where the 'resurrection of man' is established in the presence of the Truth.

Mawlana illustrates this idea with unparalleled parables. One of the most striking is the story of the man named 'Umar in the city of Kashan. A city where all its inhabitants are Shi'a, united and single-minded in their refusal to accept anyone named 'Umar. In such a city, if a man named 'Umar approaches a shopkeeper, not only will that shopkeeper refuse to sell him anything, but he will also direct him to another shop, without the man realizing that all the shops are one in this sense. No one will sell him bread. This parable signifies the unity in the apparent multiplicity of servitude and divine will. In the realm of meaning, all saints and seekers achieve a singular existence in union with the Truth. To see them as separate is to disregard this fundamental unity.

Similarly, Mawlana uses the metaphor of "the fruit grows from this very tray." He states that if you look at a saint of God, it is as if you see an apple on a tray that has grown from the tray itself, not merely placed there by someone. This signifies that the existence of the saint is not an borrowed existence; he possesses an inherent luminous being because God has illuminated him. His actions and words are direct manifestations of the Truth, not mere transmission or mediation. It is here that Mawlana alludes to the overwhelming power (qāhiriyyat) of the Truth and Love: "Love is overwhelming, and I am overpowered by love." God "annihilates existences," meaning He tolerates no independent existence in opposition to His own, dissolving it so that He Himself may manifest. The realized servant, in this overpowering love, sacrifices his independent being and dissolves into the divine existence. Thus, anyone who sees him as separate perceives nothing but their own illusion and distortion, and remains deprived of the ultimate truth, which is unity.

Key takeaways

• The perfected servant becomes so annihilated in God that their existence and attributes are direct manifestations of the Divine.
• To perceive a realized seeker as separate from the Truth leads to misunderstanding their essential reality and the very source of their being.
• This verse invites us to abandon the 'metaphysics of separation' and embrace the 'metaphysics of union,' which is attainable in this very life.
• Saints and divine friends, in their union with the Truth, act as a single unified existence; their multiplicity is but a manifestation of unity.
• The pinnacle of servitude is sacrificing one's independent existence in the overwhelming power of divine love, so that God Himself may shine through.