M6:2018 — از خدا خواه ای فقیر این دم پناه / از من غرقه شده یاری مخواه

Translation: O poor one, seek refuge from God in this moment; do not ask for help from me, who am drowned. Meaning: At the height of his ecstatic spiritual intoxication and existential poverty, Mowlana directs the seeker away from himself and directly to God, stating that he himself is utterly absorbed ("drowned") in the divine sea of love and therefore incapable of worldly assistance.

I maintain that this verse is one of the most eloquent manifestations of Mowlana's station of annihilation (fanā) and self-forgetfulness (bi-khudi). Indeed, Mowlana himself explicitly states that in such a state, he is oblivious to worldly attachments, and even to the memory of his own self. The address to the 'poor one' (faqīr) here is an invitation to understand a profound truth in the mystical path: when the gnostic reaches a stage of being drowned in the sea of absolute existence, no independent being or separate agency for worldly assistance remains in him. He has transcended his self and become annihilated in the 'He'.

The phrase 'I, who am drowned' (man-i gharqe shode) alludes to a station Mowlana frequently speaks of in his Masnavi and Divan-e Shams; a station where one perceives oneself not as a skilled swimmer but as one submerged in the ocean of divine knowledge and love. He is neither a rescuer nor a possessor of material treasures; all he has belongs to the ocean that has engulfed him. In truth, this 'I' is no longer the arrogant and self-centered 'I' that seeks worldly prestige and reputation, as he goes on to say: 'For I have no concern for attribution / I remember not myself or my own roots' (M6:2019).

This negation of self and complete referral to God is rooted in Mowlana's monotheistic vision. In the state of ecstatic and gnostic self-forgetfulness, the seeker becomes so absorbed in divinity that he denies any claim of agency or even the capacity for rendering assistance on his own part. This is precisely the state of frenzied intoxication ('kar-o-far-e mastāne') that Mowlana earlier hints at in this very Book Six. The wine from which he is intoxicated washes away all arrogance and selfishness, transforming the person into a hollow 'reed' (ney) that can only echo the sound of its player, rather than being a source for fulfilling needs. This 'being a reed' is not a weakness, but the pinnacle of perfection where the seeker is freed from the bondage of 'being' to become solely a channel for the 'manifestation' of the Truth.

In this verse, Mowlana, acting as a divine guide yet in the guise of 'one who is drowned,' teaches the seeker that the path to true salvation is to grasp the divine rope, not to seek refuge in a creature who is himself entirely absorbed in the presence of his Creator. This is not advice born of incapacity, but a referral born of the absolute capacity of love, of which Mowlana himself is a part.

Key takeaways

• At the height of spiritual intoxication and existential poverty, the gnostic does not claim agency or worldly power to help; he merely directs the seeker to the primary source.
• The station of 'being drowned' signifies the complete annihilation of the seeker in the ocean of divine love and knowledge, where the individual self dissolves.
• 'Do not ask for help from me' is a negation of self-will and any egoistic claims on the path of perfection; Mowlana himself is liberated from worldly prestige.
• Gnostic intoxication leads to the dissolution of arrogance and self-centeredness, bringing one to a state of nothingness and purity.
• This verse emphasizes that true refuge must be sought directly from God, not from a creature who is himself absorbed in God.