M6:1800 — یا مثال یخ که زاید از شتا / شد شتا پنهان و آن یخ پیش ما

Translation: Or the example of ice that is born from winter (shatā) / The winter hid, and that ice is before us. Meaning: This verse illustrates how material phenomena, such as ice, arise from hidden causes and conditions like winter, enduring even after those origins have receded from view.

Mowlana, in this verse, articulates one of his most subtle and profound insights, what I call the doctrine of 'hidden pleasures.' He seeks to demonstrate how every 'part' (juz'), or phenomenon that presents itself to us today, carries behind it a story of 'joy' and 'pleasure' that accompanied its genesis, but which has now become hidden from our view. This is a monumental lesson regarding the latent roots of existence and the veiled causes of every being.

I firmly believe that Mowlana here expresses a precise philosophical and existential observation. He states: 'The part remained, and that joy vanished from memory / Nay, it did not vanish; it became hidden from the five and seven senses.' This implies that the joy, pleasure, and creative cause have not truly ceased to exist, but have merely receded from the field of our five senses and our sevenfold intellect. This serves as a reminder for the 'fable-seekers' (afsāne-juyān)—those who pursue the hidden roots and narratives of every phenomenon.

Most simply and profoundly, Mowlana's example illuminates this point. 'Like summer, from which cotton was born / Cotton remained, and summer faded from memory.' Cotton is the product of summer, but summer itself departs, and cotton endures. Or the example of ice: 'Or the example of ice that is born from winter (shatā) / The winter hid, and that ice is before us.' Ice is born of winter (shatā). Winter passes and hides itself, yet the ice remains, even used in summer. This ice, in essence, is a 'relic of hardship' (yādgār-e soʻūbat) from winter.

Yet, the more crucial point is Mowlana's extension of this pattern to our own bodies and souls. He declares: 'So too, every single part of you, young man / In your body, is a narrator of a bounty.' Every part of your being—every hand, every foot, every eye, and every tooth—is itself a 'narrator' of the bounty that attended its coming into being. These did not arise without purpose, reason, or ultimate aim. Mowlana, with his incomparable acumen, grasped this truth through his unique insight, without being a physiologist or biochemist: that the growth, and even the very birth, of organs is the product of a pleasure that the organism as a whole experiences, contributing to its survival. Without this pleasure and function, that organ would embark on a path of decline. Thus, this ice is not merely a relic of winter's hardship, but also a relic of the pleasurable and sagacious process that brought it into existence, even though that process is now hidden from our sight.

Key takeaways

• Every material phenomenon (juz') is a relic of its hidden causes and processes (pleasure and joy).
• The originating cause or 'joy' does not cease to exist, but rather becomes concealed from our sensory and intellectual perception.
• Every part of existence, including our bodily organs, is a 'narrator' of the bounty inherent in its genesis.
• Mowlana extracts profound metaphysical and existential truths from observing simple natural phenomena.
• There is wisdom and purpose in the emergence of every phenomenon, of which we are often unaware.