M6:1625 — کی بگنجد در مضیق چند و چون / عقل کل آنجاست از لا یعلمون

Translation: How could it fit in the narrow confines of quantity and quality? Universal Reason (ʿaql-i kull) is there, from the company of those who do not know (lā yaʿlamūn). Meaning: This verse asserts that Universal Reason, a divine truth, transcends the limitations of space, time, quantity, and quality, and thus cannot be grasped or described by our finite understanding, which is bound by such categories.

This couplet stands as one of the most challenging and profound passages in the Masnavi, and I daresay, even for Mawlana himself, it must have been arduous to articulate. As many commentators and even Mawlana himself imply in certain sections, the sixth book bears the marks of the poet's struggle; a language that sometimes fails to serve his complex meanings, pushing Mawlana into what I call takalluf (strained effort). I concede that here, it is difficult to untangle the knots of these words, especially as he seeks to express a truth that, in its very essence, cannot be contained within our categories of chand-o-chun (quantity and quality).

Mawlana, in these verses, speaks of the bahr-i wujūd (sea of existence); a boundless ocean from which even its "least plaything" (kamtarīn luʿbat), meaning the human soul, is itself free from the narrow confines of chand-o-chun. How can one ask the soul, "Where are you?" or the intellect, "How are you?" These possess no physical space or location, no taste, no color. Anyone who attempts to find the spirit under the surgeon's knife, à la a "Claude Bernard," will, of course, find nothing and will ultimately deny its existence. This is a gross error in understanding the nature of these realities. The soul and intellect are not of a "corporeal" or "natural" kind that falls under the laws of time, space, quantity, and quality. As we read in Mawlana's ghazals: "Who asks the intellect, 'Where are you?'" This is a meaningless question.

Mawlana then states: "So how could such a sea, in every drop of which / Intellect and soul emerged, more intrinsic than the body / How could it fit in the narrow confines of quantity and quality?" That is to say, how can the sea from which the soul and intellect, themselves free from the bonds of body and materiality, have arisen, possibly be contained within our restricted categories of chand-o-chun? This bahr-i wujūd is the source of all truths.

He immediately adds: "Universal Reason (ʿaql-i kull) is there, from the company of those who do not know (lā yaʿlamūn)." Here, ʿaql-i kull is not merely the partial, human intellect, but the all-encompassing, divine intellect that is the origin of all other intellects and perceptions. This Universal Reason itself lies beyond our comprehension and grasp; it is among the lā yaʿlamūn. This means we cannot "know" it in the full sense of the word. This lā yaʿlamūn is not a matter of "what cannot be fully grasped should not be entirely abandoned"; rather, lā yaʿlamūn is due to its truth being so sublime that our partial intellect lacks the capacity to encompass it. It is precisely like trying to contain an infinite ocean within a small jar.

Mawlana, in the subsequent dialogue between intellect and body, emphasizes that the transcendent world is one of objectivity and clarity, whereas this world is a "realm of bewilderment" (ḥayrat-sarā) and inversion. In this ḥayrat-sarā, "the worthy are more audacious than the unworthy" (sazā gustākh-tar az nāsazā), meaning that those who are undeserving appear to be dominant and prevalent. But that "sea of return" (bahr-i maʿād), that source of realities, is not like this; there, everything is in its proper place, and truths are manifest, free from the deception of our eyes. Therefore, to speak of Universal Reason is to speak of a realm entirely removed from the rules of this material world and its chand-o-chun, and for this very reason, language falters in describing it.

Key takeaways

• The essence of "Universal Reason" (ʿaql-i kull) and the "soul" transcends the limitations of chand-o-chun (time, space, quantity, quality) and material perception.
• Attempts to grasp transcendent realities using material criteria (e.g., a surgeon's knife like Claude Bernard's) are futile.
• The ultimate source of being is the "sea of existence" (bahr-i wujūd), from which even the soul and intellect originate, and this sea itself cannot be contained by human concepts.
• "Universal Reason" resides in the realm of lā yaʿlamūn (that which is not known), indicating it's beyond our capacity for complete epistemological comprehension.
• In Book Six, Mawlana grapples with the limitations of language to express profound meanings, a testament to the subject's grandeur and possibly the effects of age.
• Unlike this "realm of bewilderment" (ḥayrat-sarā) where matters appear inverted, the realm of "Universal Reason" is one of absolute clarity and objectivity.