M6:458 — پیش از آنک شب شود جامه بجو / روز را ضایع مکن در گفت و گو

Translation: Before night falls, seek your garment; Do not waste the day in talk and dispute. Meaning: This verse warns us to prepare ourselves spiritually before the end of life, urging us not to squander precious time in idle chatter and fruitless activities.

This couplet, delivered with a decisive and direct tone, is embedded within Rumi's profound allegory of children playing in the street, their heedlessness of time, and the theft of their garments. I believe Rumi offers us here not merely a simple moral admonition, but a profound existential wisdom.

"Before night falls, seek your garment": "Night" here is unmistakably a metaphor for the sunset of life, the arrival of death. The "garment" (jameh), which heedless children forget and a thief carries away, is nothing less than one's spiritual capital, one's dignity, or the very authentic identity of a person. This garment signifies our readiness to return "home" and face the Master of the house. Neglecting it carries a heavy price: destitution and nakedness in the presence of Truth. Rumi, through this, invites us to an awareness: to retrieve and preserve what has been stolen from us, or what we ourselves have abandoned through indifference, before the moment of demise arrives. This self-inquiry, this re-evaluation of what time has taken from us, is the foundation for the final journey. We often become so engrossed in daily games that we forget our true identity; this "garment" is a reminder of that lost identity.

"Do not waste the day in talk and dispute": "Day" here symbolizes the opportunity of life and our limited time in this world. "Talk and dispute" (goft o gu) is not merely about speaking; it is a metaphor for all fruitless engagements, vain quarrels, and interactions that plunder our time and energy, yielding no benefit to our true state. Rumi, through the words of the hunter in the same story who justifies his reclusion, illustrates how "this one takes my hat, that one takes my jacket, this one takes my shoe... or more realistically, this one takes my time, that one takes my money, that one consumes my brain." In their heedlessness, humans, unwittingly and sometimes willingly, become "thieves of each other's garments." A significant portion of our lives is wasted, "half from longing for heart-stealers, half from sorrows of enemies." "Heart-stealers" refers to anything that captivates the heart and occupies us, while "enemies" denotes the sorrows and sufferings arising from worldly attachments and human conflicts. This "talk and dispute" thus encompasses any waste of time and energy in a realm that distracts us from our ultimate purpose.

This couplet, ultimately, is an invitation to a "second-degree view" of life, a deep "mindfulness." One must momentarily step away from daily games and observe their engagements from an external perspective. This act of becoming a "spectator" of oneself is the "gateway out of heedlessness." Most people, as Rumi says, "are children, save for the God-intoxicated," meaning they are helpless in discerning what is good or bad, purposeful or purposeless, in their lives. Only those who attain maturity can exit this heedless game and prepare themselves for the "night." The regret and remorse at the moment of death, when many realize, "If only we had known that life was this... we would never have been so feverish," is the direct consequence of neglecting these two vital pieces of advice: constant readiness and avoidance of wasting life.

Key takeaways

• The "night" of life symbolizes death; one must prepare themselves before it is too late.
• "Garment" (jameh) represents our spiritual capital and authentic identity, often lost or stolen in worldly games.
• "Day" is the limited opportunity of life; "talk and dispute" (goft o gu) symbolizes all fruitless engagements and quarrels.
• Other people, knowingly or unknowingly, plunder our time and energy through these "talks."
• An invitation to a "second-degree view" or "mindfulness" to break free from heedlessness and assess what truly matters.
• Heedlessness is the root of profound regrets and remorse at life's final moment.