M1:2448 — چون قضا بگذشت خود را می‌خورد / پرده بدریده گریبان می‌درد

This couplet describes the state of a person after the moment of divine intervention has passed. In the preceding verses, Rumi explains that when God's Decree (qazā) is in motion, it clouds human judgment, making a person unable to distinguish right from wrong ("foot from head"). This beyt shows the painful aftermath.

Once the event is over and the fog of the Decree lifts, clarity returns with brutal force. The man in the story, having acted foolishly while under this divine influence, is now overwhelmed with regret. Rumi uses two powerful Persian idioms to convey this state. First, "he eats himself" (خود را می‌خورد), a visceral image for self-recrimination and being consumed by remorse. Second, "he tears his collar" (گریبان می‌درد), the classic physical gesture of extreme grief, despair, and anguish in Persian culture. He has lost all restraint (پرده بدریده), his shame and composure torn away by the force of his regret.

The verse illustrates a core theme in the Masnavi: the relationship between human free will and divine determinism. The pain of regret is the human experience of realizing one's own powerlessness and poor judgment in the face of a larger, divine plan that was temporarily veiled from sight.