M6:2393 — در گداز آید جمادات گران / چون گداز تن به وقت نقل جان

Translation: Heavy, inert objects come to melt, Just as the body melts at the time of the soul's departure.

Meaning: This verse compares the physical transformation of the body at the moment of the soul's departure to the melting of dense, inert matter, highlighting the profound dependency of our physical being on the presence of the soul.

Mowlana consistently endeavors to build bridges from the sensible to the intelligible, and from the physical world to the spiritual realm. This verse is another brilliant example of his allegorical method. Here, he likens the profound transformation that befalls the human body at the moment of the soul's departure to a phenomenon in the world of inert matter: the melting of heavy stones. Yet, this comparison transcends simple imagery; it articulates a deep philosophical and mystical insight.

I believe that 'melting' (گداز) here does not solely refer to physical dissolution. Rather, it signifies the loss of the structure and coherence that the soul bestows upon the body. Heavy, dense objects lose their form under external heat and enter a more fluid state. This metamorphosis is, as it were, a return to the formlessness from which forms arise. In Mowlana's view, the world of multiplicity and forms is but the 'foam of the ocean' – unstable appearances upon the ground of formless truth. When the heavy mass of inert objects sheds its form, it approaches its fluid, shapeless origin.

As for 'the body melts at the time of the soul's departure,' this analogy illuminates the nature of the relationship between soul and body. Our body, in Mowlana's perspective, is derivative, while the soul is primary. It is the soul that grants the body life, motion, and organized form. Just as the breath of the flutist gives the reed a melodious sound, without which it remains a hollow piece of wood, the soul imbues the earthly body with form and meaning. When the soul takes flight from the body, the body 'melts' – not in a literal, visible sense, but in losing its vital organization. The prior coherence vanishes, and the body returns to its elemental, lifeless constituents, as if descending into a kind of physical formlessness.

Mowlana asserts that the soul is not in the body in a spatial sense, but with the body, much as time is intertwined with existence but has no location. Thus, the 'transfer of the soul' (نقل جان) does not signify an exit from an enclosed space, but rather the cessation of this sacred companionship. This severance of companionship pushes the body from actuality to potentiality, from life to stillness, which is poetically and profoundly expressed by the term 'melting.' This is a potent reminder that our corporeal life, in its depths, relies on the presence and activity of the soul, and with its absence, even the heaviest, densest components of the body meet the fate of 'melting.' This metamorphosis is a sign that death is not an end, but a turning point in the journey of existence, a journey where the heavier something is, the more it is prone to melting, and the lighter, the more ready it is for flight.

Key takeaways

• Death is not annihilation but a profound metamorphosis of the physical body.
• The soul is the essence and organizer of the body; corporeal life depends on its presence.
• Mowlana uses physical phenomena like melting as a bridge to understand spiritual truths.
• At the soul's departure, the body transitions from coherence and form to dissolution and a return to its elemental state.