In Book Five of Rumi's Masnavi, the story of the lover who meticulously lists his sacrifices and services to his beloved serves as an allegory for the spiritual seeker's remaining egoism and the absolute necessity of self-annihilation (fana) on the mystical path. Although the lover recounts extreme acts of devotion, the beloved counters that such an enumeration itself is a manifestation of self-awareness and duality. True spiritual love requires the seeker to transcend all consciousness of their own actions, merits, and identity. The beloved's response emphasizes that counting one's services is a form of self-assertion; the ultimate spiritual devotion is not the accumulation of external deeds, but the complete dissolution of the self in the presence of the Divine.