In Book Four, Section 123 of the Masnavi, Rumi uses the story of an ascetic who remains joyful during a devastating famine to illustrate the high spiritual states of contentment (rida) and absolute trust in God (tawakkul). While the general populace is consumed by the suffering and starvation of the physical world, the ascetic explains that he carries 'no burden' of worldly attachment. To his enlightened vision, the famine is part of the divine order, and his inner spiritual state transforms the apparent catastrophe into a vision of paradise, demonstrating how detachment from the material world liberates the soul from earthly anxieties.