In Book 4, Section 98 of the Masnavi, Jalaluddin Rumi explores the famous Hadith Qudsi, 'I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be known' (Kuntu kanzan makhfiyan). He illustrates this through the metaphor of a house built over a hidden treasure. In this allegory, the 'house' represents the human ego, the physical body, or material attachments, while the 'treasure' symbolizes the divine essence or the soul's realization of God. 

Rumi argues that one must 'destroy the house'—meaning to dismantle the ego and worldly attachments—because it is the only way to unearth the infinite spiritual wealth beneath it. He reassures the spiritual seeker not to fear this destruction, as the divine treasure uncovered is so vast that it can 'build hundreds of thousands of houses,' signifying an eternal and infinitely richer spiritual reality that replaces the fragile, temporary ego.

The Metaphor of the House and the Hidden Treasure in Rumi's Masnavi

In Book Three, Section 170 of the Masnavi, Rumi employs the metaphors of a hot bath (گرمابه) and a tight shoe (کفش تنگ) to illustrate the spiritual constriction of the material world and the physical body, contrasted with the spiritual liberation of sleep.

### The Metaphor of the Hot Bath
Although a bathhouse may be physically large and spacious, if it is excessively heated and suffocating, the person inside feels oppressed and constricted. This shows that physical expansiveness is meaningless if the internal atmosphere is spiritually suffocating.

### The Metaphor of the Tight Shoe
If a person walks through a vast, open desert wearing extremely tight shoes, the entire desert feels like a cramped prison. The outward vastness cannot alleviate the immediate confinement and pain caused by the tight footwear.

### Sleep as Deliverance
Rumi explains that sleep (خواب) represents the temporary removal of these tight shoes. During sleep, the soul is temporarily liberated from the physical ...

The Metaphor of the Outwardly Spacious but Inwardly Narrow World in the Masnavi

In Book Three, Section 169 of the Masnavi, Rumi explores the wisdom behind physical mortality by comparing the human body to a confining house or a dark pit. He illustrates that as the soul spiritually matures and recognizes its true royal nature, the narrow physical form is no longer an adequate dwelling. Thus, the ruin of the body through death is not a tragic destruction, but the necessary dismantling of a restrictive prison, allowing the soul to inherit the expansive 'palace' of the spiritual realm. This metaphor reframes mortality as an essential spatial expansion and liberation for the awakened soul.

Google

## Original content
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من چو آدم بودم اول حبس کرب 
پر شد اکنون نسل جانم شرق و غرب
من گدا بودم درین خانه چو چاه 
شاه گشتم قصر باید بهر شاه
قصرها خود مر شهان را مانسست 
مرده را خانه و مکان گوری بسست
انبیا را تنگ آمد این جهان 
چون شهان رفتند اندر لامکان
مردگان را این جهان بنمود فر 
ظاهرش زفت و به معنی تنگ بر
گر نبودی تنگ این افغان ز چیست 
چون دو تا شد هر که در وی بیش زیست
در زمان خواب چون آزاد شد 
زان مکان بنگر که جان چون شاد شد
ظالم از ظلم طبیعت باز رست 
مرد زندانی ز فکر حبس جست
این زمین و آسمان بس فراخ 
سخت تنگ آمد به هنگام مناخ
جسم بند آمد فراخ وسخت تنگ 
خندهٔ او گریه فخرش جمله ننگ

</div>

## English translation
I was like Adam at first, imprisoned in anguish,
Now the progeny of my soul has filled East and West.

I was a beggar in this house, like a well,
I have become a king — a palace is needed for a king.

Palaces are indeed fitting for kings,
For the dead, a house and dwelling — a grave suffices.

This world became narrow for the prophets,
As kings they went into the Placeless (lā-makān).

This world displayed its splendor to the dead,
Outwardly vast, yet in meaning confining.

If it were not narrow, whence this lamentation?
How bent double is everyone who lived too long within it.

In the time of sleep, when the soul becomes free,
Look from that vantage how the soul rejoiced.

The oppressor found relief from nature's tyranny,
The imprisoned man escaped the thought of captivity.

This earth and sky, so vast,
Became very narrow at the time of halting (manākh).

The body became a bond — spacious yet utterly tight,
Its laughter is weeping, its pride entirely shame.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۶۹ - حکمت ویران شدن تن به مرگ / Book Three - Section 169 - The Wisdom of the Ruin of the Body Through Death

Root URL: https://ganjoor.net/
Source URL: https://ganjoor.net/

This Reference node represents the source used by the Literature-to-1Cademy migration agent.

Ganjoor

## Original content
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غفلت از تن بود چون تن روح شد 
بیند او اسرار را بی هیچ بد
چون زمین برخاست از جو فلک 
نه شب و نه سایه باشد نه دلک
هر کجا سایه‌ست و شب یا سایگه 
از زمین باشد نه از افلاک و مه
دود پیوسته هم از هیزم بود 
نه ز آتشهای مستنجم بود
وهم افتد در خطا و در غلط 
عقل باشد در اصابتها فقط
هر گرانی و کسل خود از تنست 
جان ز خفت جمله در پریدنست
روی سرخ از غلبه خونها بود 
روی زرد از جنبش صفرا بود
رو سپید از قوت بلغم بود 
باشد از سودا که رو ادهم بود
در حقیقت خالق آثار اوست 
لیک جز علت نبیند اهل پوست
مغز کو از پوستها آواره نیست 
از طبیب و علت او را چاره نیست
چون دوم بار آدمی‌زاده بزاد 
پای خود بر فرق علتها نهاد
علت اولی نباشد دین او 
علت جزوی ندارد کین او
می‌پرد چون آفتاب اندر افق 
با عروس صدق و صورت چون تتق
بلک بیرون از افق وز چرخها 
بی مکان باشد چو ارواح و نهی
بل عقول ماست سایه‌های او 
می‌فتد چون سایه‌ها در پای او
مجتهد هر گه که باشد نص‌شناس 
اندر آن صورت نیندیشد قیاس
چون نیابد نص اندر صورتی 
از قیاس آنجا نماید عبرتی

</div>

## English translation
Heedlessness comes from the body; when the body becomes spirit,
It sees the mysteries without any impediment.

When earth rises from the atmosphere of the celestial sphere,
There is neither night nor shadow nor murk.

Wherever there is shadow, night, or shaded spot,
It is from the earth, not from the heavens and the moon.

Smoke, likewise, is always from the firewood,
Not from the fires of the stars.

Illusion falls into error and mistake;
Reason exists only in right judgments.

All heaviness and sluggishness are from the body;
The soul, by its lightness, is wholly in flight.

A red face comes from the dominance of blood,
A yellow face from the stirring of yellow bile.

A white face comes from the power of phlegm,
And from black bile the face is dark.

In truth, He is the Creator of these effects;
But the people of the skin see nothing but cause.

The kernel that is not free from husks
Has no remedy save through physician and cause.

When the son of Adam is born a second time,
He places his foot upon the crown of causes.

The First Cause is not his religion;
Partial cause holds no enmity for him.

He flies like the sun on the horizon,
With the bride of truth, his form like a tataq.

But beyond the horizon and the celestial spheres,
He is without place, like spirits and intellects (nuha).

Nay, our intellects are but his shadows;
They fall, like shadows, at his feet.

The mujtahid, whenever he is a recognizer of the sacred text (nass),
Does not contemplate analogy (qiyas) in that case.

When he finds no sacred text for a given case,
He draws a lesson from analogy there.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۷۱ - بیان آنک هرچه غفلت و غم و کاهلی و تاریکیست همه از تنست کی ارضی است و سفلی / Book Three — Section 171 — Explanation That All Heedlessness, Grief, Sloth, and Darkness Are from the Body, Which Is of Earth and Below

## Original content
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آنچنانک گفت جالینوس راد 
از هوای این جهان و از مراد
راضیم کز من بماند نیم جان 
که ز کون استری بینم جهان
گربه می‌بیند بگرد خود قطار 
مرغش آیس گشته بودست از مطار
یا عدم دیدست غیر این جهان 
در عدم نادیده او حشری نهان
چون جنین کش می‌کشد بیرون کرم 
می‌گریزد او سپس سوی شکم
لطف رویش سوی مصدر می‌کند 
او مقر در پشت مادر می‌کند
که اگر بیرون فتم زین شهر و کام 
ای عجب بینم بدیده این مقام
یا دری بودی در آن شهر وخم 
که نظاره کردمی اندر رحم
یا چو چشمهٔ سوزنی راهم بدی 
که ز بیرونم رحم دیده شدی
آن جنین هم غافلست از عالمی 
همچو جالینوس او نامحرمی
اونداند کن رطوباتی که هست 
آن مدد از عالم بیرونیست
آنچنانک چار عنصر در جهان 
صد مدد آرد ز شهر لامکان
آب و دانه در قفس گر یافتست 
آن ز باغ و عرصه‌ای درتافتست
جانهای انبیا بینند باغ 
زین قفس در وقت نقلان و فراغ
پس ز جالینوس و عالم فارغند 
همچو ماه اندر فلکها بازغند
ور ز جالینوس این گفت افتراست 
پس جوابم بهر جالینوس نیست
این جواب آنکس آمد کین بگفت 
که نبودستش دل پر نور جفت
مرغ جانش موش شد سوراخ‌جو 
چون شنید از گربگان او عرجوا
زان سبب جانش وطن دید و قرار 
اندرین سوراخ دنیا موش‌وار
هم درین سوراخ بنایی گرفت 
درخور سوراخ دانایی گرفت
پیشه‌هایی که مرورا در مزید 
کاندرین سوراخ کار آید گزید
زانک دل بر کند از بیرون شدن 
بسته شد راه رهیدن از بدن
عنکبوت ار طبع عنقا داشتی 
از لعابی خیمه کی افراشتی
گربه کرده چنگ خود اندر قفس 
نام چنگش درد و سرسام و مغص
گربه مرگست و مرض چنگال او 
می‌زند بر مرغ و پر و بال او
گوشه گوشه می‌جهد سوی دوا 
مرگ چون قاضیست و رنجوری گوا
چون پیادهٔ قاضی آمد این گواه 
که همی‌خواند ترا تا حکم گاه
مهلتی می‌خواهی از وی در گریز 
گر پذیرد شد و گرنه گفت خیز
جستن مهلت دوا و چاره‌ها 
که زنی بر خرقهٔ تن پاره‌ها
عاقبت آید صباحی خشم‌وار 
چند باشد مهلت آخر شرم دار
عذر خود از شه بخواه ای پرحسد 
پیش از آنک آنچنان روزی رسد
وانک در ظلمت براند بارگی 
برکند زان نور دل یکبارگی
می‌گریزد از گوا و مقصدش 
کان گوا سوی قضا می‌خواندش

</div>

## English translation
Just as Galen the generous spoke
Of his love for this world and his desire:
"I am content that half a soul remain in me,
That I might see the world from a mule's hindquarters."
He sees a cat circling all around him,
His bird-soul had despaired of flight.
Or he has seen nothing beyond this world but non-existence;
In that non-existence, unseen by him, a resurrection lies hidden.
Like a fetus whom the worm draws outward,
He flees back again toward the belly.
Grace turns his face toward the Origin,
Yet he makes his settled home upon the mother's back,
Saying: "If I fall out from this city and this desire,
How wonderful — I would behold this place with open eyes!
Or if there were a door in that city and its curve,
That I might gaze into the womb;
Or if a needle's-eye of a path were given me,
That from outside, the womb might be seen by me."
That fetus too is heedless of a world;
Like Galen, he is a stranger, uninitiated.
He does not know that the moistures present within —
That nourishment comes from the outer world,
Just as the four elements in this world
Bring a hundred sustaining gifts from the City of No-place (lā-makān).
If water and grain are found within the cage,
That has shone in from a garden and an open field.
The souls of the prophets behold that garden
From this cage, at the time of departure and release.
They are therefore free of Galen and his world;
Like the moon, they shine forth in the celestial spheres.
And if what was attributed to Galen is a false report,
Then my reply is not directed at Galen.
This reply comes for the one who did speak thus,
Whose heart lacked a light-filled companion.
The bird of his soul became a mouse, seeking holes,
When from the cats he heard: "Go back!"
For that reason his soul found homeland and rest
In this hole of the world, mouse-like.
In this very hole he took up habitation;
Knowledge fitting for a hole he acquired.
Crafts and trades that would augment him —
He chose those that serve inside this hole.
Since he cut his heart off from going out,
The way of release from the body was sealed.
If the spider had the nature of the 'Anqā,
Would it ever raise a tent from its own drool?
The cat has sunk its claws into the cage;
The name of those claws: pain, brain-fever, and colic.
Death is the cat and illness its claw,
It strikes at the bird and at its wings and feathers.
From corner to corner it leaps toward medicine;
Death is like a judge and illness the witness.
For this witness has come as the judge's bailiff,
Who is summoning you to the place of judgment.
You beg him for a respite, trying to flee;
If he accepts, well; if not, he says: "Arise!"
Seeking respite through medicines and remedies
Is patching tears upon the cloak of the body.
In the end a wrathful morning comes —
How long can the respite last? Have shame at last!
Beg pardon from the King, O you full of envy,
Before such a day arrives.
And one who drives his mount through darkness
Has utterly stripped the heart's light from it all at once.
He flees from the witness — yet his very destination
Is where that witness is calling him: toward the Divine Decree (qaḍā).

دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۹۳ - عشق جالینوس برین حیات دنیا بود کی هنر او همینجا بکار می‌آید هنری نورزیده است کی در آن بازار بکار آید آنجا خود را به عوام یکسان می‌بیند / Book Three - Section 193 - Galen's Love Was for the Life of This World Because His Skill Is of Use Only Here; He Has Not Practiced a Skill That Would Be of Use in That Market; There He Sees Himself as Equal to the Common People

## Original content
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همچو گرمابه که تفسیده بود 
تنگ آیی جانت پخسیده شود
گرچه گرمابه عریضست و طویل 
زان تبش تنگ آیدت جان و کلیل
تا برون نایی بنگشاید دلت 
پس چه سود آمد فراخی منزلت
یا که کفش تنگ پوشی ای غوی 
در بیابان فراخی می‌روی
آن فراخی بیابان تنگ گشت 
بر تو زندان آمد آن صحرا و دشت
هر که دید او مر ترا از دور گفت 
کو در آن صحرا چو لاله تر شکفت
او نداند که تو همچون ظالمان 
از برون در گلشنی جان در فغان
خواب تو آن کفش بیرون کردنست 
که زمانی جانت آزاد از تنست
اولیا را خواب ملکست ای فلان 
همچو آن اصحاب کهف اندر جهان
خواب می‌بینند و آنجا خواب نه 
در عدم در می‌روند و باب نه
خانهٔ تنگ و درون جان چنگ‌لوک 
کرد ویران تا کند قصر ملوک
چنگ‌لوکم چون جنین اندر رحم 
نه‌مهه گشتم شد این نقلان مهم
گر نباشد درد زه بر مادرم 
من درین زندان میان آذرم
مادر طبعم ز درد مرگ خویش 
می‌کند ره تا رهد بره ز میش
تا چرد آن بره در صحرای سبز 
هین رحم بگشا که گشت این بره گبز
درد زه گر رنج آبستان بود 
بر جنین اشکستن زندان بود
حامله گریان ز زه کاین المناص 
و آن جنین خندان که پیش آمد خلاص
هرچه زیر چرخ هستند امهات 
از جماد و از بهیمه وز نبات
هر یکی از درد غیری غافل اند 
جز کسانی که نبیه و کامل‌اند
آنچ کوسه داند از خانهٔ کسان 
بلمه از خانه خودش کی داند آن
آنچ صاحب‌دل بداند حال تو 
تو ز حال خود ندانی ای عمو

</div>

## English translation
Like a bathhouse that is overheated—
you grow oppressed, your soul is crushed and withered.

Though the bathhouse is wide and long,
from that heat your soul and tongue grow constricted.

Until you come out, your heart will not open—
so what good, then, was the spaciousness of your dwelling?

Or if you wear a tight shoe, O heedless one,
and walk in a vast wilderness—

that spaciousness of the wilderness becomes constriction;
that plain and open field become a prison for you.

Whoever saw you from afar said:
"He bloomed fresh in that meadow like a tulip!"

He does not know that you, like the wrongdoers,
are outwardly in a rose garden, yet your soul cries out in anguish.

Your sleep is the removing of that tight shoe—
for a time your soul is free from the body.

For the saints (awliyā'), sleep is a kingdom, O such a one,
like the People of the Cave (Aṣḥāb-i Kahf) in the world.

They see sleep, yet there is no sleep in that place;
they enter into non-existence, yet there is no gate.

A narrow house, and within it the soul like a chang-lūk—
it is demolished so that a royal palace may be built.

I am chang-lūk, like a fetus in the womb;
I have become nine months old — this migration has grown momentous.

If there is no birth-pain upon my mother,
I remain in this prison amid the fire.

My mother, Nature (ṭab'), through the pain of her own dying,
makes a way so that the lamb is freed from the ewe.

So that the lamb may graze in the green meadow—
heed! Open the womb, for this lamb has grown fat and ready.

Birth-pain, though it is the suffering of the pregnant one,
is, for the fetus, the breaking open of a prison.

The pregnant one weeping from birth-pain: "There is no escape (al-manāṣ)!"
And the fetus laughing: "Liberation has arrived!"

All that are mothers (ummahāt) beneath the celestial wheel—
from mineral to beast to plant—

each is heedless of another's pain,
except those who are awake (nabīh) and perfected (kāmil).

What the worldly-wise one knows of others' houses—
will the dullard ever know the same of his own?

What the person of heart (ṣāḥib-dil) knows of your state,
you yourself know nothing of your own state, O uncle.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۷۰ - تشبیه دنیا کی بظاهر فراخست و بمعنی تنگ و تشبیه خواب کی خلاص است ازین تنگی / Book Three - Section 170 - The Comparison of the World Which Is Outwardly Spacious and Inwardly Narrow, and the Comparison of Sleep Which Is Deliverance from This Narrowness

The Metaphor of Death as the Ruin of a Confining House in the Masnavi

## Original content
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گفت او ای ناصحان من بی ندم 
از جهان زندگی سیر آمدم
منبلی‌ام زخم جو و زخم‌خواه 
عافیت کم جوی از منبل براه
منبلی نی کو بود خود برگ‌جو 
منبلی‌ام لاابالی مرگ‌جو
منبلی نی کو به کف پول آورد 
منبلی چستی کزین پل بگذرد
آن نه کو بر هر دکانی بر زند 
بل جهد از کون و کانی بر زند
مرگ شیرین گشت و نقلم زین سرا 
چون قفس هشتن پریدن مرغ را
آن قفس که هست عین باغ در 
مرغ می‌بیند گلستان و شجر
جوق مرغان از برون گرد قفس 
خوش همی‌خوانند ز آزادی قصص
مرغ را اندر قفس زان سبزه‌زار 
نه خورش ماندست و نه صبر و قرار
سر ز هر سوراخ بیرون می‌کند 
تا بود کین بند از پا برکند
چون دل و جانش چنین بیرون بود 
آن قفس را در گشایی چون بود
نه چنان مرغ قفس در اندهان 
گرد بر گردش به حلقه گربگان
کی بود او را درین خوف و حزن 
آرزوی از قفس بیرون شدن
او همی‌خواهد کزین ناخوش حصص 
صد قفس باشد بگرد این قفس

</div>

## English translation
He said: "O counselors, I am without remorse,
I have grown weary of the world of living.

I am a munbal — wound-seeking and wound-desiring;
Do not seek ease from a munbal on the road.

Not the munbal who gathers provisions for himself —
I am a munbal, a lā-ubālī, seeking death.

Not the munbal who brings coins to hand —
What an agile munbal, one who crosses this bridge!

Not one who knocks at every shop,
But one who leaps and strikes out from being and place.

Death has grown sweet, and my departure from this abode,
Like a bird's abandoning its cage to fly free.

That cage whose very door opens onto the garden:
The bird sees the rose garden and the trees.

A flock of birds from outside gathers around the cage,
Sweetly singing tales of freedom.

For the bird in the cage, because of that green meadow,
Neither sustenance remains, nor patience, nor rest.

It thrusts its head out of every hole,
Hoping somehow to tear this fetter from its foot.

Since its heart and soul are already outside like this,
What would it be if the door of that cage were opened?

Not so the caged bird in sorrow,
With cats circling around it in a ring —

How could it have, in this fear and grief,
Any desire to leave the cage?

It wishes that from these unpleasant portions,
A hundred cages would surround this cage."

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