In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the narrative of a lover insisting on returning to Bukhara despite severe threats illustrates the overpowering and unseen nature of spiritual love. A counselor warns the man of the physical dangers awaiting him, comparing his enemies to 'famine-dogs' and the man to a 'sack of flour,' arguing that returning to such a prison is sheer madness. However, Rumi reveals that the man is already a secret captive of a higher authority. He introduces the metaphor of the 'hidden warden' or unseen bailiff, explaining that the worldly counselor is blind to the invisible chain of Love dragging the man toward apparent ruin. This allegory highlights the profound contrast between rational self-preservation and the irresistible pull of divine love, demonstrating that those who seem to willingly walk into worldly loss are actually compelled by an unseen spiritual master.

The Metaphor of the Hidden Warden of Love in the Masnavi

In Book 3, Section 71 of the Masnavi, Rumi explores the concept of divine decree (*qada*) as an invisible snare. He uses the metaphor of a once-wealthy nobleman who has lost everything to his base desires and bad habits, and now begs an ascetic for release from his unseen chains. Through this narrative, Rumi illustrates that the most powerful prisons are not constructed of iron nor guarded by physical wardens. Instead, they are forged by one's own inner compulsions, destructive desires, and the overarching, invisible will of God.

Google

## Original content
<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0.5rem;">

بینی اندر دلق مهتر زاده‌ای 
سر برهنه در بلا افتاده‌ای
در هوای نابکاری سوخته 
اقمشه و املاک خود بفروخته
خان و مان رفته شده بدنام و خوار 
کام دشمن می‌رود ادبیروار
زاهدی بیند بگوید ای کیا 
همتی می‌دار از بهر خدا
کاندرین ادبار زشت افتاده‌ام 
مال و زر و نعمت از کف داده‌ام
همتی تا بوک من زین وا رهم 
زین گل تیره بود که بر جهم
این دعا می‌خواهد او از عام و خاص 
کالخلاص و الخلاص و الخلاص
دست باز و پای باز و بند نی 
نه موکل بر سرش نه آهنی
از کدامین بند می‌جویی خلاص 
وز کدامین حبس می‌جویی مناص
بند تقدیر و قضای مختفی 
کی نبیند آن به جز جان صفی
گرچه پیدا نیست آن در مکمنست 
بتر از زندان و بند آهنست
زانک آهنگر مر آن را بشکند 
حفره گر هم خشت زندان بر کند
ای عجب این بند پنهان گران 
عاجز از تکسیر آن آهنگران
دیدن آن بند احمد را رسد 
بر گلوی بسته حبل من مسد
دید بر پشت عیال بولهب 
تنگ هیزم گفت حمالهٔ حطب
حبل و هیزم را جز او چشمی ندید 
که پدید آید برو هر ناپدید
باقیانش جمله تاویلی کنند 
کین ز بیهوشیست و ایشان هوشمند
لیک از تاثیر آن پشتش دوتو 
گشته و نالان شده او پیش تو
که دعایی همتی تا وا رهم 
تا ازین بند نهان بیرون جهم
آنک بیند این علامتها پدید 
چون نداند او شقی را از سعید
داند و پوشد بامر ذوالجلال 
که نباشد کشف راز حق حلال
این سخن پایان ندارد آن فقیر 
از مجاعت شد زبون و تن اسیر

</div>

## English translation
You see, in a patched cloak, a nobleman's son, bareheaded, fallen into affliction; burned up in desire for wrongdoing, having sold his fabrics and estates. His house and household are gone; he has become disgraced and lowly; the enemy gets his wish, while he goes along ill-starred. He sees an ascetic and says, 'O noble one, lend spiritual resolve for God's sake, for I have fallen into this ugly adversity; wealth, gold, and blessing have slipped from my hand. Give spiritual resolve, that perhaps I may be freed from this, that I may leap out of this dark mire.' He asks this prayer from common and elite alike: 'deliverance, deliverance, deliverance.' His hands are open, his feet are open, and there is no fetter; no guard over his head, no iron chain. From what bond do you seek release, and from what prison do you seek escape? The bond of hidden predestination and decree: who sees that except a purified soul? Though it is not visible, it lies in ambush; it is worse than prison and iron fetter. For a blacksmith can break iron, and a digger can pull out the prison bricks. How strange, this heavy hidden bond: blacksmiths are helpless to break it. Seeing that bond belongs to Ahmad: on the bound neck, a rope of palm fiber. He saw on Abu Lahab's wife's back the tight load of firewood and called her 'carrier of firewood.' No eye but his saw the rope and the firewood, for every unseen thing appears to him. All the rest interpret it away, saying this is unconsciousness and that they are the conscious ones. Yet from its effect that person's back has bent double, and the person has come before you moaning: 'A prayer, spiritual resolve, that I may be freed, that I may leap out from this hidden bond.' The one who sees these signs manifest: how would he not know the wretched from the blessed? He knows, and conceals it by command of the Lord of Majesty, for disclosure of God's secret is not lawful. This discourse has no end; that poor man, from hunger, became abased, and his body captive.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۷۱ - تشبیه بند و دام قضا به صورت پنهان به اثر پیدا / Book Three - Section 71 - Likening the Bond and Snare of Destiny, Hidden in Form, to its Visible Effect

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
<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0.5rem;">

گفت او را ناصحی ای بی‌خبر 
عاقبت اندیش اگر داری هنر
درنگر پس را به عقل و پیش را 
همچو پروانه مسوزان خویش را
چون بخارا می‌روی دیوانه‌ای 
لایق زنجیر و زندان‌خانه‌ای
او ز تو آهن همی‌خاید ز خشم 
او همی‌جوید ترا با بیست چشم
می‌کند او تیز از بهر تو کارد 
او سگ قحطست و تو انبان آرد
چون رهیدی و خدایت راه داد 
سوی زندان می‌روی چونت فتاد
بر تو گر ده‌گون موکل آمدی 
عقل بایستی کز ایشان کم زدی
چون موکل نیست بر تو هیچ‌کس 
از چه بسته گشت بر تو پیش و پس
عشق پنهان کرده بود او را اسیر 
آن موکل را نمی‌دید آن نذیر
هر موکل را موکل مختفیست 
ورنه او در بند سگ طبعی ز چیست
خشم شاه عشق بر جانش نشست 
بر عوانی و سیه‌روییش بست
می‌زند او را که هین او رابزن 
زان عوانان نهان افغان من
هرکه بینی در زیانی می‌رود 
گرچه تنها با عوانی می‌رود
گر ازو واقف بدی افغان زدی 
پیش آن سلطان سلطانان شدی
ریختی بر سر به پیش شاه خاک 
تا امان دیدی ز دیو سهمناک
میر دیدی خویش را ای کم ز مور 
زان ندیدی آن موکل را تو کور
غره گشتی زین دروغین پر و بال 
پر و بالی کو کشد سوی وبال
پر سبک دارد ره بالا کند 
چون گل‌آلو شد گرانیها کند

</div>

## English translation
A counselor said to him: "O heedless one,
Think of consequences, if you have any skill.
Look back and ahead with reason —
Do not burn yourself up like a moth.
Going to Bukhara? You are mad,
Fit for chains and a prison-house.
He gnaws iron with rage against you;
He seeks you with twenty eyes.
He sharpens his knife for you —
He is a famine-dog and you are a sack of flour.
Since you escaped and God showed you the way,
Why do you go toward the prison? What has come over you?
If ten kinds of wardens had set upon you,
Reason would demand that you reduce their number.
Since no warden is set over you at all,
Why is your way before and behind locked fast?"

Love had made him a prisoner in secret —
That warner could not see this warden.
Every warden has a hidden warden set over him;
Otherwise, why is he himself in bondage to a dog-natured one?
The wrath of the King of Love settled upon his soul,
Binding him to villainy and dark-facedness.
He strikes him, saying: "Hey! Strike him!" —
My lamentation is hidden from those bailiffs.
Whoever you see walking into loss,
Though he walks alone, he walks with a bailiff.
Had you been aware of him, you would have cried out
And gone before the Sultan of Sultans.
You would have poured dust upon your head before the King,
To find refuge from the terrible demon.
You saw yourself as a prince, O lesser-than-an-ant —
And so you did not see that warden, O blind one.
You were deceived by these false wings —
Wings that drag one toward ruin.
A light feather finds the path upward;
When it becomes mud-caked, it makes itself heavy.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۸۳ - منع کردن دوستان او را از رجوع کردن به بخارا وتهدید کردن و لاابالی گفتن او / Book Three - Section 183 - His Friends Forbidding Him from Returning to Bukhara, Threatening Him, and His Saying He Does Not Care

## Original content
<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0.5rem;">

پنج روز آن باد امرودی نریخت 
ز آتش جوعش صبوری می‌گریخت
بر سر شاخی مرودی چند دید 
باز صبری کرد و خود را وا کشید
باد آمد شاخ را سر زیر کرد 
طبع را بر خوردن آن چیر کرد
جوع و ضعف و قوت جذب و قضا 
کرد زاهد را ز نذرش بی‌وفا
چونک از امرودبن میوه سکست 
گشت اندر نذر و عهد خویش سست
هم در آن دم گوشمال حق رسید 
چشم او بگشاد و گوش او کشید

</div>

## English translation
For five days the wind did not shake down a pear;
from the fire of his hunger patience was fleeing.
He saw a few pears at the tip of a branch;
again he exercised patience and drew himself back.
The wind came and bowed the branch downward,
overpowering his nature toward eating it.
Hunger and weakness and the force of attraction and fate
made the ascetic faithless to his vow.
When he plucked the fruit from the pear tree,
he became lax in his vow and covenant.
In that very instant the divine chastisement arrived—
it opened his eyes and pulled his ear.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۷۲ - مضطرب شدن فقیر نذر کرده بکندن امرود از درخت و گوشمال حق رسیدن بی مهلت / Book Three - Section 72 - The Agitation of the Poor Man Who Had Vowed Not to Pluck Pears from the Tree and the Immediate Arrival of Divine Chastisement

Learn Before

Related

Learn After