In Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, Caliph Umar instructs an old harpist on the transition from the 'station of weeping' to the 'station of absorption' ($$istighraq$$). Umar explains that the harpist's lamentation is a symptom of 'wakefulness' ($$hushyari$$)—a state of self-existence that focuses on past and future, thereby acting as a veil against the Divine. Rumi describes this wakefulness as a 'sin' and even characterizes the harpist's repentance for his past as something requiring its own repentance. Through the metaphor of a reed flute, Rumi asserts that 'knots' of ego prevent the seeker from being a true 'confidant' to the divine voice. The narrative concludes with the harpist passing beyond earthly concerns into a profound 'bewilderment' ($$hairat$$). Drowned in divine beauty, the harpist's individual soul is replaced by a divine life, a state where the 'partial intellect' ($$aql-e juzv$$) can no longer act as a spokesman.

The Transition from Spiritual Weeping to Divine Absorption in the Masnavi

In Book 1 of the *Masnavi*, Jalaluddin Rumi extends the metaphor of the reed-flute (*ney*) by introducing the imagery of its internal knots (*gareh*). While the reed-flute represents the human soul, the knots symbolize ego, self-awareness, and temporal attachments (specifically to the past and the future). Rumi explains that as long as these knots obstruct the hollow channel of the reed, it cannot become a true confidant (*hamraz*) or harmonize with the divine lips. To serve as a pure instrument for the Divine breath, the seeker must dissolve these internal knots through spiritual annihilation (*fana*) and complete surrender.

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In the prologue of the *Masnavi* (often called the *Neynameh*), Jalaluddin Rumi uses the metaphor of the reed-flute (*ney*) to symbolize the human soul. The reed has been cut from its original home, the reedbed (*nayestan*), and its hollow body laments this painful separation, producing a nostalgic, passionate music that everyone hears but few truly comprehend. This allegory represents the human soul's earthly exile, characterized by a deep yearning to return to its divine origin. The music of the reed is not mere wind but the fire of love, serving as a spiritual catalyst for seekers on the mystical path.

The Metaphor of the Reed-Flute (Ney) in the Prologue of the Masnavi

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پس عمر گفتش که این زاری تو 
هست هم آثار هشیاری تو
راه فانی گشته راهی دیگرست 
زانک هشیاری گناهی دیگرست
هست هشیاری ز یاد ما مضی 
ماضی و مستقبلت پردهٔ خدا
آتش اندر زن بهر دو تا بکی 
پر گره باشی ازین هر دو چو نی
تا گره با نی بود همراز نیست 
همنشین آن لب و آواز نیست
چون بطوفی خود بطوفی مرتدی 
چون به خانه آمدی هم با خودی
ای خبرهات از خبرده بی‌خبر 
توبهٔ تو از گناه تو بتر
ای تو از حال گذشته توبه‌جو 
کی کنی توبه ازین توبه بگو
گاه بانگ زیر را قبله کنی 
گاه گریهٔ زار را قبله زنی
چونک فاروق آینهٔ اسرار شد 
جان پیر از اندرون بیدار شد
همچو جان بی‌گریه و بی‌خنده شد 
جانش رفت و جان دیگر زنده شد
حیرتی آمد درونش آن زمان 
که برون شد از زمین و آسمان
جست و جویی از ورای جست و جو 
من نمی‌دانم تو می‌دانی بگو
حال و قالی از ورای حال و قال 
غرقه گشته در جمال ذوالجلال
غرقه‌ای نه که خلاصی باشدش 
یا به جز دریا کسی بشناسدش
عقل جزو از کل گویا نیستی 
گر تقاضا بر تقاضا نیستی
چون تقاضا بر تقاضا می‌رسد 
موج آن دریا بدینجا می‌رسد
چونک قصهٔ حال پیر اینجا رسید 
پیر و حالش روی در پرده کشید
پیر دامن را ز گفت و گو فشاند 
نیم گفته در دهان ما بماند
از پی این عیش و عشرت ساختن 
صد هزاران جان بشاید باختن
در شکار بیشهٔ جان باز باش 
همچو خورشید جهان جان‌باز باش
جان‌فشان افتاد خورشید بلند 
هر دمی تی می‌شود پر می‌کنند
جان فشان ای آفتاب معنوی 
مر جهان کهنه را بنما نوی
در وجود آدمی جان و روان 
می‌رسد از غیب چون آب روان

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## English translation
Then Umar said to him: This lamenting of yours / is still an effect of your wakefulness. / The path of one who has become annihilated is another path, / for wakefulness is another sin. / Wakefulness comes from remembrance of what has passed; / your past and your future are veils from God. / Set fire to both. How long / will you be full of knots from these two, like a reed? / As long as there is a knot in the reed, it is not a confidant; / it is not companion to that lip and voice. / When you circumambulate yourself, you circumambulate as one turned back; / even when you have come to the House, you are still with yourself. / O you whose reports make you unaware of the One who gives report, / your repentance is worse than your sin. / O you who seek repentance from a past state, / when will you repent of this repentance? Tell me. / Sometimes you make the bass note your qibla; / sometimes you make bitter weeping your qibla. / When Faruq became the mirror of secrets, / the old man's soul awoke from within. / Like the soul, he became without weeping and without laughter; / his soul went, and another soul came alive. / A bewilderment came within him then / by which he passed beyond earth and heaven. / A search beyond searching: / I do not know; you know, speak. / A state and speech beyond state and speech, / drowned in the beauty of the Lord of Majesty. / Drowned, not such that he has deliverance, / nor such that anyone but the Sea would know him. / The partial intellect would not be a spokesman for the Whole / if demand did not follow demand. / When demand comes upon demand, / the wave of that Sea reaches here. / When the story of the old man's state reached this point, / the old man and his state drew their faces behind the veil. / The old man shook his hem free of speech and discourse; / the half-said word remained in our mouth. / To make such joy and delight, / hundreds of thousands of souls are worth staking. / In hunting the thicket of the soul, be a falcon; / like the sun of the world, be a soul-staker. / The lofty sun has become soul-scattering; / every moment it is emptied, and they fill it. / Scatter soul, O spiritual sun; / show the old world renewed. / In human existence, soul and spirit / arrive from the Unseen like flowing water.

دفتر اول - بخش ۱۰۸ - گردانیدن عمر رضی الله عنه نظر او را از مقام گریه کی هستیست به مقام استغراق / Book One, Section 108: Umar, may God be pleased with him, turns his gaze from the station of weeping, which is self-existence, to the station of absorption.

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