The Pain of the lover for the Beloved

The Sufi's deep longing for union became a poetic 'pain'. Pain is the longing of the 'lover' to rejoin the 'Beloved'. Pain represents the friction and struggle that comes from having to live in this transient world with an ageing body, all the while longing for union with one's own vast God-consciousness which transcends the trivialities of this world. Uncertainty and insecurity of every arising moment and day, not knowing how the mind will unfold in its search of the path is also the source of this pain. This is a pain without a cure. The Sufi would rather die than live without the pain of that longing for union. It is a joyful pain, the pain of being alive, the pain of being in love with, but separated from, the Beloved.

The Beloved is indeed the goal, the lover is the veil,

The Beloved is indeed immortal, the lover's life must fail. - Rumi

There is no hindrance between the Beloved and the lover,

You are yourself the veil in-between; remove the cover. - Hafiz

O Lord

My painful nagging is that your pain will not fade.

He who bears the pain of the Friend would become immortal

in the love and grace of His Fellowship. - Ansari

I have fallen in an ocean and I see no shore.

I am afflicted with a pain that has no cure. - Attar

I have inherited a pain from the Friend,

Which I will not exchange for a hundred thousand cures. - Rumi