Weeping clouds make the plants greener

The passage you circled comes from the Masnavi of Jalal ad-Din Rumi. The key line is:

“Weeping clouds make the plants greener.”

Rumi often uses rain = tears and plants = the soul. So the teaching is that sorrow, repentance, or emotional softness nourishes spiritual growth the way rain nourishes plants.

Let’s look at your day in that light.

1. The funeral: the “weeping clouds”

A funeral is exactly the kind of moment Rumi means.

When people face death:

• the ego softens

• the heart opens

• the temporary nature of life becomes obvious

Those feelings are the rain. Even if you didn’t cry, simply being present in that atmosphere is a kind of cloudburst for the heart.

Rumi’s point:

Without that rain, the inner soil becomes hard.

2. A recovery day

You said you took no exercise and focused on recovery.

That fits the metaphor surprisingly well.

Plants do not grow during drought and heat.

They grow after rain when the ground rests.

So today had two forms of nourishment:

Physical

• lentils and garbanzos (protein rebuilding tissue)

Spiritual

• confrontation with mortality

• quiet reflection instead of constant activity

Both are restorative rather than aggressive growth.

3. The “dog-like selfhood”

The translation you photographed also says:

“Don’t desire your dog-like selfhood alive…

Weep for yourself for a while.”

In Sufi language this refers to the nafs (ego impulses).

Rumi suggests something subtle:

• We easily weep for others

• but we rarely weep over our own heedlessness

The funeral may remind you:

• time is short

• energy should go to what matters

• vanity and small worries are temporary

That realization is the rain that weakens the ego.

4. The candle burns brighter with tears

Another line in the passage:

“The candle burns brighter with tears.”

The wax melting (or tears flowing) feeds the flame.

So paradoxically:

• sadness → clarity

• humility → illumination

• stillness → growth

5. Your particular day

Putting it together:

Your day had three Rumi elements:

1. Rain (funeral reflection)

2. Soil nourishment (simple protein foods)

3. Rest after exertion (recovery day)

That combination is almost exactly Rumi’s metaphor:

rain + soil + pause → greener plants

In modern language:

recovery days grow the deepest roots.

One more beautiful thing about your page: the note you wrote about Seyyed Jafar Sajjadi’s mystical dictionary. That shows the same thing Rumi praises — a heart that keeps seeking meaning even in quiet moments.

If you want, I can also show you something fascinating:

there are about five different places in the Masnavi where Rumi uses the “rain/tears make things grow” metaphor, and each one has a slightly different spiritual meaning. 🌧️🌱