M1:2718 — تا شود زین کوزه منفذ سوی بحر / تا بگیرد کوزهٔ من خوی بحر

In the story, a desert Arab brings a jar of rainwater to the Caliph in Baghdad, unaware that the city sits on the banks of the mighty Tigris river. Rumi uses this as an allegory for the spiritual seeker's journey. The human being is the kūzeh (jar), a finite vessel containing the 'water' of our sensory experience and knowledge, which we proudly offer to God.

This couplet is the heart of the allegorical prayer. The speaker asks for the jar of the self not merely to be accepted, but to be transformed. The first line prays for a manfaẕ (an opening, a channel) to be created from the vessel to the baḥr (the Sea, Rumi's constant symbol for the infinite Divine Reality). This is a plea for connection, for the limited self to become a conduit to the limitless Source.

The second line takes the prayer a step further. It asks that the jar itself might acquire the khūy (the nature, the disposition, the character) of the Sea. This is not just about being connected to the divine; it's about being fundamentally changed by that connection. The goal is for the finite vessel to take on the qualities of the infinite—boundlessness, generosity, and life-giving power. The jar ceases to be a mere container and becomes an expression of the Sea itself.