M6:4294 — پس ز بی‌جوعیست وز تخمهٔ تمام / آن ملالت نه ز تکرار کلام

Translation: So that weariness stems from lack of hunger (bī-jowʿī) and utter surfeit (takhma), Not from the repetition of words (kalām). Meaning: Mowlana asserts that any spiritual lassitude or boredom we feel when encountering profound truths comes from our own satiety and lack of appetite for them, rather than from the intrinsic repetitiveness of the truths themselves. This weariness is a fault in us, not in the word of truth.

Mowlana, in this profoundly insightful couplet, points to the root of much of our spiritual weariness and boredom. He states unequivocally that if we grow weary of hearing the word of truth (kalām-i ḥaqq), the fault does not lie with the repetition of the message itself. Rather, it stems from our own spiritual satiety, our bī-jowʿī (lack of hunger) and takhma-yi tamām (complete spiritual indigestion). It is as if we have overeaten of truth and lost our appetite for it, thereby perceiving fresh, profound words as old and tiresome. This is both a psychological and a mystical diagnosis of our human condition.

I have often emphasized that weariness and depression arise when something becomes stale for an individual. If a person is in a state of constant self-renewal (now-shavandagi), and perceives the world as ever-renewing, they will never succumb to boredom. As Mowlana states elsewhere: "Every moment, a new form and a new beauty / So that from new seeing, weariness may fade away." Stagnant water collects debris and dust, but flowing water remains fresh and clear. The core of Mowlana's teaching here is that this renewal must be radical and fundamental, not merely superficial or temporary.

The Quran, too, speaks of Paradise, where its inhabitants "do not wish for a change from it" (lā yabghūna ʿanhā ḥawlā). We might wonder how one could never grow bored of the various delights promised in paradise. Mowlana's answer is that it is a different realm where novelty is perpetually preserved. Indeed, the deepest form of melancholy arises when one becomes weary of oneself, due to a lack of self-renewal and a state of stagnation. This is an internal ailment whose cure lies not in external remedies, but in dynamic movement and constant rejuvenation.

Mowlana illustrates this concept with a tangible analogy, referring to "bread to ward off weakness" (nān-i dafʿ-i zabūl), meaning the food we eat to dispel hunger and feebleness. Why do we not tire of eating bread? Why do we not say, "How much more bread can I eat?" The answer is that "your hunger renews." Each time, a new hunger overtakes us, and it is this fresh hunger that makes the familiar bread new and delicious. The pleasure derives from the hunger, not merely from the newness of the food. When the pain of hunger is real and present, "renewal becomes contractually bound to every particle of your being."

Therefore, if you are truly hungry for truth, if you are thirsty for the word of God, then that same word, which a satiated individual might find old and flavorless, will always be new to you and will, in turn, make you new. Yet, Mowlana also directs a sharp rebuke at us. He asks: "How is it that you never grow weary of the clamor of the marketplace, deceiving people, and endless haggling?" And more profoundly: "How is it that sixty years of backbiting and speaking ill of others has not sated you?" He implies, with a touch of irony, that some individuals relish in "eating the flesh of people" (i.e., gossiping) and grow fat on it; their lives cannot proceed without speaking ill of others. He further queries how one can tirelessly and ardently repeat words over and over again to flatter and seduce, yet never grow bored.

These examples demonstrate that the problem is not with the repetitiveness of the "word of truth"; it lies with our own inner satiety and lack of appetite. We must seek the fault within ourselves. If you grow weary of the Masnavi, if you find it old, know that you are reading it out of satiety. But if you approach it with thirst and hunger, every page contains "dozens of insights" and "dozens of oceans" that will quench the thirst of seekers.

Key takeaways

• Weariness and boredom with divine truth stem from our own satiety and lack of appetite for it, not from the words' intrinsic repetitiveness.
• An individual who is constantly self-renewing and perceives the world as ever-new will never succumb to spiritual fatigue.
• The deepest forms of depression arise from stagnation and growing weary of one's own self.
• The pleasure derived from truth, much like the pleasure from food, is dependent on our renewed hunger for it.
• Mowlana challenges the hypocrisy of those who never tire of gossip and deception, yet grow bored with profound wisdom.
• For the thirsty seeker, the Masnavi offers oceans of fresh insight with every reading, perpetually renewing the soul.