M6:1784 — هم‌چنان دوغی ترش در معدنی / خود نگردی زو مخلص روغنی

Translation: You are still like sour buttermilk in a churn, You yourself will not turn into pure butter from it (or you haven't done so). Meaning: This verse addresses individuals who, despite the passage of time and considerable effort, have made no progress in self-purification and inner transformation, remaining in their original raw and unrefined state, much like buttermilk that never becomes butter.

This beyt is one of Mowlana's sharpest and most profound admonishments, delivered from the standpoint of a sincere advisor, piercing deep into the human soul. I immediately recognize it as a living, chiding voice that Mowlana projects from the depths of his being. Here, he addresses an individual upon whom time has passed, who has endured hardships, and perhaps undertaken ascetic practices, yet has failed to harvest the fruit of transformation. In other words, such a person is like buttermilk churning and swirling within the 'churn' (or ma'dan) of their existence, but never reaching the purity and refinement of butter; they refuse to separate themselves from sourness and rawness.

The 'ma'dan' here refers to the churning vessel in which buttermilk is agitated to extract butter. This agitation and striving represent life's experiences and spiritual endeavors; or, as I would put it, the 'oven of time' in which one is meant to be baked. The beyt highlights the failure to achieve this crucial separation.

I see this verse within the context of the story of the mystic and the old priest that Mowlana recounts. The mystic asks the priest: 'Who is older, master, you or your beard?' The priest replies that he is older than his beard. The mystic then remarks: 'Your beard turned white due to the passage of time / But your foul character did not change, it did not become fair.' This is precisely the same concept: time has passed over the priest, his beard has whitened, but his inner being remains unchanged. He, too, is like that sour buttermilk, agitating himself in the churn of life, yet failing to extract pure, clarified butter from it.

Mowlana reinforces this theme with other metaphors: he says, 'You have boiled much in this long epoch / But, O dried meat (qadīd), you have not even become half-cooked (tork-jush).' Meaning, O old and withered flesh, you have strived and exerted yourself greatly over this long period, but you haven't even achieved a state of partial readiness. Or elsewhere, he states: 'You are still dough, still unformed clay (khumartīnah) / Even though you have spent a lifetime in the fiery oven (tanūr-i āzarī).' Despite having been subjected to the fiery oven of life and its events for a lifetime, you remain like raw dough or primordial, unshaped clay. All these expressions convey a single truth: 'You are still in the same state in which you were born / You have not advanced a single step beyond that.' You have remained in your raw, initial condition, not taking a single step towards perfection and ripeness.

A crucial point lies in the verb 'nagardi' (you will not become). Mowlana might also intend 'nakardī' (you did not make yourself become) instead of 'nagardi' (you will not become pure butter from it). This subtly points to the individual's agency and responsibility in this transformation. It is not merely an inescapable fate, but a consequence of a lack of sufficient will and effort to purify the inner self. This rawness and lack of transformation stem from 'sowdā-ye tharīd'—the attachment to worldly affairs and fleeting desires—which keeps a person wandering in a 'wasteland' (tīh), much like the Israelites who wandered for forty years in the desert, captive to their love for the golden calf of Samiri. These are all manifestations of a failure to liberate the self and achieve purity: not separating from the 'sour buttermilk' to become 'pure butter'.

Key takeaways

• Spiritual Stagnation: Effort and the passage of time are meaningless without inner purification.
• The Buttermilk Metaphor: An allegory for the unrefined self that, despite striving, fails to achieve purity.
• Individual Responsibility: The failure to reach perfection is a result of insufficient will for transformation.
• Aged Outside, Raw Inside: Life experience without character change signifies a lack of maturity.
• The Oven of Time: Life's events and hardships are opportunities for ripening, not mere passing of days.