In Book 4, Section 31 of the Masnavi, Rumi presents the allegory of a thirsty man sitting in a walnut tree over a deep gully, throwing walnuts into the stream below. When a passerby criticizes him for wasting the walnuts—pointing out that the swift current will carry them away before he can climb down—the thirsty man explains that his objective is not to harvest the fruit. Rather, his true purpose is to hear the splashing sound of the water and see its bubbles, which acts as a spiritual concert (samāʿ) and brings him intense ecstasy. This story symbolizes the spiritual seeker (the thirsty man) who willingly sacrifices material goods and worldly attachments (the walnuts) not for physical gain, but to experience the presence, signs, and 'sound' of the Divine (the water), illustrating that true spiritual longing prioritizes communion over material accumulation.