عقل اسیرست و همی خواهد ز حق ** روزیی بی رنج و نعمت بر طبق
The intellect is a captive and craves of God daily bread (won) without toil, and bounty (placed before it) on a tray.
روزی بی رنج او موقوف چیست ** آنک بکشد گاو را کاصل بدیست
Upon what does its daily bread (won) without toil depend? Upon its killing the cow is the origin of (all) evil
نفس گوید چون کشی تو گاو من ** زانک گاو نفس باشد نقش تن
The fleshly soul says, “How shouldst thou kill my ‘cow’?-because the “cow” of the fleshly soul is the (outward) form of the body.
خواجه‌زاده‌ی عقل مانده بی‌نوا ** نفس خونی خواجه گشت و پیشوا2510
The intellect, (typified by) the master’s son, is left destitute, (while) the fleshly soul, (typified by) the murderer, has become a master and leader.
روزی بی‌رنج می‌دانی که چیست ** قوت ارواحست و ارزاق نبیست
Do you know what is the daily bread (won) without toil? It is the food of spirits and the daily bread of the prophet.
لیک موقوفست بر قربان گاو ** گنج اندر گاو دان ای کنج‌کاو
But it depends upon sacrificing the cow: know (that) the (spiritual) treasure (is found) in (sacrifice of) the cow, O you who dig in (holes and) corners!
دوش چیزی خورده‌ام ور نه تمام ** دادمی در دست فهم تو زمام
Yesternight I ate something; otherwise, I would have given the reins entirely into the hand of your understanding’.
دوش چیزی خورده‌ام افسانه است ** هرچه می‌آید ز پنهان خانه است
(The words), ‘ yesternight I ate something,” are an idle tale: whatsoever comes (to pass) is from the secret chamber (of Divine Destiny).
چشم بر اسباب از چه دوختیم ** گر ز خوش‌چشمان کرشم آموختیم2515
Wherefore have we fixed our eyes on (secondary) causes, if we have learned from those with beauteous eyes how to glance amorously?
هست بر اسباب اسبابی دگر ** در سبب منگر در آن افکن نظر
Over the (secondary) causes there are other (primary) causes: do not look at the (secondary) cause; let thy gaze fall on that (primary cause).
انبیا در قطع اسباب آمدند ** معجزات خویش بر کیوان زدند
The prophets came in order to cut (the cords of secondary) causes: they flung their miracles at Saturn (in the Seventh Heaven).
بی‌سبب مر بحر را بشکافتند ** بی زراعت چاش گندم یافتند
Without cause (means) they clove the sea asunder; without sowing they found heaps of corn.
ریگها هم آرد شد از سعیشان ** پشم بز ابریشم آمد کش‌کشان
Sand, too, was turned into flour by their work; goat’s hair became silk as it was pulled (from the hide).
جمله قرآن هست در قطع سبب ** عز درویش و هلاک بولهب2520
The whole of the Qur’án consists in (is concerned with) the cutting off of (secondary) causes: (its theme is) the glory of the poor (prophet or saint) and the destruction of (those like) Abú Lahab.
مرغ بابیلی دو سه سنگ افکند ** لشکر زفت حبش را بشکند
A swift drops two or three pebbles and shatters the mighty host of Abyssinia:
پیل را سوراخ سوراخ افکند ** سنگ مرغی کو به بالا پر زند
The pebble of a bird that flies aloft lays low the elephant, riddled with holes (wounds).
دم گاو کشته بر مقتول زن ** تا شود زنده همان دم در کفن
(God said), “Inflict (a blow with) the tail of the killed cow upon the murdered man, in order that at the same moment he may come to life (again) in the winding-sheet,
حلق‌ببریده جهد از جای خویش ** خون خود جوید ز خون‌پالای خویش
(And that) he whose throat was cut may spring up from his place and seek (vengeance for) his blood from the shedder of his blood
همچنین ز آغاز قرآن تا تمام ** رفض اسبابست و علت والسلام2525
In like manner, from the beginning of the Qur’án to the end, ‘tis (wholly concerned with) the abandonment of (secondary) causes and means. And (now) farewell (to this subject).
کشف این نه از عقل کارافزا شود ** بندگی کن تا ترا پیداشود
The explanation (of the mystery) thereof is not (given) by the meddlesome intellect: do service (to God), in order that it may become clear to you.
بند معقولات آمد فلسفی ** شهسوار عقل عقل آمد صفی
The philosopher is in bondage to things perceived by the intellect; (but) the ‘pure (saint) is he that rides as a prince on the Intellect of intellect
The Intellect of intellect is your kernel, (while) your intellect is (only) the husk: the belly of animals is ever seeking husks.
مغزجوی از پوست دارد صد ملال ** مغز نغزان را حلال آمد حلال
He that seeks the kernel has a hundred loathings for the husk: to the goodly (saints) the kernel (alone) is lawful, lawful.
چونک قشر عقل صد برهان دهد ** عقل کل کی گام بی ایقان نهد2530
When the intellect, (which is) the husk, offers a hundred evidences, how should the Universal Intellect take a step with out having (intuitive) certainty?
عقل دفترها کند یکسر سیاه ** عقل عقل آفاق دارد پر ز ماه
The intellect makes books entirely black (with writing); the Intellect of intellect keeps the horizons (the whole universe) filled (with light) from the Moon (of Reality).