اندر افتادند در لوت آن نفر ** قحط دیده مرده از جوع البقر
That folk fell to (eating) the food, since they had suffered famine and were (almost) dead from ravenous hunger.
چند روزی سیر خوردند از عطا ** آن دمی و آدمی و چارپا
For several days they ate their fill of the gift, (both) those who were inspired by that breath (of Moses) and the (other) human beings and the quadrupeds.
چون شکم پر گشت و بر نعمت زدند ** وآن ضرورت رفت پس طاغی شدند 3620
When their bellies were filled and they grasped the (Divine) bounty and the necessity was gone, then they waxed insolent (in disobedience).
نفس فرعونیست هان سیرش مکن ** تا نیارد یاد از آن کفر کهن
The carnal soul is a follower of Pharaoh: beware, do not satisfy it, lest it remember its ancient infidelity.
بی تف آتش نگردد نفس خوب ** تا نشد آهن چو اخگر هین مکوب
Without the glowing heat of the fire (of mortification) the carnal soul will never become goodly: hark, do not beat the iron till it has become like live coals.
بی‌مجاعت نیست تن جنبش‌کنان ** آهن سردیست می‌کوبی بدان
Without hunger the body makes no movement (towards God): ‘tis cold iron thou art beating. Know (this for sure)!
گر بگرید ور بنالد زار زار ** او نخواهد شد مسلمان هوش دار
Though it weep and wail most piteously, it will never become a true believer. Take heed!
او چو فرعونست در قحط آنچنان ** پیش موسی سر نهد لابه‌کنان 3625
It is like Pharaoh: in (the time of) famine it lays its head before Moses, as he (Pharaoh) did, making supplication;
چونک مستغنی شد او طاغی شود ** خر چو بار انداخت اسکیزه زند
(But) when it has been freed from want, it rebels (once more) when the donkey has cast off his load, he kicks.
پس فراموشش شود چون رفت پیش ** کار او زان آه و زاریهای خویش
So, when its business has gone forward (prosperously), it (the carnal soul) forgets its sighs and lamentations.
سالها مردی که در شهری بود ** یک زمان که چشم در خوابی رود
The man who lives in a city (many) years, as soon as his eye goes asleep,
شهر دیگر بیند او پر نیک و بد ** هیچ در یادش نیاید شهر خود
Beholds another city full of good and evil, and his own city comes not into his memory at all,
که من آنجا بوده‌ام این شهر نو ** نیست آن من درینجاام گرو 3630
So that (he should say), “I have lived there (so many years); this new city is not mine: here I am (only) in pawn.”
بل چنان داند که خود پیوسته او ** هم درین شهرش به دست ابداع و خو
Nay, he thinks that in sooth he has always lived in this very city and has been born and bred in it.
چه عجب گر روح موطنهای خویش ** که بدستش مسکن و میلاد پیش
What wonder (then) if the spirit does not remember its (ancient) abodes, which have been its dwelling-place and birthplace aforetime,
می‌نیارد یاد کین دنیا چو خواب ** می‌فرو پوشد چو اختر را سحاب
Since this world, like sleep, is covering it over as clouds cover the stars? —
خاصه چندین شهرها را کوفته ** گردها از درک او ناروفته
Especially as it has trodden so many cities, and the dust has not (yet) been swept from its perceptive faculty,
اجتهاد گرم ناکرده که تا ** دل شود صاف و ببیند ماجرا 3635
Nor has it made ardent efforts that its heart should become pure and behold the past;
سر برون آرد دلش از بخش راز ** اول و آخر ببیند چشم باز
That its heart should put forth its head (peep forth) from the aperture of the mystery and should see the beginning and the end with open eye.
اطوار و منازل خلقت آدمی از ابتدا
The diverse modes and stages of the nature of Man from the beginning.
آمده اول به اقلیم جماد ** وز جمادی در نباتی اوفتاد
First he came into the clime (world) of inorganic things, and from the state of inorganic things he passed into the vegetable state.
سالها اندر نباتی عمر کرد ** وز جمادی یاد ناورد از نبرد
(Many) years he lived in the vegetable state and did not remember the inorganic state because of the opposition (between them);
وز نباتی چون به حیوانی فتاد ** نامدش حال نباتی هیچ یاد
And when he passed from the vegetable into the animal state, the vegetable state was not remembered by him at all,
جز همین میلی که دارد سوی آن ** خاصه در وقت بهار و ضیمران 3640
Save only for the inclination which he has towards that (state), especially in the season of spring and sweet herbs—
هم‌چو میل کودکان با مادران ** سر میل خود نداند در لبان
Like the inclination of babes towards their mothers: it (the babe) does not know the secret of its desire for being suckled;
هم‌چو میل مفرط هر نو مرید ** سوی آن پیر جوانبخت مجید
(Or) like the excessive inclination of every novice towards the noble spiritual Elder, whose fortune is young (and flourishing).