کار و باری کت رسد بعد شکست ** اندر آن اقبال و منهاج رهست
The (real) fortune and highway (of success) lies in the business that comes to thee after utter defeat (self-abasement).
کار و باری که ندارد پا و سر ** ترک کن هی پیر خر ای پیر خر 4120
Give up the business that hath no foot or head (permanence): hark, old donkey, get for thyself a Pír!
غیر پیر استاد و سرلشکر مباد ** پیر گردون نی ولی پیر رشاد
May none but the Pír be (thy) master and captain!—not the Pír (old man) of the rolling sky, but the Pír of right guidance.
در زمان چون پیر را شد زیردست ** روشنایی دید آن ظلمت‌پرست
The devotee of darkness sees the light immediately as soon as he becomes subject to (the authority of) the Pír.
شرط تسلیم است نه کار دراز ** سود نبود در ضلالت ترک‌تاز
What is required is self-surrender, not long toil: ’tis useless to rush about in error.
من نجویم زین سپس راه اثیر ** پیر جویم پیر جویم پیر پیر
Henceforth I will not seek the way to the Ether (the highest celestial sphere): I will seek the Pír, I will seek the Pír, the Pír, the Pír!
پیر باشد نردبان آسمان ** تیر پران از که گردد از کمان 4125
The Pír is the ladder to Heaven: by whom (what) is the arrow made to fly? By the bow.
نه ز ابراهیم نمرود گران ** کرد با کرکس سفر بر آسمان
Was it not Abraham that caused the gross Nimrod to (attempt the) journey to heaven by means of the vulture?
از هوا شد سوی بالا او بسی ** لیک بر گردون نپرد کرکسی
(Impelled) by self-will, he often went upward; but no vulture can fly to heaven.
گفتش ابراهیم ای مرد سفر ** کرکست من باشم اینت خوب‌تر
Abraham said to him, “O traveller, I will be thy vulture: this is more seemly for thee.
چون ز من سازی به بالا نردبان ** بی پریدن بر روی بر آسمان
When thou makest of me a ladder to go aloft, thou wilt ascend to heaven without flying”—
آنچنان که می‌رود تا غرب و شرق ** بی ز زاد و راحله دل هم‌چو برق 4130
As the heart (spirit), without provisions or riding-camel, travels (swiftly) as lightning to west and east;
آنچنان که می‌رود شب ز اغتراب ** حس مردم شهرها در وقت خواب
As man's consciousness, wandering abroad whilst he is asleep, travels during the night to (remote) cities;
آنچنان که عارف از راه نهان ** خوش نشسته می‌رود در صد جهان
As the gnostic, sitting quietly (in one place), travels by a hidden track through a hundred worlds.
گر ندادستش چنین رفتار دست ** این خبرها زان ولایت از کیست
If he has not been endowed with power to travel like this, (then) from whom are (derived) these reports concerning that (spiritual) country?
این خبرها وین روایات محق ** صد هزاران پیر بر وی متفق
Hundreds of thousands of Pírs are agreed upon (the truth of) these reports and these veracious narratives.
یک خلافی نی میان این عیون ** آنچنان که هست در علم ظنون 4135
Amongst these sources (authorities) there is no dispute, such as there is in (the case of) knowledge based on opinions.
آن تحری آمد اندر لیل تار ** وین حضور کعبه و وسط نهار
That (knowledge based on opinion) is (like) searching (for the direction of the Ka‘ba) in the dark night, while this (mystic knowledge) is (like) the presence of the Ka‘ba and midday.
خیز ای نمرود پر جوی از کسان ** نردبانی نایدت زین کرکسان
Arise, O (thou who resemblest) Nimrod, and seek wings from (holy) personages: thou wilt not get any ladder from these vultures.
عقل جزوی کرکس آمد ای مقل ** پر او با جیفه‌خواری متصل
The vulture is the particular (discursive) reason, O poor (-spirited) one: its wings are connected with the eating of carrion;
عقل ابدالان چو پر جبرئیل ** می‌پرد تا ظل سدره میل میل
(But) the reason of the Abdál (exalted saints) is like the wings of Gabriel: it soars, mile by mile, up to the shade of the lote-tree (in Paradise).
باز سلطانم گشم نیکوپیم ** فارغ از مردارم و کرکس نیم 4140
(It says), “I am a royal falcon, I am fair and auspicious, I have nothing to do with carrion: I am not a vulture.
ترک کرکس کن که من باشم کست ** یک پر من بهتر از صد کرکست
Abandon the vulture, for I will be thy helper: a wing of mine is better for thee than a hundred vultures.”
چند بر عمیا دوانی اسپ را ** باید استا پیشه را و کسپ را
How long wilt thou gallop blindly? For (learning) a trade and business one needs a master.
خویشتن رسوا مکن در شهر چین ** عاقلی جو خویش از وی در مچین
Do not disgrace thyself in the capital of China: seek a sage and do not separate thyself from him.