راهها داند ولی در زیر خاک ** هر طرف او خاک را کرده ست چاک
He knows (many) ways, but (only) underground: he has pierced the earth in every direction.
نفس موشی نیست الا لقمه رند ** قدر حاجت موش را عقلی دهند
The mouse-soul is naught but a nibbler: to the mouse is given a mind proportionate to its need,
ز انکه بیحاجت خداوند عزیز ** مینبخشد هیچ کس را هیچ چیز
Because without need the Almighty God does not give anything to any one.
گر نبودی حاجت عالم زمین ** نافریدی هیچ رب العالمین3275
If the earth had not been needed by the (inhabitants of the) world, the Lord of all beings would not have created any (earth);
وین زمین مضطرب محتاج کوه ** گر نبودی نافریدی پر شکوه
And if this quaking earth had not needed mountains, He would not have created them sublime (as they are);
ور نبودی حاجت افلاک هم ** هفت گردون نافریدی از عدم
And if there had not been need of the heavenly spheres also, He would not have created from non-existence the Seven Skies.
آفتاب و ماه و این استارگان ** جز به حاجت کی پدید آمد عیان
The sun and moon and these stars—how did they come plain into view except through need?
پس کمند هستها حاجت بود ** قدر حاجت مرد را آلت دهد
Need, then is the noose for (all) things that exsist: He (God) gives to Man instruments in proportion to his need.
پس بیفزا حاجت ای محتاج زود ** تا بجوشد در کرم دریای جود3280
Therefore quickly augment thy need, O needy one, in order that the Sea of Bounty may surge up in loving kindness.
این گدایان بر ره و هر مبتلا ** حاجت خود مینماید خلق را
These beggars (are) on the (public) road, and every sufferer (among them) is displaying his need to the people—
کوری و شلی و بیماری و درد ** تا از این حاجت بجنبد رحم مرد
Blindness and palsy and sickness and pain—that men's pity may be aroused by this need.
هیچ گوید نان دهید ای مردمان ** که مرا مال است و انبار است و خوان
Does he (any one) ever say, “Give bread, O people, for I have riches and granaries and trays (of viands)?”
چشم ننهادهست حق در کور موش ** ز انکه حاجت نیست چشمش بهر نوش
God has not put eyes in the mole, because it does not need eyes for (getting) food.
میتواند زیست بیچشم و بصر ** فارغ است از چشم او در خاک تر3285
It is able to live without eyes and sight: in the dank earth it is independent of eyes.
جز به دزدی او برون ناید ز خاک ** تا کند خالق از آن دزدیش پاک
It never comes out from the earth but for theft, to the end that the Creator may purge it of that thievishness.
بعد از آن پر یابد و مرغی شود ** چون ملایک جانب گردون رود
After that (purification), it will get wings and become a bird, like the angels, it will go towards heaven.
هر زمان در گلشن شکر خدا ** او بر آرد همچو بلبل صد نوا
Every moment, in the rose-garden of thanksgiving to God, it will produce a hundred (sweet) notes, like the nightingale,
کای رهاننده مرا از وصف زشت ** ای کننده دوزخی را تو بهشت
Singing, “O Thou that deliverest me from evil qualities! O Thou that makest a hell Paradise!
در یکی پیهی نهی تو روشنی ** استخوانی را دهی سمع ای غنی3290
Thou puttest light in a piece of fat; Thou, O Self-sufficing One, givest (the sense of) hearing to a bone.”
چه تعلق آن معانی را به جسم ** چه تعلق فهم اشیا را به اسم
What connexion have those concepts (e.g. sight and hearing) with the body? What connexion has the apprehension of things with (their) names?
لفظ چون وکرست و معنی طایر است ** جسم جوی و روح آب سایر است
The word is like the nest, and the meaning is the bird: the body is the riverbed, and the spirit is the rolling water.
او روان است و تو گویی واقف است ** او دوان است و تو گویی عاکف است
It is moving, and you say it is standing: it is running, and you say it is keeping still.
گر نبینی سیر آب از خاکها ** چیست بر وی نو به نو خاشاکها
If you see not the movement of the water through the fissures (channels) of earth—(yet it is moving): what are the sticks and straws (ever appearing) anew on it?
هست خاشاک تو صورتهای فکر ** نو به نو در میرسد اشکال بکر3295
Your sticks and straws are the forms (ideas) of thought: (these) virgin forms are always coming on anew.
روی آب جوی فکر اندر روش ** نیست بیخاشاک محبوب و وحش
The surface of the water and stream of thought, as it rolls, is not without sticks and straws, (some) pleasing and (some) unsightly.
قشرها بر روی این آب روان ** از ثمار باغ غیبی شد دوان
The husks on the surface of this rolling water have sped along from the fruits of the Invisible Garden.
قشرها را مغز اندر باغ جو ** ز انکه آب از باغ میآید به جو
Seek the kernels of the husks (not on the water, but) in the Garden, because the water comes from the Garden into the river-bed.
گر نبینی رفتن آب حیات ** بنگر اندر جوی و این سیر نبات
If you see not the flow of the Water of Life, look at the stream and at this movement of the weeds (in it).
آب چون انبهتر آید در گذر ** زو کند قشر صور زوتر گذر3300
When the water begins to pass by in fuller volume, the husks, (which are) the ideas, pass along it more quickly.
چون به غایت تیز شد این جو روان ** غم نپاید در ضمیر عارفان
When this stream has become extremely rapid in its flow, no care lingers in the minds of the gnostics.
چون به غایت ممتلی بود و شتاب ** پس نگنجید اندر او الا که آب
Since it is (then) exceedingly full and swift, on that account there is no room in it for anything but the water.
طعنه زدن بیگانه ای در شیخ و جواب گفتن مرید شیخ او را
How a stranger reviled the Shaykh and how the Shaykh's disciple answered him.
آن یکی یک شیخ را تهمت نهاد ** کاو بد است و نیست بر راه رشاد
A certain man brought charges against a Shaykh, saying, “He is wicked and not on the path of righteousness;
شارب خمر است و سالوس و خبیث ** مر مریدان را کجا باشد مغیث
He is a wine-drinker and a hypocrite and a scoundrel: how should he be one to succour his disciples?”
آن یکی گفتش ادب را هوش دار ** خرد نبود این چنین ظن بر کبار3305
One (of the disciples) said to him, “Observe respect: ’tis no light matter to think so ill of the great.
دور از او و دور از آن اوصاف او ** که ز سیلی تیره گردد صاف او
Far is it from him and far from those (saintly) qualities of his that his clear (spirit) should be darkened by a flood (of sin).
این چنین بهتان منه بر اهل حق ** این خیال تست بر گردان ورق
Do not put such slander on the people of God! This is (mere) fancy on your part. Turn over (a new) leaf.
این نباشد ور بود ای مرغ خاک ** بحر قلزم را ز مرداری چه باک
This (which you say) is not (true); and (even) if it should be, O land-fowl, what harm (comes) to the Red Sea from a carcase?
نیست دون القلتین و حوض خرد ** کی تواند قطرهایش از کار برد
He (the Shaykh) is not less than the (statutory) two jugfuls or the small tank, so that a single drop (of impurity) should be able to disqualify him (for religious purposes).
آتش ابراهیم را نبود زیان ** هر که نمرودی است گو میترس از آن3310
The fire is no damage to Abraham, (but) let any one who is a Nimrod beware of it!”
نفس نمرود است و عقل و جان خلیل ** روح در عین است و نفس اندر دلیل
The fleshly soul is Nimrod, and the intellect and spirit are the Friend of God (Abraham): the spirit is concerned with reality itself, and the fleshly soul with the proofs.
این دلیل راه رهرو را بود ** کاو به هر دم در بیابان گم شود
These indications of the way are for the traveller who at every moment becomes lost in the desert.
واصلان را نیست جز چشم و چراغ ** از دلیل و راهشان باشد فراغ
For them that have attained (to union with God) there is nothing (necessary) except the eye (of the spirit) and the lamp (of intuitive faith): they have no concern with indications (to guide them) or with a road (to travel by).
گر دلیلی گفت آن مرد وصال ** گفت بهر فهم اصحاب جدال
If the man that is united (with God) has mentioned some indication, he has mentioned (it) in order that the dialecticians may understand (his meaning).
بهر طفل نو پدر تیتی کند ** گر چه عقلش هندسهی گیتی کند3315
For a new-born child the father makes babbling sounds, though his intellect may make a survey of the (whole) world.
کم نگردد فضل استاد از علو ** گر الف چیزی ندارد گوید او
The dignity of the master's learning is not diminished if he say that (the letter) alif has nothing (has no diacritical mark).
از پی تعلیم آن بسته دهن ** از زبان خود برون باید شدن
For the sake of teaching that tongue-tied (child), one must go outside of one's own language (customary manner of speech).
در زبان او بباید آمدن ** تا بیاموزد ز تو او علم و فن
You must come into (adopt) his language, in order that he may learn knowledge and science from you.
پس همه خلقان چو طفلان ویاند ** لازم است این پیر را در وقت پند
All the people, then, are as his (the spiritual Teacher's) children: this (fact) is necessary for the Pír (to bear in mind) when he gives (them) instruction.
کفر را حد است و اندازه بدان ** شیخ و نور شیخ را نبود کران3320
Infidelity hath a fixed limit and range—know (this for sure); (but) the Shaykh and the light of the Shaykh have no bound.
پیش بیحد هر چه محدود است لاست ** کل شیء غیر وجه الله فناست
Before the infinite all that is finite is naught: everything except the Face of God is passing away.