(Namely) those answers to the questions of Moses which Khadir, (inspired) by the all-knowing Lord, set forth to him,
گشت مشکلهاش حل و افزون زیاد ** از پی هر مشکلش مفتاح داد
(So that) his difficulties became solved, and he (Khadir) gave to him (Moses) the key to every question (in a way) beyond telling.
از خضر درویش هم میراث داشت ** در جواب شیخ همت بر گماشت3530
The dervish also had (a spiritual) inheritance from Khadir; (hence) he bent his will to answering the Shaykh.
گفت راه اوسط ار چه حکمت است ** لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبت است
He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.
آب جو نسبت به اشتر هست کم ** لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم
Relatively to a camel, the water in the stream is little, but to a mouse it is like the ocean.
هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان ** دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن
If any one has an allowance of four loaves and eats two or three, that is the mean;
ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است ** او اسیر حرص مانند بط است
But if he eat all the four, it is far from the mean: he is in bondage to greed, like a duck.
هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود ** شش خورد میدان که اوسط آن بود3535
If one has appetite for ten loaves and eats six, know that that is the mean.
چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتهی ** مر ترا شش گرده هم دستیم نی
When I have appetite for fifty loaves, and you for (no more than) six scones, we are not equivalent.
تو به ده رکعت نماز آیی ملول ** من به پانصد در نیایم در نحول
You may be tired by ten rak‘as (of prayer), I may not be worn thin by five hundred.
آن یکی تا کعبه حافی میرود ** و آن یکی تا مسجد از خود میشود
One goes bare-foot (all the way) to the Ka‘ba, and one becomes beside himself (with exhaustion in going) as far as the mosque.
آن یکی در پاکبازی جان بداد ** وین یکی جان کند تا یک نان بداد
One in utter self-devotion gives his life, one is agonised at giving a single loaf.
این وسط در با نهایت میرود ** که مرا آن را اول و آخر بود3540
This mean belongs to (the realm of) the finite, for that (finite) has a beginning and end.
اول و آخر بباید تا در آن ** در تصور گنجد اوسط یا میان
A beginning and end are necessary in order that the mean or middle (point) between them may be conceived in imagination.
بینهایت چون ندارد دو طرف ** کی بود او را میانه منصرف
Inasmuch as the infinite has not (these) two limits, how should the mean be applicable to it?
اول و آخر نشانش کس نداد ** گفت لو کان له البحر مداد
No one has shown it to have beginning or end. He (God) said, ‘If the sea were to become ink for it (the Word of God)…’
هفت دریا گر شود کلی مداد ** نیست مر پایان شدن را هیچ امید
If the Seven Seas should become entirely ink, (still) there is no hope of coming to an end.
باغ و بیشه گر بود یک سر قلم ** زین سخن هرگز نگردد هیچ کم3545
If orchards and forests should become pens altogether, there would never be any decrease in this Word.
آن همه حبر و قلم فانی شود ** وین حدیث بیعدد باقی بود
All that ink and (all those) pens pass away, and this numberless Word is everlasting.
حالت من خواب را ماند گهی ** خواب پندارد مر آن را گمرهی
At times my state resembles sleep: a misguided person may think it is sleep.
چشم من خفته دلم بیدار دان ** شکل بیکار مرا بر کار دان
Know that my eyes are asleep, (but) my heart is awake: know that my (seemingly) inactive form is (really) in action.
گفت پیغمبر که عینای تنام ** لا ینام قلبی عن رب الأنام
The Prophet said, ‘My eyes sleep, (but) my heart is not asleep to the Lord of created beings.’
چشم تو بیدار و دل خفته به خواب ** چشم من خفته دلم در فتح باب3550
Your eyes are awake, and your heart is sunk in slumber; my eyes are asleep, (but) my heart is in (contemplation of) the opening of the door (of Divine grace).
مر دلم را پنج حس دیگر است ** حس دل را هر دو عالم منظر است
My heart hath five senses other (than the physical): both the worlds (external and spiritual) are the stage (theatre) for the senses of the heart.
تو ز ضعف خود مکن در من نگاه ** بر تو شب بر من همان شب چاشتگاه
Do not regard me from (the standpoint of) your infirmity: to you ’tis night, to me that same night is morningtide.
بر تو زندان بر من آن زندان چو باغ ** عین مشغولی مرا گشته فراغ
To you ’tis prison, to me that prison is like a garden: to me the most absolute state of occupation (with the world) has become (a state of spiritual) freedom.
پای تو در گل مرا گل گشته گل ** مر ترا ماتم مرا سور و دهل
Your feet are in the mud; to me the mud has become roses. You have mourning; I have feasting and drums.
در زمینم با تو ساکن در محل ** میدوم بر چرخ هفتم چون زحل3555
(Whilst) I am dwelling with you in some place on the earth, I am coursing over the seventh sphere (of Heaven), like Saturn.
همنشینت من نیم سایهی من است ** برتر از اندیشهها پایهی من است
’Tis not I that am seated beside you, ’tis my shadow: my rank is higher than (the reach of) thoughts,
ز انکه من ز اندیشهها بگذشتهام ** خارج اندیشه پویان گشتهام
Because I have passed beyond (all) thoughts, and have become a swift traveler outside (the region of) thought.
حاکم اندیشهام محکوم نی ** ز انکه بنا حاکم آمد بر بنا
I am the ruler of thought, not ruled (by it), because the builder is ruler over the building.
جمله خلقان سخرهی اندیشهاند ** ز آن سبب خسته دل و غم پیشهاند
All creatures are subjugated to thought; for that reason they are sore in heart and practised in sorrow.
قاصدا خود را به اندیشه دهم ** چون بخواهم از میانشان بر جهم3560
I yield myself to thought purposely, (but) when I will I spring up from the midst of them (that are under its sway).
من چو مرغ اوجم اندیشه مگس ** کی بود بر من مگس را دسترس
I am as a bird of the zenith, thought is a gnat: how should a gnat have power over me?
قاصدا زیر آیم از اوج بلند ** تا شکسته پایگان بر من تنند
Purposely I come down from the lofty zenith, that those of base degree may attain to me.
چون ملالم گیرد از سفلی صفات ** بر پرم همچون طیور الصافات
When disgust at the qualities of the low (world) seizes me, I soar up like the birds which spread their pinions.
پر من رسته ست هم از ذات خویش ** بر نچسبانم دو پر من با سریش
My wings have grown out of my very essence: I do not stick two wings on with glue.
جعفر طیار را پر جاریه ست ** جعفر عیار را پر عاریه ست3565
The wings of Ja‘far-i Tayyár are permanent; the wings of Ja‘far-i Tarrár are borrowed (unreal and transitory).
نزد آن که لم یذق دعوی است این ** نزد سکان افق معنی است این
In the view of him that has not experienced (it), this is (mere) pretension; in the view of the inhabitants of the (spiritual) horizon, this is the reality.
لاف و دعوی باشد این پیش غراب ** دیگ تی و پر یکی پیش ذباب
This is brag and pretension in the eyes of the crow: an empty or full pot is all one to the fly.
چون که در تو میشود لقمه گهر ** تن مزن چندان که بتوانی بخور
When morsels of food become (changed to) pearls within you, do not forbear: eat as much as you can.”
شیخ روزی بهر دفع سوء ظن ** در لگن قی کرد پر در شد لگن
One day the Shaykh, in order to rebut (these) ill thoughts, vomited in a basin, and the basin became full of pearls.
گوهر معقول را محسوس کرد ** پیر بینا بهر کم عقلی مرد3570
On account of the (abusive) man's little understanding, the clairvoyant Pír made the intelligible pearls objects of sense-perception.
چون که در معده شود پاکت پلید ** قفل نه بر حلق و پنهان کن کلید
When pure (lawful food) turns to impurity in your stomach, put a lock upon your gullet and hide the key;
هر که در وی لقمه شد نور جلال ** هر چه خواهد تا خورد او را حلال
(But) any one in whom morsels of food become the light of (spiritual) glory, let him eat whatever he will, it is lawful to him.
بیان دعویی که عین آن دعوی گواه صدق خویش است
Explaining (that there are) some assertions the truth of which is attested by their very nature.
گر تو هستی آشنای جان من ** نیست دعوی گفت معنی لان من
If you are my soul's familiar friend, my words full of (real) meaning are not (mere) assertion.
گر بگویم نیم شب پیش توام ** هین مترس از شب که من خویش توام
If at midnight I say, “I am near you: come now, be not afraid of the night, for I am your kinsman,”
این دو دعوی پیش تو معنی بود ** چون شناسی بانگ خویشاوند خود3575
These two assertions are to you reality, since you recognise the voice of your own relative.
پیشی و خویشی دو دعوی بود لیک ** هر دو معنی بود پیش فهم نیک
Nearness and kinship were (only) two assertions, but both (of them) were reality to the good understanding.
قرب آوازش گواهی میدهد ** کاین دم از نزدیک یاری میجهد
The proximity of the voice gives him (the hearer) testimony that these words spring from a near friend;