مهدی و هادی وی است ای راه جو ** هم نهان و هم نشسته پیش رو
He is the Mahdí (the God-guided one) and the Hádí (the Guide), O seeker of the (right) way: he is both hidden (from you) and seated before your face.
او چو نور است و خرد جبریل اوست ** و آن ولی کم از او قندیل اوست
He is as the Light (of Mohammed), and (Universal) Reason is his Gabriel; the saint that is lesser than he is his lamp (and receives illumination from him).
و انکه زین قندیل کم مشکات ماست ** نور را در مرتبه ترتیبهاست820
That (saint) who is lesser than this lamp is our lamp-niche: the Light has gradations in degree,
ز انکه هفصد پرده دارد نور حق ** پردههای نور دان چندین طبق
Because the Light of God has seven hundred veils: regard the veils of the Light as so many tiers.
از پس هر پرده قومی را مقام ** صف صفاند این پردههاشان تا امام
Behind each veil a certain class (of saints) has its place of abode: these veils of theirs are (in ascending order), rank by rank, up to the Imám.
اهل صف آخرین از ضعف خویش ** چشمشان طاقت ندارد نور بیش
Those in the last (lowest) rank, through their weakness, (are such that) their eyes cannot endure the light in front (of them);
و آن صف پیش از ضعیفی بصر ** تاب نارد روشنایی بیشتر
And that front rank, from weakness of sight, cannot support the light that is more advanced.
روشنیی کاو حیات اول است ** رنج جان و فتنهی این احول است825
The light that is the life of the first (highest rank) is heartache and tribulation to this squinter;
احولیها اندک اندک کم شود ** چون ز هفصد بگذرد او یم شود
(But) the squintnesses, little by little, grow less, and when he passes beyond the seven hundred (veils), he becomes the Sea.
آتشی کاصلاح آهن یا زر است ** کی صلاح آبی و سیب تر است
The fire that does good to iron or gold—how is it good for fresh quinces and apples?
سیب و آبی خامیی دارد خفیف ** نه چو آهن تابشی خواهد لطیف
The apple and quince have (only) a slight crudity: unlike iron, they want a gentle heat;
لیک آهن را لطیف آن شعلههاست ** کاو جذوب تابش آن اژدهاست
But those flames are (too) gentle for the iron, for it is (eagerly) drawing to (itself) the heat of that (fiery) dragon.
هست آن آهن فقیر سخت کش ** زیر پتک و آتش است او سرخ و خوش830
That iron is the dervish who bears hardship (self-mortification): under the hammer and the fire he is red and happy.
حاجب آتش بود بیواسطه ** در دل آتش رود بیرابطه
He is the chamberlain of the fire (and) in immediate touch (with it): he goes into the heart of the fire without (any) link (between the fire and him).
بیحجاب آب و فرزندان آب ** پختگی ز آتش نیابند و خطاب
Without some screen, water and water's children get no cooking or conversation from the fire.
واسطه دیگی بود یا تابهای ** همچو پا را در روش پا تابهای
The medium is a pot or a pan—as (the medium) for the foot in walking (is) a sock (shoe)—
یا مکانی در میان تا آن هوا ** میشود سوزان و میآرد بما
Or a space between, so that the air becomes burning hot and brings (the fire) to the water.
پس فقیر آن است کاو بیواسطه ست ** شعلهها را با وجودش رابطه ست835
The dervish, then, is he that has no intermediary: the flames have (direct) connexion with his being.
پس دل عالم وی است ایرا که تن ** میرسد از واسطهی این دل به فن
Therefore he is the heart of the world, because by means of this heart the body attains to (its proper) art (function).
دل نباشد، تن چه داند گفتوگو ** دل نجوید، تن چه داند جستجو
(If) the heart be not there, how can the body talk and speak? (If) the heart seek not, how can the body seek and search?
پس نظرگاه شعاع آن آهن است ** پس نظرگاه خدا دل نی تن است
Therefore the theatre of the (Divine) rays is that iron; therefore the theatre of God is the heart, not the body.
باز این دلهای جزوی چون تن است ** با دل صاحب دلی کاو معدن است
Again, these partial (individual) hearts are as the body in relation to the heart of the man of heart (the perfect saint), which is the original source.
بس مثال و شرح خواهد این کلام ** لیک ترسم تا نلغزد وهم عام840
This argument wants much illustration and exposition, but I fear lest the opinion of the vulgar should stumble (and fall into error),
تا نگردد نیکویی ما بدی ** اینکه گفتم هم نبد جز بیخودی
(And) lest my goodness should be turned (by them) to badness;—even this that I have spoken was (from) naught but selflessness.
پای کج را کفش کج بهتر بود ** مر گدا را دستگه بر در بود
The crooked shoe is better for the crooked foot; the beggar's power reaches only as far as the door.
امتحان پادشاه به آن دو غلام که نو خریده بود
How the King made trial of the two slaves whom he had recently purchased.
پادشاهی دو غلام ارزان خرید ** با یکی ز آن دو سخن گفت و شنید
A King bought two slaves cheap, and conversed with one of the twain.
یافتش زیرک دل و شیرین جواب ** از لب شکر چه زاید شکر آب
He found him quick-witted and answering sweetly: what issues from the sugar-lip? Sugar-water.
آدمی مخفی است در زیر زبان ** این زبان پرده است بر درگاه جان845
Man is concealed underneath his tongue: this tongue is the curtain over the gate of the soul.
چون که بادی پرده را در هم کشید ** سر صحن خانه شد بر ما پدید
When a gust of wind has rolled up the curtain, the secret of the interior of the house is disclosed to us,
کاندر آن خانه گهر یا گندم است ** گنج زر یا جمله مار و کژدم است
(And we see) whether in that house there are pearls or (grains of) wheat, a treasure of gold or whether all is snakes and scorpions;
یا در او گنج است و ماری بر کران ** ز انکه نبود گنج زر بیپاسبان
Or whether a treasure is there and a serpent beside it, since a treasure of gold is not without some one to keep watch.
بیتامل او سخن گفتی چنان ** کز پس پانصد تامل دیگران
Without premeditation he (that slave) would speak in such wise as others after five hundred premeditations.
گفتی اندر باطنش دریاستی ** جمله دریا گوهر گویاستی850
You would have said that in his inward part there was a sea, and that the whole sea was pearls of eloquence,
نور هر گوهر کز او تابان شدی ** حق و باطل را از او فرقان شدی
(And that) the light that shone from every pearl became a criterion for distinguishing between truth and falsehood.
نور فرقان فرق کردی بهر ما ** ذره ذره حق و باطل را جدا
(So) would the light of the Criterion (Universal Reason), (if it shone into our hearts), distinguish for us truth and falsehood and separate them mote by mote;
نور گوهر نور چشم ما شدی ** هم سؤال و هم جواب از ما بدی
The light of the (Divine) Pearl would become the light of our eyes: both the question and the answer would be (would come) from us.
چشم کژ کردی دو دیدی قرص ماه ** چون سؤال است این نظر در اشتباه
(But) you have made your eyes awry and seen the moon's disk double: this gazing in perplexity is like the question.
راست گردان چشم را در ماهتاب ** تا یکی بینی تو مه را نک جواب855
Make your eyes straight in the moonshine, so that you may see the moon as one. Lo, (that is) the answer.
فکرتت که کژ مبین نیکو نگر ** هست آن فکرت شعاع آن گهر
Your thought, (namely), "Do not see awry, look well!" is just the light and radiance of that Pearl.
هر جوابی کان ز گوش آید به دل ** چشم گفت از من شنو آن را بهل
Whenever an answer comes to the heart through the ear, the eye says, “Hear it from me; let that (answer given through the ear) alone!”
گوش دلاله ست و چشم اهل وصال ** چشم صاحب حال و گوش اصحاب قال
The ear is a go-between, while the eye is possessed of union (immediate vision); the eye has direct experience (of reality), while the ear has (only) words (doctrine).
در شنود گوش تبدیل صفات ** در عیان دیدها تبدیل ذات
In the ear's hearing there is a transformation of qualities; in the eyes' seeing there is a transformation of essence.
ز آتش ار علمت یقین شد از سخن ** پختگی جو در یقین منزل مکن860
If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words (alone), seek to be cooked (by the fire itself), and do not abide in the certainty (of knowledge derived from others).
تا نسوزی نیست آن عین الیقین ** این یقین خواهی در آتش در نشین
There is no intuitive (actual) certainty until you burn; (if) you desire this certainty, sit down in the fire.
گوش چون نافذ بود دیده شود ** ور نه قل در گوش پیچیده شود
When the ear is penetrating, it becomes an eye; otherwise, the word (of God) becomes entangled in the ear (and does not reach the heart).
این سخن پایان ندارد باز گرد ** تا که شه با آن غلامانش چه کرد
This discourse hath no end. Turn back, that (we may see) what the King did to those slaves of his.
به راه کردن شاه یکی را از آن دو غلام و از این دیگر پرسیدن
How the King sent away one of the two slaves and interrogated the other.
آن غلامک را چو دید اهل ذکا ** آن دگر را کرد اشارت که بیا
When he saw that that laddie was possessed of keen intelligence, he made a sign to the other to come (to him).
(If) I have called him by (a word which has) the suffix of pity (tenderness), ’tis not to belittle him: if a grandfather say “my sonny,” it is not (in) contempt.
چون بیامد آن دوم در پیش شاه ** بود او گنده دهان دندان سیاه
When the second (slave) came before the King, he had a stinking mouth and black teeth.
گر چه شه ناخوش شد از گفتار او ** جستجویی کرد هم ز اسرار او
Although the King was displeased by his speech, still he made some inquiry concerning his hidden thoughts.