در یکی گفته که بگذار آن خود ** کان قبول طبع تو ردست و بد

In one he said: “Let go all that belongs to self, for it is wrong and bad to comply with your nature.”

راههای مختلف آسان شده ست ** هر یکی را ملتی چون جان شده ست‌‌

(Many) different roads have become easy (to follow): every one's religion has become (to him) as (dear) as life.

گر میسر کردن حق ره بدی ** هر جهود و گبر از او آگه بدی‌‌

If God's making (religion) easy were the (right) road, every Jew and Zoroastrian would have knowledge of Him.

در یکی گفته میسر آن بود ** که حیات دل غذای جان بود 485

In one he said: “That (alone) is made easy (blessed) that (nothing but) spiritual food should be the life of the heart.”

هر چه ذوق طبع باشد چون گذشت ** بر نیارد همچو شوره ریع و کشت‌‌

When the enjoyments of the (sensual) nature are past, like brackish soil they raise no produce and crop.

جز پشیمانی نباشد ریع او ** جز خسارت پیش نارد بیع او

The produce thereof is naught but penitence; the sale thereof yields only loss.

آن میسر نبود اندر عاقبت ** نام او باشد معسر عاقبت‌‌

That is not “easy” in the end; its (true) name ultimately is “hard.”

تو معسر از میسر باز دان ** عاقبت بنگر جمال این و آن‌‌

Distinguish the hard from the easy: consider (what is) the goodliness of this and that in the end.

در یکی گفته که استادی طلب ** عاقبت بینی نیابی در حسب‌‌ 490

In one he said: “Seek a master (teacher): you will not find foresight as to the end among the qualities derived from ancestors.”

عاقبت دیدند هر گون ملتی ** لاجرم گشتند اسیر زلتی‌‌

Every sort of religious sect foresaw the end (according to their own surmise): of necessity they fell captive to error.