در دباغی گر خلق پوشید مرد ** خواجگی خواجه را آن کم نکرد
If the man (engaged) in tanning wore a threadbare garment, that did not diminish the master's mastery (of his trade);
وقت دم آهنگر ار پوشید دلق ** احتشام او نشد کم پیش خلق 1060
If the ironsmith wore a patched frock when blowing the bellows, his reputation was not impaired in the eyes of the people.
پس لباس کبر بیرون کن ز تن ** ملبس ذل پوش در آموختن
Therefore strip the raiment of pride from thy body: in learning, put on the garment of humility.
علم آموزی طریقش قولی است ** حرفت آموزی طریقش فعلی است
If thou wouldst learn (theoretical) knowledge, the way of (acquiring) it is oral; if thou wouldst learn a craft, the way of (acquiring) it is practical (by practice).
فقر خواهی آن به صحبت قایمست ** نه زبانت کار میآید نه دست
If thou desire (spiritual) poverty, that depends on companionship (with a Shaykh): neither thy tongue nor thy hand avails.
دانش آن را ستاند جان ز جان ** نه ز راه دفتر و نه از زبان
Soul receives from soul the knowledge thereof, not by way of book nor from tongue.
در دل سالک اگر هست آن رموز ** رمزدانی نیست سالک را هنوز 1065
If those mysteries (of spiritual poverty) are in the traveller's heart, knowledge of the mystery is not yet possessed by the traveller.
تا دلش را شرح آن سازد ضیا ** پس الم نشرح بفرماید خدا
(Let him wait) until the expansion (illumination) of his heart shall make it (full of) the Light: then God saith, “Did not We expand …?
که درون سینه شرحت دادهایم ** شرح اندر سینهات بنهادهایم
For We have given thee the expansion (illumination) within thy breast, We have put the expansion into thy breast.”
تو هنوز از خارج آن را طالبی ** محلبی از دیگران چون حالبی
Thou art still seeking it from outside; thou art a source of milk: how art thou a milker of others?