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جسمها چون کوزههای بستهسر ** تا که در هر کوزه چه بود آن نگر 650
- Bodies are like pots with the lids on: look and see what is in each pot.
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کوزهی آن تن پر از آب حیات ** کوزهی این تن پر از زهر ممات
- The pot of that body is filled with the Water of Life; the pot of this body is filled with the poison of death.
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گر به مظروفش نظر داری شهی ** ور به ظرفش بنگری تو گمرهی
- If you keep your eye fixed on its contents, you are a (spiritual) king; but if you regard its vessel, you are misguided.
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لفظ را مانندهی این جسم دان ** معنیش را در درون مانند جان
- Know that words resemble this body and that their inward meaning resembles the soul.
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دیدهی تن دایما تنبین بود ** دیدهی جان جان پر فن بین بود
- The bodily eye is always seeing the body; the spiritual eye sees the artful (elusive) soul.
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پس ز نقش لفظهای مثنوی ** صورتی ضالست و هادی معنوی 655
- Therefore the man of appearance is misled by the form of the expressions used in the Mathnawí, while they guide the man of reality (to the Truth).
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در نبی فرمود کین قرآن ز دل ** هادی بعضی و بعضی را مضل
- He (God) hath said in the Qur’án, “This Qur’án with all its heart leads some aright and others astray.”
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الله الله چونک عارف گفت می ** پیش عارف کی بود معدوم شی
- God, God! When the gnostic speaks of “wine,” how in the gnostic's eyes should the (materially) non-existent be a (material) thing?
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فهم تو چون بادهی شیطان بود ** کی ترا وهم می رحمان بود
- Since your understanding is (only of) the Devil's wine, how should you have any conception of the wine of the Merciful (God)?
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این دو انبازند مطرب با شراب ** این بدان و آن بدین آرد شتاب
- These twain—the minstrel and the wine—are partners: this one quickly leads to that, and that one to this.