Inasmuch as he did not give due punishment to this idol of self, from the idol of his self the other idol was born.
چون سزای این بت نفس او نداد ** از بت نفسش بتی دیگر بزاد
The idol of your self is the mother of (all) idols, because that (material) idol is (only) a snake, while this (spiritual) idol is a dragon.
مادر بتها بت نفس شماست ** ز آن که آن بت مار و این بت اژدهاست
The self is (as) iron and stone (whence fire is produced), while the (material) idol is (as) the sparks: those sparks are quieted (quenched) by water.
آهن و سنگ است نفس و بت شرار ** آن شرار از آب می‌‌گیرد قرار
(But) how should the stone and iron be allayed by water? How should a man, having these twain, be secure?
سنگ و آهن ز آب کی ساکن‌‌شود ** آدمی با این دو کی ایمن شود
The idol is the black water hidden in the jug; know that the self is the fountain.775
بت سیاه‌‌آبه‌‌ست در کوزه نهان ** نفس مر آب سیه را چشمه دان
That sculptured idol is like the black torrent; the idol-making self is a fountain (jetting muddy water) on the Water-way (the Way that leads to the Water of Life).
آن بت منحوت چون سیل سیاه ** نفس بتگر چشمه‌‌ای بر آب راه
A single piece of stone will break a hundred pitchers, but the fountain-water is making jets incessantly.
صد سبو را بشکند یک پاره سنگ ** و آب چشمه می‌‌زهاند بی‌‌درنگ
’Tis easy to break an idol, very easy; to regard the self as easy (to subdue) is folly, folly.
بت شکستن سهل باشد نیک سهل ** سهل دیدن نفس را جهل است جهل
O son, if you seek (to know) the form of the self, read the story of Hell with its seven gates.
صورت نفس ار بجویی ای پسر ** قصه‌‌ی دوزخ بخوان با هفت در
Every moment (there proceeds from the self) an act of deceit, and in every one of those deceits a hundred Pharaohs are drowned together with their followers.780
هر نفس مکری و در هر مکر ز آن ** غرقه صد فرعون با فرعونیان