In every city to which he went he would at first make search after the venerable (saints).
او به هر شهری که رفتی از نخست ** مر عزیزان را بکردی باز جست
He would roam about, asking, “Who is there in the city that is relying on (spiritual) insight?”2220
گرد میگشتی که اندر شهر کیست ** کاو بر ارکان بصیرت متکیاست
God has said, “Whithersoever thou goest in thy travels, thou must first seek after a (holy) man.”
گفت حق اندر سفر هر جا روی ** باید اول طالب مردی شوی
Go in quest of a treasure, for (worldly) profit and loss come second: regard them as the branch (not as the root).
قصد گنجی کن که این سود و زیان ** در تبع آید تو آن را فرع دان
Whoever sows is in quest of wheat; the chaff comes to him indeed, (but only) secondarily.
هر که کارد قصد گندم باشدش ** کاه خود اندر تبع میآیدش
If you sow chaff, no wheat will come up: seek a man, seek a man, a man!
که بکاری بر نیاید گندمی ** مردمی جو مردمی جو مردمی
When it is the season of pilgrimage, go in quest of the Ka‘ba; when you have gone (with that purpose), Mecca also will be seen.2225
قصد کعبه کن چو وقت حج بود ** چون که رفتی مکه هم دیده شود
In the Mi‘ráj (Ascension of the Prophet) the quest was (for) vision of the Beloved; ’twas but secondarily that the empyrean and the angels were also shown.
قصد در معراج دید دوست بود ** در تبع عرش و ملایک هم نمود
Story.
حکایت
A novice one day built a new house; the Pír came (and) saw his house.
خانهی نو ساخت روزی نو مرید ** پیر آمد خانهی او را بدید
The Shaykh said to his new disciple—he put to the test him that had good thoughts—
گفت شیخ آن نو مرید خویش را ** امتحان کرد آن نکو اندیش را