Rumi's Masnavi - The Pír is the ladder to Heaven: by whom (what) is the arrow made to fly? By the bow.

The Pír is the ladder to Heaven: by whom (what) is the arrow made to fly? By the bow. 4125

پیر باشد نردبان آسمان ** تیر پران از که گردد از کمان

Was it not Abraham that caused the gross Nimrod to (attempt the) journey to heaven by means of the vulture?

نه ز ابراهیم نمرود گران ** کرد با کرکس سفر بر آسمان

(Impelled) by self-will, he often went upward; but no vulture can fly to heaven.

از هوا شد سوی بالا او بسی ** لیک بر گردون نپرد کرکسی

Abraham said to him, “O traveller, I will be thy vulture: this is more seemly for thee.

گفتش ابراهیم ای مرد سفر ** کرکست من باشم اینت خوب‌تر

When thou makest of me a ladder to go aloft, thou wilt ascend to heaven without flying”—

چون ز من سازی به بالا نردبان ** بی پریدن بر روی بر آسمان

As the heart (spirit), without provisions or riding-camel, travels (swiftly) as lightning to west and east; 4130

آنچنان که می‌رود تا غرب و شرق ** بی ز زاد و راحله دل هم‌چو برق

As man's consciousness, wandering abroad whilst he is asleep, travels during the night to (remote) cities;

آنچنان که می‌رود شب ز اغتراب ** حس مردم شهرها در وقت خواب

As the gnostic, sitting quietly (in one place), travels by a hidden track through a hundred worlds.

آنچنان که عارف از راه نهان ** خوش نشسته می‌رود در صد جهان

If he has not been endowed with power to travel like this, (then) from whom are (derived) these reports concerning that (spiritual) country?

گر ندادستش چنین رفتار دست ** این خبرها زان ولایت از کیست

Hundreds of thousands of Pírs are agreed upon (the truth of) these reports and these veracious narratives.

این خبرها وین روایات محق ** صد هزاران پیر بر وی متفق