Drive the sheep, thy senses, to pasture: let them browse on (the pasture indicated in the text)—He who hath brought forth the herbage,
گوسفندان حواست را بران ** در چرا از أخرج المرعی چران
That there they may browse on hyacinth and wild-rose; that they may make their way to the garden of the Realities;
تا در آن جا سنبل و نسرین چرند ** تا به گلزار حقایق ره برند
(That) every sense of thine may become an apostle to the senses (of others), so that severally they may go towards that Paradise;3245
هر حست پیغمبر حسها شود ** تا یکایک سوی آن جنت رود
(And then those) senses will tell their secret to thy senses, without the proper meaning, without tongue, and without metaphor;
حسها با حس تو گویند راز ** بیزبان و بیحقیقت بیمجاز
For this proper meaning admits of (different) interpretations, and this guesswork is the source of (vain) imaginings;
کاین حقیقت قابل تاویلهاست ** وین توهم مایهی تخییلهاست
(But in the case of) that truth which is (perceived) from intuition, there is no room for any interpretation.
آن حقیقت را که باشد از عیان ** هیچ تاویلی نگنجد در میان
When every sense has become subject to thy sense, the heavenly spheres cannot avoid (obedience to) thee.
چون که هر حس بندهی حس تو شد ** مر فلکها را نباشد از تو بد
When a dispute takes place as to the ownership of the husk, the husk belongs to him who possesses the kernel.3250
چون که دعویی رود در ملک پوست ** مغز آن کی بود قشر آن اوست
When there happens to be a quarrel about a load of straw, observe who is the owner of the grain.
چون تنازع در فتد در تنگ کاه ** دانه آن کیست آن را کن نگاه
The heavenly sphere, then, is the husk, and the light of the spirit is the kernel. This (sky) is visible, that (spirit) is concealed; (but) do not stumble on this account.
پس فلک قشر است و نور روح مغز ** این پدید است آن خفی زین رو ملغز
The body is manifest, the (vital) spirit is concealed: the body is as the sleeve, the spirit as the hand.
جسم ظاهر روح مخفی آمده ست ** جسم همچون آستین جان همچو دست
Again, the intellect flies (moves) in a more occult manner than the (vital) spirit: (your mental) perception makes its way to (apprehends) the (vital) spirit sooner (than it apprehends the intellect).
باز عقل از روح مخفیتر بود ** حس سوی روح زوتر ره برد
(If) you see a movement, you know that he (who moves) is alive; (but) this you do not know, that he is full of intellect,3255
جنبشی بینی بدانی زنده است ** این ندانی که ز عقل آگنده است
Until regulated movements appear, and he by means of knowledge turns the motion of copper into gold.
تا که جنبشهای موزون سر کند ** جنبش مس را به دانش زر کند
From manual actions being conformable (to reason) you may perceive that there is intellect (behind them).
ز آن مناسب آمدن افعال دست ** فهم آید مر ترا که عقل هست
The spirit (that partakes) of Divine inspiration is more concealed than the intellect, because it is of the Unseen: it belongs to that side.
روح وحی از عقل پنهانتر بود ** ز انکه او غیب است او ز ان سر بود
The intellect of Ahmad (Mohammed) was not hidden from any one; (but) his spirit of (prophetic) inspiration was not apprehended by every soul.
عقل احمد از کسی پنهان نشد ** روح وحیش مدرک هر جان نشد
The spirit of prophecy also has actions conformable (to reason), (but) the intellect does not apprehend (them), for that (spirit) is exalted (above intellectual apprehension).3260
روح وحیی را مناسبهاست نیز ** در نیابد عقل کان آمد عزیز
Sometimes he (the man of intellect) regards (the actions of one endowed with the spirit) as madness, sometimes he is bewildered, since it (all) depends on his becoming that (other one);
گه جنون بیند گهی حیران شود ** ز انکه موقوف است تا او آن شود
As (for example) the intellect of Moses was troubled by seeing the reasonable actions of Khadir.
چون مناسبهای افعال خضر ** عقل موسی بود در دیدش کدر
His actions seemed unreasonable to Moses, since he (Moses) had not his (Khadir's) state (of Divine inspiration).
نامناسب مینمود افعال او ** پیش موسی چون نبودش حال او
Inasmuch as the intellect of Moses becomes tied up (perplexed and helpless) in (the matter of) the mysterious (inspiration), who (what) is the intellect of a (mere) mouse, O excellent (reader)?
عقل موسی چون شود در غیب بند ** عقل موشی خود کی است ای ارجمند
Conventional knowledge is (only) for sale (self-advertisement): when it finds a purchaser, it glows with delight.3265
علم تقلیدی بود بهر فروخت ** چون بیابد مشتری خوش بر فروخت
The purchaser of real knowledge is God: its market is always splendid.
مشتری علم تحقیقی حق است ** دایما بازار او با رونق است
He (the owner of real knowledge) has closed his lips (and is) enraptured in (his) trading: the purchasers are without end, for God hath purchased.
لب ببسته مست در بیع و شری ** مشتری بیحد که الله اشتری