The least (of them is) the energetic and ingenious Pharaoh: his moon was eclipsed in the mansion of imagination.2660
کمترین فرعون چست فیلسوف ** ماه او در برج وهمی در خسوف
Nobody knows who is the cuckold, and he that knows has no doubt concerning himself.
کس نداند روسپیزن کیست آن ** وانک داند نیستش بر خود گمان
Since thine own imagination keeps thee giddy-headed, wherefore shouldst thou revolve round the imagination of another?
چون ترا وهم تو دارد خیرهسر ** از چه گردی گرد وهم آن دگر
I am helpless against my own egoism: why hast thou, full of egoism, sat down beside me?
عاجزم من از منی خویشتن ** چه نشستی پر منی تو پیش من
I am seeking with (all) my soul one who is free from egoism, that I may become the ball of that goodly bat.
بیمن و مایی همیجویم به جان ** تا شوم من گوی آن خوش صولجان
In sooth any one who has become without ego is all egos: when he is not loved by himself he becomes loved by (them) all.2665
هر که بیمن شد همه منها خود اوست ** دوست جمله شد چو خود را نیست دوست
(When) a mirror becomes devoid of images, it gains splendour because (then) it is the reporter (reflector) of all images.
آینه بینقش شد یابد بها ** زانک شد حاکی جمله نقشها
Story of Shaykh Mohammed Sar-razí of Ghazna, may God sanctify his spirit!
حکایت شیخ محمد سررزی غزنوی قدس الله سره
In Ghazna there was an ascetic, abounding in knowledge (of divinity): his name was Mohammed and his title Sar-razí.
زاهدی در غزنی از دانش مزی ** بد محمد نام و کفیت سررزی
Every night he would break his fast with vine-tendrils (sar-i raz): during seven years he was continually (engaged) in one quest.
بود افطارش سر رز هر شبی ** هفت سال او دایم اندر مطلبی
He experienced many marvellous things from the King of existence, but his object was (to behold) the beauty of the King.
بس عجایب دید از شاه وجود ** لیک مقصودش جمال شاه بود
That man who was surfeited with himself went to the top of a mountain and said, “Appear, or I will fall (throw myself) to the bottom.”2670
بر سر که رفت آن از خویش سیر ** گفت بنما یا فتادم من به زیر
He (God) said, “The time for that favour is not (yet) come, and if thou fall down, thou wilt not die: I will not kill thee.”
گفت نامد مهلت آن مکرمت ** ور فرو افتی نمیری نکشمت
He, from love (of God), threw himself down: he fell into the depths of a (piece of) water.
او فرو افکند خود را از وداد ** در میان عمق آبی اوفتاد
When he (found that he) was not dead, on account of the shock (of disappointment) that man who was sick of life made lament over himself for having been parted from death;
چون نمرد از نکس آن جانسیر مرد ** از فراق مرگ بر خود نوحه کرد
For this (present) life seemed to him like a (state of) death: in his view the thing had become reversed.
کین حیات او را چو مرگی مینمود ** کار پیشش بازگونه گشته بود
He was begging death (as a gift) from the Unseen, he was crying, “Verily, my life is in my death.”2675
موت را از غیب میکرد او کدی ** ان فی موتی حیاتی میزدی
He had embraced death as (other people embrace) life, he had become in full accord with the destruction of his life.
موت را چون زندگی قابل شده ** با هلاک جان خود یک دل شده
As (with) ‘Alí, the sword and dagger were his sweet basil, the narcissus and eglantine were his soul's enemies.
سیف و خنجر چون علی ریحان او ** نرگس و نسرین عدوی جان او
A Voice came (to his ear), “Go from the desert to the city”— a wondrous Voice transcending the occult and the manifest.
بانگ آمد رو ز صحرا سوی شهر ** بانگ طرفه از ورای سر و جهر
He cried, “O Thou that knowest my secret, hair by hair, tell me, what service am I to do in the city?”
گفت ای دانای رازم مو به مو ** چه کنم در شهر از خدمت بگو
It (the Voice) said, “The service is this, that for the purpose of self abasement thou shouldst make thyself (like) ‘Abbás (the seller) of date-syrup.2680
گفت خدمت آنک بهر ذل نفس ** خویش را سازی تو چون عباس دبس
For a while take money from the rich and then deliver it to the lowly poor.
مدتی از اغنیا زر میستان ** پس به درویشان مسکین میرسان
This is the service thou must do for some time.” He replied, “To hear is to obey, O Thou who art my soul's refuge.”
خدمتت اینست تا یک چند گاه ** گفت سمعا طاعة ای جانپناه
Many questions and answers and much conversation passed between the ascetic and the Lord of mankind,
بس سال و بس جواب و ماجرا ** بد میان زاهد و رب الوری
Whereby earth and heaven were filled with (spiritual) light: all that is recorded in the Maqálát;
که زمین و آسمان پر نور شد ** در مقالات آن همه مذکور شد