Give up the business that hath no foot or head (permanence): hark, old donkey, get for thyself a Pír!4120
کار و باری که ندارد پا و سر ** ترک کن هی پیر خر ای پیر خر
May none but the Pír be (thy) master and captain!—not the Pír (old man) of the rolling sky, but the Pír of right guidance.
غیر پیر استاد و سرلشکر مباد ** پیر گردون نی ولی پیر رشاد
The devotee of darkness sees the light immediately as soon as he becomes subject to (the authority of) the Pír.
در زمان چون پیر را شد زیردست ** روشنایی دید آن ظلمت‌پرست
What is required is self-surrender, not long toil: ’tis useless to rush about in error.
شرط تسلیم است نه کار دراز ** سود نبود در ضلالت ترک‌تاز
Henceforth I will not seek the way to the Ether (the highest celestial sphere): I will seek the Pír, I will seek the Pír, the Pír, the Pír!
من نجویم زین سپس راه اثیر ** پیر جویم پیر جویم پیر پیر
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
Amongst these sources (authorities) there is no dispute, such as there is in (the case of) knowledge based on opinions.4135
یک خلافی نی میان این عیون ** آنچنان که هست در علم ظنون
That (knowledge based on opinion) is (like) searching (for the direction of the Ka‘ba) in the dark night, while this (mystic knowledge) is (like) the presence of the Ka‘ba and midday.
آن تحری آمد اندر لیل تار ** وین حضور کعبه و وسط نهار
Arise, O (thou who resemblest) Nimrod, and seek wings from (holy) personages: thou wilt not get any ladder from these vultures.
خیز ای نمرود پر جوی از کسان ** نردبانی نایدت زین کرکسان
The vulture is the particular (discursive) reason, O poor (-spirited) one: its wings are connected with the eating of carrion;
عقل جزوی کرکس آمد ای مقل ** پر او با جیفه‌خواری متصل
(But) the reason of the Abdál (exalted saints) is like the wings of Gabriel: it soars, mile by mile, up to the shade of the lote-tree (in Paradise).
عقل ابدالان چو پر جبرئیل ** می‌پرد تا ظل سدره میل میل
(It says), “I am a royal falcon, I am fair and auspicious, I have nothing to do with carrion: I am not a vulture.4140
باز سلطانم گشم نیکوپیم ** فارغ از مردارم و کرکس نیم
Abandon the vulture, for I will be thy helper: a wing of mine is better for thee than a hundred vultures.”
ترک کرکس کن که من باشم کست ** یک پر من بهتر از صد کرکست
How long wilt thou gallop blindly? For (learning) a trade and business one needs a master.
چند بر عمیا دوانی اسپ را ** باید استا پیشه را و کسپ را
Do not disgrace thyself in the capital of China: seek a sage and do not separate thyself from him.
خویشتن رسوا مکن در شهر چین ** عاقلی جو خویش از وی در مچین
Hark, whatever the Plato of the age bids thee do, give up thy self-will and act in accordance with that (counsel).
آن چه گوید آن فلاطون زمان ** هین هوا بگار و رو بر وفق آن