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
All (who dwell) in China are saying in zeal for (the glory of) their King, “He begetteth not.4145
جمله میگویند اندر چین به جد ** بهر شاه خویشتن که لم یلد
Never in sooth has our King begotten a child; nay, he has not allowed a woman to approach him.”
شاه ما خود هیچ فرزندی نزاد ** بلک سوی خویش زن را ره نداد
When any king says of him something of this sort, he weds his (traducer's) neck to the cutting scimitar.
هر که از شاهان ازین نوعش بگفت ** گردنش با تیغ بران کرد جفت
The King says (to such an one), “Since thou hast spoken these words, either prove that I have a wife and family—
شاه گوید چونک گفتی این مقال ** یا بکن ثابت که دارم من عیال
And if thou prove that I have a daughter, thou art safe from my keen sword—
مر مرا دختر اگر ثابت کنی ** یافتی از تیغ تیزم آمنی
Or else without any doubt I will cut thy throat: I will tear the mantle (thy body) off the Súfí, thy spirit.4150
ورنه بی شک من ببرم حلق تو ** بر کشم از صوفی جان دلق تو
Thou wilt never save thy head from the sword, O thou that hast spoken vain and lying words!
سر نخواهی برد هیچ از تیغ تو ** ای بگفته لاف کذب آمیغ تو
O thou that hast foolishly spoken an untruth, behold a moat full of severed heads!—
بنگر ای از جهل گفته ناحقی ** پر ز سرهای بریده خندقی
A moat filled from its bottom to its mouth with heads severed on account of this enormity.
خندقی از قعر خندق تا گلو ** پر ز سرهای بریده زین غلو
All have been sacrificed to this (false) assertion: they have beheaded themselves with this assertion.
جمله اندر کار این دعوی شدند ** گردن خود را بدین دعوی زدند
Beware! Regard this with a heedful eye: do not conceive or utter such an assertion!”4155
هان ببین این را به چشم اعتبار ** این چنین دعوی میندیش و میار
(The two princes said), “Thou wilt make our lives bitter to us: who is inducing thee to (act like) this, O brother?
تلخ خواهی کرد بر ما عمر ما ** کی برین میدارد ای دادر ترا
If one who is ignorant should journey a hundred years in blindness, that is not reckoned as a journey.
گر رود صد سال آنک آگاه نیست ** بر عما آن از حساب راه نیست