Rumi's Masnavi - Because, if the (substantial) forms of thought were to become manifest, infidel and believer (alike) would speak naught but praise (of God).

Because, if the (substantial) forms of thought were to become manifest, infidel and believer (alike) would speak naught but praise (of God). 985

ز انکه گر پیدا شدی اشکال فکر ** کافر و مومن نگفتی جز که ذکر

Then, were this clearly seen, O King, not hidden, and were the mark of religion or infidelity (visible) on the forehead,

پس عیان بودی نه غیب ای شاه این ** نقش دین و کفر بودی بر جبین‏

How would there be idol and idolater in this world? How would any one have the stomach to mock (at holy things)?

کی درین عالم بت و بتگر بدی ** چون کسی را زهره‏ی تسخر بدی‏

Then this world of ours would be (like) the Resurrection: who commits sin and wrong at the Resurrection?”

پس قیامت بودی این دنیای ما ** در قیامت کی کند جرم و خطا

The King said, “God has veiled the retribution of evil, but (only) from the vulgar, not from His own elect.

گفت شه پوشید حق پاداش بد ** لیک از عامه نه از خاصان خود

If I entrap one Amír, I keep it hidden from the (other) Amírs, (but) not from the Vizier. 990

گر به دامی افکنم من یک امیر ** از امیران خفیه دارم نه از وزیر

God, then, has shown to me the retribution of work and myriads of the (substantial) forms of actions.

حق به من بنمود پس پاداش کار ** وز صورهای عملها صد هزار

Give a sign (outwardly), for I know all: the cloud does not veil the moon from me.”

تو نشانی ده که من دانم تمام ** ماه را بر من نمی‏پوشد غمام‏

The slave said, “Then what is the object of my speaking, since thou knowest what is (the real nature of) that which has been?”

گفت پس از گفت من مقصود چیست ** چون تو می‏دانی که آن چه بود چیست‏

The King said, “The wisdom (of God) in making the world manifest (was) that the (thing) known should come forth (to be seen) plainly.

گفت شه حکمت در اظهار جهان ** آن که دانسته برون آید عیان‏

Until He made visible that which He knew, He did not lay upon the world the pain of parturition and the throes (thereof). 995

آن چه می‏دانست تا پیدا نکرد ** بر جهان ننهاد رنج طلق و درد

You cannot sit inactive for one moment: (you cannot rest) till some badness or goodness has issued from you.

یک زمان بی‏کار نتوانی نشست ** تا بدی یا نیکیی از تو نجست‏

These demands (cravings) for action were appointed in order that your inward consciousness should come clearly into (outward) view.

این تقاضاهای کار از بهر آن ** شد موکل تا شود سرت عیان‏

How, then, should the reel, which is the body, become still, when the thread's end, which is the mind, is pulling it?

پس کلابه‏ی تن کجا ساکن شود ** چون سر رشته‏ی ضمیرش می‏کشد

The sign of that pulling is your anguish: to be inactive is to you like the death-agony.

تاسه‏ی تو شد نشان آن کشش ** بر تو بی‏کاری بود چون جان کنش‏

This world and that world are for ever giving birth: every cause is a mother, the effect is the child (born) from it. 1000

این جهان و آن جهان زاید ابد ** هر سبب مادر اثر از وی ولد

When the effect was born, that too became a cause, so that it might give birth to wondrous effects.

چون اثر زایید آن هم شد سبب ** تا بزاید او اثرهای عجب‏

These causes are generation on generation, but it needs a very well illumined eye (to see all the links in their chain).”

این سببها نسل بر نسل است لیک ** دیده‏ای باید منور نیک نیک‏

The King, in conversation with him, arrived at this point: he either saw or did not see a sign.

شاه با او در سخن اینجا رسید ** یا بدید از وی نشانی یا ندید

If that searching King saw (such a sign), ’tis not strange; but we are not permitted to mention it.

گر بدید آن شاه جویا دور نیست ** لیک ما را ذکر آن دستور نیست‏

When that (other) slave came from the warm bath, that King and lofty personage called him to his presence, 1005

چون ز گرمابه بیامد آن غلام ** سوی خویشش خواند آن شاه و همام‏

(And) said, “Health (to you)! Lasting happiness be yours! You are very fine and elegant and good-looking.

گفت صحا لک نعیم دایم ** بس لطیفی و ظریف و خوب رو

Oh, alas! If there were not in you that which so-and-so says about you,

ای دریغا گر نبودی در تو آن ** که همی‏گوید برای تو فلان‏

Whoever beheld your face would become glad; the sight of you would be worth the empire of the world.”

شاد گشتی هر که رویت دیده‏یی ** دیدنت ملک جهان ارزیدیی‏

He said, “O King, utter some hint of what that miscreant said about me.”

گفت رمزی ز آن بگو ای پادشاه ** کز برای من بگفت آن دین تباه‏

The King said, “In the first place he described you as double-faced, saying that you are ostensibly a remedy (but) secretly a disease.” 1010

گفت اول وصف دو روییت کرد ** کاشکارا تو دوایی خفیه درد

When he heard from the King the malice of his companion, at once the sea of his anger surged up.

خبث یارش را چو از شه گوش کرد ** در زمان دریای خشمش جوش کرد

That slave foamed and reddened, so that the billows of his vituperation exceeded (all) bounds.

کف بر آورد آن غلام و سرخ گشت ** تا که موج هجو او از حد گذشت‏

He said, “From the first moment that he was associated with me, he was a great eater of dung, like a dog in (time of) famine.”

کاو ز اول دم که با من یار بود ** همچو سگ در قحط بس گه خوار بود

As he satirised him in succession (without intermission), like a bell, the King put his hand on his (the slave's) lips, saying, “Enough!”

چون دمادم کرد هجوش چون جرس ** دست بر لب زد شهنشاهش که بس‏

He said, “I know you from him by that (which you have spoken): in you the spirit is foul, and in your companion (only) the mouth. 1015

گفت دانستم ترا از وی بدان ** از تو جان گنده ست و از یارت دهان‏

Therefore do you sit far off, O foul-spirited one, that he may be the commander and you under his command.”

پس نشین ای گنده جان از دور تو ** تا امیر او باشد و مأمور تو

It is (said) in the Hadíth (Traditions of the Prophet): “Know, sire, that glorification (of God) from hypocrisy is like the verdure on a midden.”

در حدیث آمد که تسبیح از ریا ** همچو سبزه‏ی گولخن دان ای کیا

Know, then, that a fair and goodly form with bad qualities (within) is not worth a farthing;

پس بدان که صورت خوب و نکو ** با خصال بد نیرزد یک تسو

And though the form be despicable and unpleasing, (yet) when his (that person's) disposition is good, die at his feet!

ور بود صورت حقیر و ناپذیر ** چون بود خلقش نکو در پاش میر

Know that the outward form passes away, (but) the world of reality remains for ever. 1020

صورت ظاهر فنا گردد بدان ** عالم معنی بماند جاودان‏

How long will you play at loving the shape of the jug? Leave the shape of the jug; go, seek the water.

چند بازی عشق با نقش سبو ** بگذر از نقش سبو رو آب جو

You have seen its (outward) form, you are unaware of the reality; pick out from the shell a pearl, if you are wise.

صورتش دیدی ز معنی غافلی ** از صدف دری گزین گر عاقلی‏

These shells of bodies in the world, though they all are living by (grace of) the Sea of Soul—

این صدفهای قوالب در جهان ** گر چه جمله زنده‏اند از بحر جان‏

Yet there is not a pearl in every shell: open your eyes and look into the heart of each one,

لیک اندر هر صدف نبود گهر ** چشم بگشا در دل هر یک نگر

And pick out what that one has and what this, because that costly pearl is seldom found. 1025

کان چه دارد وین چه دارد می‏گزین ** ز انکه کمیاب است آن در ثمین‏

If you go (turn your attention) to the form, by external appearance a mountain is a hundred times as much as a ruby in bigness;

گر به صورت می‏روی کوهی به شکل ** در بزرگی هست صد چندان که لعل‏

Also, in respect of form, your hands and feet and hair are a hundred times as much as the contour of the eye;

هم به صورت دست و پا و پشم تو ** هست صد چندان که نقش چشم تو

But this (fact) is not hidden from you, that the two eyes are the choicest of all (your) members.

لیک پوشیده نباشد بر تو این ** کز همه اعضا دو چشم آمد گزین‏

By one thought that comes into the mind a hundred worlds are overturned in a single moment.

از یک اندیشه که آید در درون ** صد جهان گردد به یک دم سر نگون‏

If the body of the Sultan is, in form (appearance), one (only), (yet) hundreds of thousands of soldiers run behind (it). 1030

جسم سلطان گر به صورت یک بود ** صد هزاران لشکرش در پی دود

Again, the figure and form of the excellent King are ruled by one invisible thought.

باز شکل و صورت شاه صفی ** هست محکوم یکی فکر خفی‏

Behold people without end who, moved by one thought, have gone over the earth like a flood;

خلق بی‏پایان ز یک اندیشه بین ** گشته چون سیلی روانه بر زمین‏

Small is that thought in the people's eyes, but like a flood it swallowed and swept away the world.

هست آن اندیشه پیش خلق خرد ** لیک چون سیلی جهان را خورد و برد

So, when you see that from a thought every craft in the world (arises and) subsists—

پس چو می‏بینی که از اندیشه‏ای ** قایم است اندر جهان هر پیشه‏ای‏