The carnal soul is a follower of Pharaoh: beware, do not satisfy it, lest it remember its ancient infidelity.
نفس فرعونیست هان سیرش مکن ** تا نیارد یاد از آن کفر کهن
Without the glowing heat of the fire (of mortification) the carnal soul will never become goodly: hark, do not beat the iron till it has become like live coals.
بی تف آتش نگردد نفس خوب ** تا نشد آهن چو اخگر هین مکوب
Without hunger the body makes no movement (towards God): ‘tis cold iron thou art beating. Know (this for sure)!
Though it weep and wail most piteously, it will never become a true believer. Take heed!
گر بگرید ور بنالد زار زار ** او نخواهد شد مسلمان هوش دار
It is like Pharaoh: in (the time of) famine it lays its head before Moses, as he (Pharaoh) did, making supplication;3625
او چو فرعونست در قحط آنچنان ** پیش موسی سر نهد لابه‌کنان
(But) when it has been freed from want, it rebels (once more) when the donkey has cast off his load, he kicks.
چونک مستغنی شد او طاغی شود ** خر چو بار انداخت اسکیزه زند
So, when its business has gone forward (prosperously), it (the carnal soul) forgets its sighs and lamentations.
پس فراموشش شود چون رفت پیش ** کار او زان آه و زاریهای خویش
The man who lives in a city (many) years, as soon as his eye goes asleep,
سالها مردی که در شهری بود ** یک زمان که چشم در خوابی رود
Beholds another city full of good and evil, and his own city comes not into his memory at all,
شهر دیگر بیند او پر نیک و بد ** هیچ در یادش نیاید شهر خود
So that (he should say), “I have lived there (so many years); this new city is not mine: here I am (only) in pawn.”3630
که من آنجا بوده‌ام این شهر نو ** نیست آن من درینجاام گرو
Nay, he thinks that in sooth he has always lived in this very city and has been born and bred in it.
بل چنان داند که خود پیوسته او ** هم درین شهرش به دست ابداع و خو
What wonder (then) if the spirit does not remember its (ancient) abodes, which have been its dwelling-place and birthplace aforetime,
چه عجب گر روح موطنهای خویش ** که بدستش مسکن و میلاد پیش
Since this world, like sleep, is covering it over as clouds cover the stars? —
می‌نیارد یاد کین دنیا چو خواب ** می‌فرو پوشد چو اختر را سحاب
Especially as it has trodden so many cities, and the dust has not (yet) been swept from its perceptive faculty,
خاصه چندین شهرها را کوفته ** گردها از درک او ناروفته
Nor has it made ardent efforts that its heart should become pure and behold the past;3635
اجتهاد گرم ناکرده که تا ** دل شود صاف و ببیند ماجرا
That its heart should put forth its head (peep forth) from the aperture of the mystery and should see the beginning and the end with open eye.
سر برون آرد دلش از بخش راز ** اول و آخر ببیند چشم باز
The diverse modes and stages of the nature of Man from the beginning.
اطوار و منازل خلقت آدمی از ابتدا
First he came into the clime (world) of inorganic things, and from the state of inorganic things he passed into the vegetable state.
آمده اول به اقلیم جماد ** وز جمادی در نباتی اوفتاد
(Many) years he lived in the vegetable state and did not remember the inorganic state because of the opposition (between them);
سالها اندر نباتی عمر کرد ** وز جمادی یاد ناورد از نبرد
And when he passed from the vegetable into the animal state, the vegetable state was not remembered by him at all,
وز نباتی چون به حیوانی فتاد ** نامدش حال نباتی هیچ یاد
Save only for the inclination which he has towards that (state), especially in the season of spring and sweet herbs—3640
جز همین میلی که دارد سوی آن ** خاصه در وقت بهار و ضیمران
Like the inclination of babes towards their mothers: it (the babe) does not know the secret of its desire for being suckled;
هم‌چو میل کودکان با مادران ** سر میل خود نداند در لبان
(Or) like the excessive inclination of every novice towards the noble spiritual Elder, whose fortune is young (and flourishing).
هم‌چو میل مفرط هر نو مرید ** سوی آن پیر جوانبخت مجید
The particular intelligence of this (disciple) is derived from that Universal Intelligence: the motion of this shadow is derived from that Rose-bough.
جزو عقل این از آن عقل کلست ** جنبش این سایه زان شاخ گلست
His (the disciple's) shadow disappears at last in him (the Master); then he knows the secret of his inclination and search and seeking.
سایه‌اش فانی شود آخر درو ** پس بداند سر میل و جست و جو
How should the shadow of the other's (the disciple's) bough move, O fortunate one, if this Tree move not?3645
سایه‌ی شاخ دگر ای نیکبخت ** کی بجنبد گر نجنبد این درخت
Again, the Creator, whom thou knowest, was leading him (Man) from the animal (state) towards humanity.
باز از حیوان سوی انسانیش ** می‌کشید آن خالقی که دانیش
Thus did he advance from clime to clime (from one world of being to another), till he has now become intelligent and wise and mighty.
هم‌چنین اقلیم تا اقلیم رفت ** تا شد اکنون عاقل و دانا و زفت
He hath no remembrance of his former intelligences (souls); from this (human) intelligence also there is a migration to be made by him,
عقلهای اولینش یاد نیست ** هم ازین عقلش تحول کردنیست
That he may escape from this intelligence full of greed and self-seeking and may behold a hundred thousand intelligences most marvellous.
تا رهد زین عقل پر حرص و طلب ** صد هزاران عقل بیند بوالعجب
Though he fell asleep and became oblivious of the past, how should they leave him in that self-forgetfulness?3650
گر چو خفته گشت و شد ناسی ز پیش ** کی گذارندش در آن نسیان خویش
From that sleep they will bring him back again to wakefulness, that he may mock at his (present) state,
باز از آن خوابش به بیداری کشند ** که کند بر حالت خود ریش‌خند
Saying, “What was that sorrow I was suffering in my sleep? How did I forget the states of truth (the real experiences)?
که چه غم بود آنک می‌خوردم به خواب ** چون فراموشم شد احوال صواب
How did not I know that that sorrow and disease is the effect of sleep and is illusion and phantasy?”
چون ندانستم که آن غم و اعتلال ** فعل خوابست و فریبست و خیال
Even so this world, which is the sleeper's dream: the sleeper fancies that it is really enduring,
هم‌چنان دنیا که حلم نایمست ** خفته پندارد که این خود دایمست
Till on a sudden there shall rise the dawn of Death and he shall be delivered from the darkness of opinion and falsehood.3655
تا بر آید ناگهان صبح اجل ** وا رهد از ظلمت ظن و دغل
(Then) laughter at those sorrows of his will take possession of him when he sees his permanent abode and dwelling-place.
خنده‌اش گیرد از آن غمهای خویش ** چون ببیند مستقر و جای خویش
Everything good or evil that thou seest in thy sleep will be made manifest, one by one, on the Day of the (Last) Congregation.
هر چه تو در خواب بینی نیک و بد ** روز محشر یک به یک پیدا شود
That which thou didst in this sleep in the (present) world will become evident to thee at the time of awaking.
آنچ کردی اندرین خواب جهان ** گرددت هنگام بیداری عیان
Take care not to imagine that this (which thou hast done) is (only) an evil action committed in this (state of) sleep and that there is no interpretation (thereof) for thee.
تا نپنداری که این بد کردنیست ** اندرین خواب و ترا تعبیر نیست
Nay, this laughter (of thine) will be tears and moans on the Day of interpretation, O oppressor of the captive!3660
بلک این خنده بود گریه و زفیر ** روز تعبیر ای ستمگر بر اسیر
Know that in the hour of thy awakening thy tears and grief and sorrow and lamentation will turn to joy.
گریه و درد و غم و زاری خود ** شادمانی دان به بیداری خود
O thou that hast torn the coat of (many) Josephs, thou wilt arise from this heavy slumber (in the form of) a wolf.
ای دریده پوستین یوسفان ** گرگ بر خیزی ازین خواب گران
Thy (evil) dispositions, one by one, having become wolves will tear thy limbs in wrath.
گشته گرگان یک به یک خوهای تو ** می‌درانند از غضب اعضای تو
According to (the law of) retaliation, the blood (shed by thee) will not sleep (remain unavenged) after thy death: do not say, “I shall die and obtain release.”
خون نخسپد بعد مرگت در قصاص ** تو مگو که مردم و یابم خلاص
This immediate retaliation (which is exacted in the present world) is (only) a makeshift: in comparison with the blow of that (future) retaliation this is a (mere) play.3665
این قصاص نقد حیلت‌سازیست ** پیش زخم آن قصاص این بازیست
God hath called the present world a play because this penalty is a play in comparison with that penalty.
زین لعب خواندست دنیا را خدا ** کین جزا لعبست پیش آن جزا
This penalty is a means of allaying war and civil strife: that one is like a castration, while this one resembles a circumcision.
این جزا تسکین جنگ و فتنه‌ایست ** آن چو اخصا است و این چون ختنه‌ایست
Explaining that the people of Hell are hungry and make lamentable entreaty to God, saying, "Cause our portions to be fat and let the provender reach us quickly, for we can endure no more."
بیان آنک خلق دوزخ گرسنگانند و نالانند به حق کی روزیهای ما را فربه گردان و زود زاد به ما رسان کی ما را صبر نماند
This discourse hath no end. (God said), “Hark, O Moses, let those asses go to the grass,
این سخن پایان ندارد موسیا ** هین رها کن آن خران را در گیا
That they may all be fattened by that goodly fodder. Hark, (let them in), for We have wrathful wolves.
تا همه زان خوش علف فربه شوند ** هین که گرگانند ما را خشم‌مند
We surely know the plaintive cry of Our wolves: We make these asses a means of livelihood for them.3670
ناله‌ی گرگان خود را موقنیم ** این خران را طعمه‌ی ایشان کنیم