Rumi's Masnavi - Thou art mightily well drunken, but, O Bu ’l-Hasan, there is a bit of way (to be traversed ere thou attain) to seeing.

Thou art mightily well drunken, but, O Bu ’l-Hasan, there is a bit of way (to be traversed ere thou attain) to seeing.

This is the blind man's portion from the Sun, (and) a hundred such (portions); and God best knoweth what is right. 505

And he that hath vision of that Light—how should the explanation of him (his state) be a task (within the capacity) of Bú Síná?

(Even) if it be hundredfold, who (what) is this tongue that it should move with its hand the veil of (mystical) clairvoyance?

Woe to it if it touch the veil! The Divine sword severs its hand.

What of the hand? It (the sword) rends off even its (the tongue's) head—the head that from ignorance puts forth many a head (of pride and self-conceit).

I have said this to you, speaking hypothetically; otherwise, indeed, how far is its hand from being able to do that! 510

Materterae si testiculi essent, ea avunculus esset: this is hypothetical—“if there were.” [(If) in regard to a maternal aunt there were testicles, she would would be a maternal uncle: this is hypothetical—“if there were.”]

(If) I say that between the tongue and the eye that is free from doubt there is a hundred thousand years' (journey), ’tis little (in comparison with the reality).

Now come, do not despair! When God wills, light arrives from heaven in a single moment.

At every instant His power causes a hundred influences from the stars to reach the (subterranean) mines.

The star (planet) of heaven deletes the darkness; the star of God is fixed in His Attributes. 515

O thou that seekest help, the celestial sphere, (at a distance) of five hundred years' journey, is in effect nigh unto the earth.

’Tis (a journey of) three thousand five hundred years to Saturn; (yet) his special property acts incessantly (upon the earth).

He (God) rolls it up like a shadow at the return (of the sun): in the sun's presence what is (what avails) the length of the shadow?

And from the pure star like souls replenishment is ever coming to the stars of heaven.

The outward (aspect) of those stars is our ruler, (but) our inward (essence) has become the ruler of the sky. 520

Explaining that (while) philosophers say that Man is the microcosm, theosophists say that Man is the macrocosm, the reason being that philosophy is confined to the phenomenal form of Man, whereas theosophy is connected with the essential truth of his true nature.

Therefore in form thou art the microcosm, therefore in reality thou art the macrocosm.

Externally the branch is the origin of the fruit; intrinsically the branch came into existence for the sake of the fruit.

If there had not been desire and hope of the fruit, how should the gardener have planted the root of the tree?

Therefore in reality the tree was born of the fruit, (even) if in appearance it (the fruit) was generated by the tree.

Hence Mustafá (Mohammed) said, “Adam and the (other) prophets are (following) behind me under (my) banner.” 525

For this reason that master of (all) sorts of knowledge has uttered the allegorical saying, “We are the last and the foremost.”

(That is to say), “If in appearance I am born of Adam, in reality I am the forefather of (every) forefather,

Since the worship of the angels was (rendered) to him for my sake, and he ascended to the Seventh Heaven on my account.

Therefore in reality the Father (Adam) was born of me, therefore in reality the tree was born of the fruit.”

The thought (idea), which is first, comes last into actuality, in particular the thought that is eternal. 530

To sum up, in a single moment the caravan is going from Heaven and coming here.

This way is not long for this caravan: how should the desert show itself formidable to him who has been granted success (by God)?

The heart (spirit) is faring to the Ka‘ba at every moment, and through (Divine) bounty the body assumes the nature of the heart.

This longness and shortness appertains to the body: where God is, what is “long” and “short”?

When God has transmuted the body, He makes its faring to be without league or mile. 535

There are a hundred hopes at this (present) time. Step (forward), O youth, like a (true) lover and relinquish (idle) disputation.

Albeit thou art closing thine eyelids, thou art asleep in the ship and voyaging (in safety).

Exposition of the Hadíth, "The parable of my community is the parable of the Ship (Ark) of Noah: whoso shall cleave to it is saved, and whoso shall hold back from it is drowned."

On this account the Prophet said, “I am as the Ship (Ark) in the Flood of Time.

I and my Companions are as the Ship of Noah: whoso clings (to us) will gain (spiritual) graces.”

When you are with the Shaykh you are far removed from wickedness: day and night you are a traveller and in a ship. 540

You are under the protection of a life-giving spirit: you are asleep in the ship, you are going on the way.

Do not break with the prophet of your days: do not rely on your own skill and footsteps.

Lion though you are, you are self-conceited and in error and contemptible when you go on the way without a guide.

Beware! Do not fly but with the wings of the Shaykh, that you may see (receive) the aid of the armies of the Shaykh.

At one time the wave of his mercy is your pinion, at another moment the fire of his wrath is your carrier. 545

Do not reckon his wrath to be the contrary of his mercy: behold the oneness of both (these qualities) in the effect.

At one time he will make you green like the earth, at another time he will make you full of wind, and big.

He gives the quality of inorganic things to the body of the knower (of God), in order that gay roses and eglantines may grow on it;

But he (the Shaykh) alone sees (them), none sees but he: Paradise yields no scent but to the purified brain.

Empty your brain of disbelief in the Friend, that it may feel sweet odours from the rose-garden of the Friend; 550

So that you may feel the scent of Paradise from my Friend, as Mohammed the scent of the Merciful (God) from Yemen.

If you stand in the rank of those who make the (spiritual) ascension, not-being (self-naughtedness) will bear you aloft, like Buráq.

’Tis not like the ascension of a piece of earth (an earthly being) to the moon; nay, but like the ascension of a cane to sugar.