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5
344-393

  • Its candle says (to it), “Since I am burnt, how should I deliver thee from burning (grief) and oppression?”
  • Its candle weeps, saying, “My head is consumed: how should I make another resplendent?” 345
  • [Explanation of “Alas for the servants (of God)!”]
  • It (the moth) says, “I was deceived by thy (outward) features and (too) late did I regard thy (inward) condition.”
  • The candle is extinguished, the wine is gone, and the Beloved has withdrawn himself from the disgrace of our squintness.
  • Thy profits have become a loss and penalty: thou complainest bitterly to God of thy blindness.
  • How excellent are the spirits of brethren trustworthy, self-surrendering, believing, obeying!
  • Every one (else) has turned his face in some direction, but those holy ones have turned towards that which transcends direction. 350
  • Every (other) pigeon flies on some course, but this pigeon (flies) in a region where no region is.
  • We are neither birds of the air nor domestic (fowls): our grain is the grain of grainlessness.
  • Our daily bread is so ample because our stitching the coat (of bodily existence) has become the tearing (of it to pieces).
  • The reason why the name farají was first given to the garment known by that name.
  • A certain Súfí tore his jubba in distress: after (its) tearing, relief (faraj) came to him.
  • He bestowed the name farají on that torn (garment): from that man (who was) a confidant (of God) this title became well known. 355
  • This title became well known; but (only) the (Súfí) Shaykh apprehended the pure (essence) thereof: in the nature of the (common) people the (mere) letter, (which is) the dregs, remained.
  • Similarly, (with) every name, he (the Shaykh) has kept the pure (essence) and left the (mere) name behind, like dregs.
  • Whosoever is a clay-eater (corporealist) took the dregs, (but) the Súfí went impatiently towards the pure (essence).
  • He said (to himself), “Of necessity the dregs have a pure (essence): by means of this indication the heart advances to purity.”
  • The dregs are difficulty and their pure (essence) is their ease: the pure (essence) is like the ripe date, and the dregs (are like) the date in its immature stage. 360
  • Ease is accompanied by difficulty; come, do not despair: through this death thou hast the way into Life.
  • (If) thou desirest (spiritual) peace, rend thy jubba, O son, that immediately thou mayst emerge pure.
  • The (true) Súfí is he who has become a seeker of purity: (it is) not from (wearing) the garment of wool and patching (it) and (committing) sodomy.
  • With these base scoundrels Súfism has become patching and sodomy, and that is all.
  • To wear colours (coloured garments) with the fancy of (attaining to) that purity and good name is good (commendable), but 365
  • (Only) if, with the fancy thereof, you go on (till you attain) to its (essential) principle; not like those who worship (worldly) fancies manifold.
  • Your fancy is the baton of (Divine) jealousy (which prevents you from prowling) round about the curtained pavilion of (Divine) Beauty;
  • It (fancy) bars every seeker, saying, “There is no way (admission)”: every fancy confronts him (the seeker) and says “Stop!”—
  • Except, indeed, that person of sharp hearing and keen intelligence who possesses enthusiasm (derived) from the host of His (God's) helps (to victory).
  • He does not recoil from the fancies (which bar the way) nor is he checked: he shows the King's arrow (token); then way is made (for him to enter). 370
  • (O God), bestow forethought on this bewildered heart, and bestow the arrow (of resolution) on these bows bent double.
  • From that hidden goblet (of Thine) Thou hast poured out of the cup of the noble (prophets and saints) a draught over the dusty earth.
  • From the draught thereof there is a trace on the locks and cheeks (of the fair): hence kings lick the earth (of which the bodies of the fair are made).
  • ’Tis the draught of (Divine) beauty—(mingled) in the lovely earth—that thou art kissing with a hundred hearts day and night.
  • Since the draught, when mingled with dust, makes thee mad, think how its pure essence would affect thee! 375
  • Every one is tattered (torn with emotion) in the presence of a clod that has received a draught of Beauty.
  • (There is) a draught (poured) on the moon and the sun and Aries; (there is) a draught (poured) on the Throne and the Footstool and Saturn.
  • Oh, I wonder, wilt thou call it a draught or an elixir, since from contact with it so many splendours arise?
  • Earnestly seek contact with it, O accomplished man: none shall touch it except the purified.
  • One draught (is poured) on gold and rubies and pearls; one draught (is poured) on wine and dessert and fruits; 380
  • One draught on the faces of the charming fair: (consider, then,) how (marvellous) must be that pure wine!
  • Inasmuch as thou rubbest thy tongue (even) on this (earthly draught), how (enamoured of it) wilt thou be when thou seest (tastest) it without the clay!
  • When at the hour of death that pure draught is separated from the bodily clod by dying,
  • Thou quickly buriest that which remains, since it had been made such an ugly thing by that (separation).
  • When the Spirit displays its beauty without this carcase, I cannot express the loveliness of that union. 385
  • When the Moon displays its radiance without this cloud, ’tis impossible to describe that glory and majesty.
  • How delightful is that Kitchen full of honey and sugar, of which these (worldly) monarchs are (only) the lick-platters!
  • How delightful is that Stack in the spiritual field, of which every (other) stack is (only) the gleaner!
  • How delightful is the Sea of painless Life, of which the Seven Seas are (only) a dewdrop!
  • When the Cup-bearer of Alast poured a draught upon this nitrous abject earth, 390
  • The earth seethed, and we are (the result) of that seething. (O God, pour) another draught, for we are very effortless (unaspiring).
  • If ’twas permitted, I sang of non-existence; and if ’twas not to be told, lo, I was silent.
  • This is the account of the bent (grovelling) duck, which is greed: learn of Khalíl (Abraham) that the duck ought to be killed.