- He does not mean (to say), “Beat cold iron,” but (what He means is) “O (thou who art hard as) steel, devote thyself to David.”
- آن نمیخواهد که آهن کوب سرد ** لیک ای پولاد بر داود گرد
- If your body is dead, resort to Isráfíl; if your heart is frozen, repair to the sun of the Spirit.
- تن بمردت سوی اسرافیل ران ** دل فسردت رو به خورشید روان
- Inasmuch as you have wrapped yourself in the garment of phantasy, lo, you will (soon) reach (the position of) the evil-minded sophist (sceptic).
- در خیال از بس که گشتی مکتسی ** نک بسوفسطایی بدظن رسی
- Verily he was dispossessed of the kernel (which is) Reason: he was dispossessed of (true) perception and deprived of (immediate) experience. 2185
- او خود از لب خرد معزول بود ** شد ز حس محروم و معزول از وجود
- Hark, O mouther, ’tis the hour for mumbling: if thou speak (clearly) to the people, ’tis a shameful exposure.
- هین سخنخا نوبت لبخایی است ** گر بگویی خلق را رسوایی است
- What is (the meaning of) im‘án? (It means) causing the spring to flow: when the spirit (ján) has escaped from the body, they call it rawán.
- چیست امعان چشمه را کردن روان ** چون ز تن جان رست گویندش روان
- The philosopher whose spirit was delivered from the bondage of the body and began to wander (rawán) in the garden (of Reality)
- آن حکیمی را که جان از بند تن ** باز رست و شد روان اندر چمن
- Bestowed two (different) titles on these two (spirits) in order to distinguish (the one from the other). Oh, may his spirit be blest!
- دو لقب را او برین هر دو نهاد ** بهر فرق ای آفرین بر جانش باد
- (Now hear a story) showing that if he who walks according to the (Divine) command wishes a rose to become a thorn, it will become that. 2190
- در بیان آنک بر فرمان رود ** گر گلی را خار خواهد آن شود
- The evidentiary miracle of Húd, on whom be peace, in the deliverance of the true believers of the community at the moment when the Wind descended.
- معجزهی هود علیه السلام در تخلص مومنان امت به وقت نزول باد
- All the true believers, (seeking refuge) from the violence of the pernicious Wind, seated themselves in the circle (drawn by Húd).
- مومنان از دست باد ضایره ** جمله بنشستند اندر دایره
- The Wind was (like) the Flood, and His (God's) grace was the ship (Ark): He hath many such arks and floods.
- یاد طوفان بود و کشتی لطف هو ** بس چنین کشتی و طوفان دارد او
- God makes a king to be (as) an ark (for his subjects), to the end that he, (impelled) by selfishness, may assault the ranks (of his enemies).
- پادشاهی را خدا کشتی کند ** تا به حرص خویش بر صفها زند
- The king's aim is not that the people should become safe; his aim is that his kingdom should become (like) a fetter (on his foot).
- قصد شه آن نه که خلق آمن شوند ** قصدش آنک ملک گردد پایبند
- The ass that turns the mill is running along: its aim is (to obtain) release, so that it may gain refuge from blows at that moment. 2195
- آن خراسی میدود قصدش خلاص ** تا بیابد او ز زخم آن دم مناص
- Its aim is not to draw some water or thereby (by turning the mill) to make sesame into oil.
- قصد او آن نه که آبی بر کشد ** یاکه کنجد را بدان روغن کند
- The ox hurries for fear of (receiving) hard blows, not for the purpose of taking the cart and baggage (to their destination);
- گاو بشتابد ز بیم زخم سخت ** نه برای بردن گردون و رخت
- But God put such fear of pain in him, to the end that good results might be achieved in consequence (of his fear).
- لیک دادش حق چنین خوف وجع ** تا مصالح حاصل آید در تبع
- Similarly, every shopkeeper works for himself, not for the improvement of the world.
- همچنان هر کاسبی اندر دکان ** بهر خود کوشد نه اصلاح جهان
- Every one seeks a plaster for his pain, and in consequence of this a whole world is set in order. 2200
- هر یکی بر درد جوید مرهمی ** در تبع قایم شده زین عالمی
- God made of fear the pillar (support) of this world: because of fear every one has devoted himself to work.
- حق ستون این جهان از ترس ساخت ** هر یکی از ترس جان در کار باخت
- Praise be to God that on this wise He has made a fear to be the architect and (means for the) improvement of the world.
- حمد ایزد را که ترسی را چنین ** کرد او معمار و اصلاح زمین
- All these (people) are afraid of (losing) good and (suffering) evil: none that is afraid is himself frightened by himself.
- این همه ترسندهاند از نیک و بد ** هیچ ترسنده نترسد خود ز خود
- In reality, then, (the creator of their fear and) the ruler over (them) all is that One who is near, though He is not perceived by the senses.
- پس حقیقت بر همه حاکم کسیست ** که قریبست او اگر محسوس نیست
- He is perceived in a certain hiding-place (the heart), but not perceived by the sense of this house (the body). 2205
- هست او محسوس اندر مکمنی ** لیک محسوس حس این خانه نی
- The sense to which God is manifested is not the sense of this world; it is another.
- آن حسی که حق بر آن حس مظهرست ** نیست حس این جهان آن دیگرست
- If the animal sense perceived those (Divine) forms (ideas) an ox or an ass would be the Báyazíd of the time.
- حس حیوان گر بدیدی آن صور ** بایزید وقت بودی گاو و خر
- He who made the body to be the theatre in which every spirit is manifested, He who made the Ark to be the Buráq (steed) of Noah,
- آنک تن را مظهر هر روح کرد ** وآنک کشتی را براق نوح کرد
- He, if He will, makes (what is) a very ark in (its ordinary) character to be a (destructive) flood for you, O seeker of light.
- گر بخواهد عین کشتی را به خو ** او کند طوفان تو ای نورجو
- At every moment, O man of little means, He has conjoined with your grief and gladness an ark (to save you) and a flood (to destroy you). 2210
- هر دمت طوفان و کشتی ای مقل ** با غم و شادیت کرد او متصل
- If you do not perceive the ark and the sea (flood) before you, (then) consider (whence come) the tremors in all your limbs.
- گر نبینی کشتی و دریا به پیش ** لرزها بین در همه اجزای خویش
- Since his (the trembling man's) eyes do not perceive the source of his fear, he is affrighted by diverse kinds of phantasy.
- چون نبیند اصل ترسش را عیون ** ترس دارد از خیال گونهگون
- (For example), a drunken boor strikes a blind man with his fist: the blind man thinks it is a kicking camel,
- مشت بر اعمی زند یک جلف مست ** کور پندارد لگدزن اشترست
- Because at that moment he heard a camel's cry: the ear, not the eye, is the mirror for the blind.
- زانک آن دم بانگ اشتر میشنید ** کور را گوشست آیینه نه دید
- (But) then again the blind man says, “No, it was a stone (which some one threw at me), or perhaps it was (a brick) from an echoing dome.” 2215
- باز گوید کور نه این سنگ بود ** یا مگر از قبهی پر طنگ بود
- It was neither this nor that nor that: He who created fear produced these (phantasies).
- این نبود و او نبود و آن نبود ** آنک او ترس آفرید اینها نمود
- Certainly fear and trembling are (produced) by another: nobody is frightened by himself, O sorrowful man.
- ترس و لرزه باشد از غیری یقین ** هیچ کس از خود نترسد ای حزین
- The miserable philosopher calls fear “imagination” (wahm): he has wrongly understood this lesson.
- آن حکیمک وهم خواند ترس را ** فهم کژ کردست او این درس را
- How should there be any imagination without reality? How should any false coin pass (into circulation) without a genuine one?
- هیچ وهمی بیحقیقت کی بود ** هیچ قلبی بیصحیحی کی رود
- How should a lie fetch a price (have value) without truth? Every lie in both worlds has arisen from truth. 2220
- کی دروغی قیمت آرد بی ز راست ** در دو عالم هر دروغ از راست خاست
- He (the liar) saw the currency and prestige enjoyed by truth: he set going (circulated) the lie in hope of (its enjoying) the same.
- راست را دید او رواجی و فروغ ** بر امید آن روان کرد او دروغ
- O (incarnate) lie, whose fortune is (derived) from veracity, give thanks for the bounty and do not deny the truth!
- ای دروغی که ز صدقت این نواست ** شکر نعمت گو مکن انکار راست
- Shall I speak of the philosopher and his mad fancy, or of His (God's) ships (arks) and seas (floods)?
- از مفلسف گویم و سودای او ** یا ز کشتیها و دریاهای او
- Nay, (I will speak) of His arks, which are the spiritual counsel (given by the saints); I will speak of the whole: the part is included in the whole.
- بل ز کشتیهاش کان پند دلست ** گویم از کل جزو در کل داخلست
- Know every saint to be a Noah and captain of the Ark; know companionship with these (worldly) people to be the Flood. 2225
- هر ولی را نوح و کشتیبان شناس ** صحبت این خلق را طوفان شناس
- Do not flee from lions and fierce dragons, (but) beware of friends and kinsmen.
- کم گریز از شیر و اژدرهای نر ** ز آشنایان و ز خویشان کن حذر
- They waste your time (when you are) face to face (with them), and your recollections of them devour (the time of) your absence (from them).
- در تلاقی روزگارت میبرند ** یادهاشان غایبیات میچرند
- Like a thirsty ass, the image of each one (in your phantasy) is licking up the sherbet of (spiritual) thought from the flagon of the body.
- چون خر تشنه خیال هر یکی ** از قف تن فکر را شربتمکی
- The (mental) image of those talebearers has sucked out of you the dew that you have (derived) from the Sea of Life.
- نشف کرد از تو خیال آن وشات ** شبنمی که داری از بحر الحیات
- The sign, then, of the absorption (drying up) of the water (sap) in the boughs is that they are not moved to sway (to and fro). 2230
- پس نشان نشف آب اندر غصون ** آن بود کان مینجنبد در رکون
- The limb of him who is free (detached from the world) is (like) a moist fresh bough: (if) you pull it in any direction, it is (easily) pulled.
- عضو حر شاخ تر و تازه بود ** میکشی هر سو کشیده میشود