The King greeted him affectionately, saying, “Thou art a keepsake (from thy brother to me)”; and by this enquiry (gracious attention) made him too his prey.
شه نوازیدش که هستی یادگار ** کرد او را هم بدان پرسش شکار
In consequence of the kindness shown (to him) by the King, that wretched man, (who was) roasted (in the fire of love), found in his body a soul other than the (animal) soul.
از نواز شاه آن زار حنیذ ** در تن خود غیر جان جانی بدیذ
He felt within his heart a sublime emotion which the Súfí does not experience during a hundred chilas.
در دل خود دید عالی غلغله ** که نیابد صوفی آن در صد چله
Court-yard and wall and mountain woven of stone seemed to split open before him like a laughing (bursting) pomegranate.4640
عرصه و دیوار و کوه سنگ‌بافت ** پیش او چون نار خندان می‌شکافت
One by one, the atoms (of the universe) were momently opening their doors to him, like tents, in a hundred diverse ways.
ذره ذره پیش او هم‌چون قباب ** دم به دم می‌کرد صدگون فتح باب
The door would become now the window, now the sunbeams; the earth would become now the wheat, now the bushel.
باب گه روزن شدی گاه شعاع ** خاک گه گندم شدی و گاه صاع
In (men's) eyes the heavens are very old and threadbare; in his eye ’twasa new creation at every moment.
در نظرها چرخ بس کهنه و قدید ** پیش چشمش هر دمی خلق جدید
When the beauteous spirit is delivered from the body, no doubt an eye like this will be conferred upon it by (Divine) destiny.
روح زیبا چونک وا رست از جسد ** از قضا بی شک چنین چشمش رسد
A hundred thousand mysteries were revealed to him: he beheld that which the eyes of the initiated behold.4645
صد هزاران غیب پیشش شد پدید ** آنچ چشم محرمان بیند بدید
He opened (the inward) eye (and gazed) on the (ideal) form of that which he had (only) read in books.
آنچ او اندر کتب بر خوانده بود ** چشم را در صورت آن بر گشود
From the dust of the mighty King's horse he obtained a precious collyrium for his eyesight.
از غبار مرکب آن شاه نر ** یافت او کحل عزیزی در بصر
In such a garden of flowers he was trailing his skirt, while every part of him was crying, “Is there any more?”
برچنین گلزار دامن می‌کشید ** جزو جزوش نعره زن هل من مزید
The flowers that grow from plants are (living but) a moment; the flowers that grow from Reason are (ever) fresh.
Know that (all) the delightful sciences known to us are (only) two or three bunches of flowers from that Garden.
علم‌های با مزه‌ی دانسته‌مان ** زان گلستان یک دو سه گل‌دسته دان
We are devoted to these two or three bunches of flowers because we have shut the Garden-door on ourselves.
زان زبون این دو سه گل دسته‌ایم ** که در گلزار بر خود بسته‌ایم
Alas, O (dear) soul, (that) on account of (thy greed for) bread such (admirable) keys are always dropping from thy fingers!
آن‌چنان مفتاح‌ها هر دم بنان ** می‌فتد ای جان دریغا از بنان
And if for a moment thou art relieved from preoccupation with bread, thou danglest about the chádar and (givest thyself up to) thy passion for women;
ور دمی هم فارغ آرندت ز نان ** گرد چادر گردی و عشق زنان
And then, when (the sea of) thy dropsy (lust) breaks into billows, thou must needs have under thy sway a (whole) city full of bread and women.4655
باز استسقات چون شد موج‌زن ** ملک شهری بایدت پر نان و زن
(At first) thou wert (only) a snake: (now) indeed thou hast become a dragon. Thou hadst (only) one head: now thou hast seven heads.
مار بودی اژدها گشتی مگر ** یک سرت بود این زمانی هفت‌سر
Hell is a seven-headed dragon: thy greed is the bait and Hell the snare.
اژدهای هفت‌سر دوزخ بود ** حرص تو دانه‌ست و دوزخ فخ بود
Pull the snare to pieces, burn the bait, open new doors in this (bodily) tenement!
دام را بدران بسوزان دانه را ** باز کن درهای نو این خانه را
O sturdy beggar, unless thou art a lover (of God), thou hast (only) an echo, like the unconscious mountain.
چون تو عاشق نیستی ای نرگدا ** هم‌چو کوهی بی‌خبر داری صدا
How should the mountain possess a voice of its own? The echo is reflected from another, O trusty man.4660
کوه را گفتار کی باشد ز خود ** عکس غیرست آن صدا ای معتمد
In the same fashion as thy speech is the reflexion of another, so all thy feelings are nothing but a reflexion.
گفت تو زان سان که عکس دیگریست ** جمله احوالت به جز هم عکس نیست
Both thy anger and thy pleasure are (only) reflected from others, (like) the joy of the procuress and the rage of the night-patrol.
خشم و ذوقت هر دو عکس دیگران ** شادی قواده و خشم عوان
Pray, what (harm) did that poor fellow do to the night-patrol that he should punish and torment him in revenge?
آن عوان را آن ضعیف آخر چه کرد ** که دهد او را به کینه زجر و درد
How long (wilt thou follow) the glittering phantom reflected (from another)?Strive to make this (experience) actual for thyself,
تا بکی عکس خیال لامعه ** جهد کن تا گرددت این واقعه
So that thy words will be (prompted) by thy immediate feelings, and thy flight will be made with thine own wings and pinions.4665
تا که گفتارت ز حال تو بود ** سیر تو با پر و بال تو بود
’Tis with alien feathers that the arrow captures its prey; consequently it gets no share of the bird's flesh;
صید گیرد تیر هم با پر غیر ** لاجرم بی‌بهره است از لحم طیر
(But) the falcon brings its quarry from the mountains itself; consequently the king lets it eat partridge and starling.
باز صید آرد به خود از کوهسار ** لاجرم شاهش خوراند کبک و سار
The speech that is not (derived) from (Divine) inspiration springs from self-will: it is like dust (floating) in the air and among the motes (in the sunbeams).
منطقی کز وحی نبود از هواست ** هم‌چو خاکی در هوا و در هباست
If this saying appear to the Khwája to be erroneous, recite a few lines at the beginning of (the Súra) Wa’l-Najm.
گر نماید خواجه را این دم غلط ** ز اول والنجم بر خوان چند خط
Down to (the words), Mohammed does not speak from self-will: ’tis only (a speech) gained by inspiration.4670
تا که ما ینطق محمد عن هوی ** ان هو الا بوحی احتوی
O Ahmad (Mohammed), since thou despairest not of (receiving) inspiration, leave investigation and conjecture to the corporealists;
احمدا چون نیستت از وحی یاس ** جسمیان را ده تحری و قیاس
For in case of necessity a carcase is lawful (food), but there is no need to investigate (when one is) in the Ka‘ba of union.
کز ضرورت هست مرداری حلال ** که تحری نیست در کعبه‌ی وصال
Whosoever wilfully adopts a heresy without investigation and the utmost efforts to discover the right way,
بی‌تحری و اجتهادات هدی ** هر که بدعت پیشه گیرد از هوی
The wind (of self-will) will lift him up and kill him, like (the people of) ‘Ád: he is no Solomon that it should waft his throne along.
هم‌چو عادش بر برد باد و کشد ** نه سلیمانست تا تختش کشد
For ‘Ád (and those like them) the wind is a treacherous carrier: (they are) as a lamb in the hands of a glutton,4675
عاد را با دست حمال خذول ** هم‌چو بره در کف مردی اکول
Which he lays in his lap as though it were his own child and carries away to slaughter like a butcher.
هم‌چو فرزندش نهاده بر کنار ** می‌برد تا بکشدش قصاب‌وار
That wind was (the punishment) for ‘Ád because of their pride: they indeed deemed it a friend, (but) it was (really) a stranger (foe).
عاد را آن باد ز استکبار بود ** یار خود پنداشتند اغیار بود
When of a sudden it turned its coat, that evil comrade shattered them piecemeal.
چون بگردانید ناگه پوستین ** خردشان بشکست آن بس القرین
Shatter (destroy) the wind—for the wind (of self-will) is a great temptation— ere it shatter thee, like ‘Ád.
باد را بشکن که بس فتنه‌ست باد ** پیش از آن کت بشکند او هم‌چو عاد
Húd admonished them, saying, “O prideful folk, this wind will tear out of your hands the skirt (to which ye are clinging).4680
هود دادی پند که ای پر کبر خیل ** بر کند از دستتان این باد ذیل
The wind is God's army, and (only) in hypocrisy (deceit) has it embraced you for a few days.
لشکر حق است باد و از نفاق ** چند روزی با شما کرد اعتناق
Secretly it is loyal to its Creator: when the appointed term arrives, the wind will throw up its hands (and desert you).”
او به سر با خالق خود راستست ** چون اجل آید بر آرد باد دست
See how the wind passes through the mouth, coming and going at every moment in advance and retreat.
باد را اندر دهن بین ره‌گذر ** هر نفس آیان روان در کر و فر
The throat and teeth are in no danger from it; (but) when God commands, it attacks the teeth;
حلق و دندان‌ها ازو آمن بود ** حق چو فرماید به دندان در فتد
(And then) a (mere) atom of wind becomes (like) a mountain and heavy, and toothache keeps him (the sufferer) miserable and ill.4685
کوه گردد ذره‌ای باد و ثقیل ** درد دندان داردش زار و علیل
This is the same wind that used to pass by harmlessly: it was the life of the crops and it became the death of the crops.
این همان بادست که امن می‌گذشت ** بود جان کشت و گشت او مرگ کشت