Roses from Rumi’s Rose Garden

by

Prof. Dr. Erkan Türkmen

Preface

Rumi’s full name is “Mevlana Jelal al-Din al-Rumi al- Balkhi”. He is known as “Mevlana (our master)” in Turkey and as “Rumi (the Anatolian)” in the western world. He was also called Khudawandigar (Our lord) and Mevlevi-yi Manawi in some eastern countries. Rumi can be regarded as a mystic poet, Sufi, theosophist or a thinker but if one could ask him, “Who you really are?” He would say, “I am nothing more than a humble lover of God”. A true lover of God has no definite nationality, language or race for he loves God’s creation without discrimination.

Rumi wrote his great work “Masnevi” in six volumes which gives the message of universal love, unity, tolerance and global peace leading man kind to the highest stage of perfection. For more than eight centuries his Masnevi has impact on many mystic poets. Among the most famous ones are Goethe, M.Iqbal and Tagore. In addition to these, there are many Turkish, Indian and Iranian poets who followed his path. Lately, his fame has reached the U.S.A and Europe.

He was born at Balkh (once a popular city of Khorasan) in the year 1207. His first teacher was his father Bahaeddin (Sultan ul-Ulama), who was a well respected religious scholar and sincere lover of God. Three years before the furious army of the Mongols invaded Khorasan, Rumi’s father left his mother land and headed towards Central Anatolia with his family and followers. First he went to Mecca and from there to Damascus, and then to Karaman (100 km. south of Konya). There the emigrant family stayed for some years and, finally, they moved to Konya, the capital city of the Great Seljuk Empire. There the ruling Sultan Qayqubad gave them a warm welcome.

Rumi studied Arabic, Persian, theology, jurisprudence, philosophy and History of Islam. At Balkh and Damascus he had good chance to meet Islamic scholars with whom he studied and discussed commentaries on the Koran. At Konya he was finally promoted to the job of teaching Fikkh and Kelam at Medrises. It was in the year 1244 that he met his spiritual master Shams of Tabrezi at Konya, who brought upheaval in his life. He gave up teaching and began to live a simple life like a dervish following his master. In addition, he began to perform Sema in the company of singers and music in the streets or in gardens. The singers sang love poems for God. Rumi also recited poems which were later collected under the title “Divan or Divan-i Shams Tabrezi”. His most famous work is the Masnevi which brought him everlasting fame. It covers not only teachings of Islamic mysticism but also it traces back the Greek, Roman and Hindu elements that suit the sayings of Prophet Muhammad and the Koran. In order to make the mystic elements easy to comprehend, he coloured it with anecdotes. Below we give only two examples of his anecdotes, chosen form his Masnevi, that may throw light upon his understanding of universal love and religious tolerance:

a) Moses and a shepherd: One day when Moses going towards the Mount Sinai, he happened to meet with a shepherd who was talking to God in this manner, “O God, where are you? Show me so that I may become your servant. I may clean your clothes, comb your hair, kill your lice; and sew your clothes and fetch milk for you. I may rub your feet and kiss your hands and when it is time for sleep, I may sweep a place for your bed”. When Moses heard this speech he became angry and said, “O foolish shepherd, you are not a believer (Muslim) you are an infidel by talking to God like that. God is pure spirit and has no such needs as you think”. On hearing these words the shepherd said, “Moses! You have tied my tongue and burnt my body because of repentance”. The shepherd tore his clothes away and disappeared into the jungle. Just then revelation came to Moses from God, “Why have you separated my servant from me? I have sent to draw people to union with me and not to drive them away. I never look at people’s outer shape and appearances; instead I look at their inner feelings and hearts. Though their words may seem to be simple and meaningless, but these are their humble hearts that count because a word is accidental while the heart is the real substance (M II / 1720-1770). When Moses saw the shepherd he apologised and said to him, “Congratulation! I have good news for you. Don’t care much for formalities, pray to God the way you wish”.

b) The story of grapes and four friends: A certain man gave a dirham to four men who had worked for him. One o them who was Persian said, “I will buy Angur for this money”. The second one, an Arab, said, “No, I don’t want angur but I want Unab my favourite fruit”. The third man was a Turk, who said, “This is my money, I don’t want Angur or Unab; I want Üzüm. The fourth one who was a Greek said, “You all stop talking. All I need is Strafil”. Thus fighting continued among them. Actually, they were all ignorant. If there had been an esoteric master he would calm them down and would say, “Give me the money I will buy you all what you desire. For all these four words mean “Grape”. God may have different names, but He is what He is.

The aim of this booklet is to provide a bouquet of roses from Rumi’s rose garden of Masnevi to those who cannot read all the volumes. The original Persian text of each verse has been given along with the semi versified translation that may give the similar taste which the native speaker of Persian enjoys.

Masnevi Volume I

Roses from Rumi’s Rose Garden

Introduction of Rumi’s Magnum Opus

The Masnevi

Actually, Rumi was neither a poet nor a philosopher and he does not like philosophers who are trapped within the boundaries of sensual intellect. As for poetry, he used it for teaching divine secrets and to explain them he uses parables. Six volumes of his Masnevi cover more than 25620 couplets; all in the same metre (dum da dum dum; dum da dum dum; dum da dum). He began to write his Masnevi in 1250; and when he passed away in 1273, he left it unfinished.

Since Persian was the literary language of the Turks, Iranian, Indian and Central Asia, Rumi wrote his Masnevi in Persian. It soon became popular in the Eastern world. Rumi shows different steps of man’s ascension towards the highest stage that leads to salvation and love of the whole creation.

Masnevi begins with the following eighteen verses that give us the summary of his great work:

Song of the Flute

بشنو اين نى چون شكا يت مى كند از جدا ئها حكايت مى كند

1- Listen to this flute while it is complaining,

The story of separation (from God) it’s explaining.

كز نيستان تا مرا ببر يده اند در نفير م مرد و زن نا ليده اند

2- “Ever since I’ve been plucked from my real ground,

Men and women, all cry with my yearning sound.

(“Real Ground” the original ground where soul of man was happy being closer to God, his Creator and Lover)

سينه خواهم شرحه شرحه از فرا ق تا بگويم شرح درد اشتيا ق

3- I want a breast perforated like mine with pains of separation,

Only to that breast I can tell the story of my lamentation.

(Here Rumi says “Not all can feel the pain of yearning if they are unaware of God’s breath in them”)

هركسى كه كو دور ماند از اصل خويش باز جويد روزگار وصل خويش

4- If anyone from his own origin falls away,

He looks for it again by finding some way.

من بهر جميعتى نالان شدم جفت بد حالان و خوش حالان شد م

5- In every company I cry and I moan,

Both the happy and the unhappy are moved by my tone.

هر كسى از ظن خود شد يار من از درون من نجست اسرار من

6- Everyone from his opinion tried to be my friend,

And didn’t bother to discover my esoteric secret and trend.

سر من از ناله من دور نيست ليك چشم و گوش را ﺁن نور نيست

7- My secret is not concealed from my painful cries,

But many fail to have that light of ears and eyes”.

تن ز جان و جان ز تن مستور نيست ليك كس را ديد جان دستور نيست

8- The soul and the body are not from each other concealed,

But to many ears and eyes this fact is not revealed.

ﺁ تش است اين بانگ نى و نيست باد هر كه اين ﺁ تش ندارد نيست باد

9- The breath in the flute is not a simple blow, it’s fire,

He who has no such fire, let him perish and expire.

ﺁ تش عشقست كاندر نى ا فتا د جو شش عشقست كاند ر مى افتا د

10- It is the fire of love that has turned the flute demented,

And it is the love-desire that keeps the wine fermented.

نى حريف هر كه ا ز يارى بر يد پردها ش پردهاى ما دريد

11- The flute is friend for those who lose their companions,

Our chest is also perforated like the flute’s divisions.

همچو نى زهرى و ترياقى كى ديد همچو نى دمساز و مشتا قى كى ديد

12- Who has ever seen an antidote and poison like the flute?

Who can ever find a soothing and sympathizing friend

like the flute?

نى حديث راه پر خون مى كند قصهاى عشق مجنون مى

13- The flute is telling stories of dangerous ways and coils,

And the love stories of Majnun and his blood-stained

toils.

محرم اين هوش جز بيهو ش نيست مر زبانرا مشترى جز گو ش نيست

14- The knower of this feeling is none but the insensible

one,

As only an ear can hear the speaking of the tongue.

Note: “The insensible” here means a man above dimensional senses.

در غم ما روز ها بيگاه شد روزها با سوزها همرا ه شد

15- Because of our sorrows we have lost the sense of time,

And our days have accompanied pains and pine.

روزها گر رفت گو با ك نيست تو بمان اى ﺁنكه چون تو پا ك نيست

16- If the days are passing by, “Let them pass away”

O Thee, the Only Pious One, keep with me Thy stay.

هر كه جز ماهى ز ﺁ بش سير شد هر كه بى روز يست روزش دير شد

17- If one is not fish, with water soon he will be tired,

If one has no daily bread, his time shall be undesired.

در نيابد حال پخته هيچ خا م پس سخن كوتاه بايد و سلا م

18- For an immature man the stage of mature man is high,

So cut a long story short and say to him “Good bye”.

Note: In the above lines “the reed flute” (the Nay) means a God-loving man who feels separation from his primeval homeland where God’s Presence protected and appeased him. It refers to the Quranic verse, “I breathed into him My Spirit” XV/28. Thus, it is the trust of God that man carries in him as God says in the Quran, “We did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused it, being afraid of thereof, but man undertook it- he was indeed ignorant and foolish (33/72). It is this trust (breath of His Soul) that is within the body of man and is not concealed from him if he may bother to discover. However, many fail to discover it. “Fish” means the lover of God who is happy within the ocean of divine love; and he who is not, his time in this world is unbearable and without a prime goal.

1- Without God one is always alone:

گر با همه ای چو بی منی بی همه ای ور بی همه ای چو با منی با همه ای

If you are with everyone without Me, you are with none

If you are with Me and with nobody, you are with everyone.

2- Set yourself free:

بند بگسل باش آزاد ای پسر چند باشی بند سیم و بند زر

گر بریزی بحر را در کوزه ای چند گنجد قسمت یک روزه ای

O my son! Be free and break away your ties

For how long silver and gold will keep deceiving your eyes?

If the sea in a pitcher you try to pour

It can take only a day’s store.

(M I /19-20)

3- Spiritual feelings lead you upwards:

حس دنیا نرد بان این جهان حس دینی نردبان آسمان

صحت این حس بجوید از طبیب صحت آن حس بخواهید از حبیب

The feelings of this world are the ladder of this world

And the religious feelings are the ladder of the other world

For the physical health look for a doctor

For the spiritual health, look for a loving master.

(M I / 303-304)

4- The wakefulness of this world is actually a deep sleep:

هر که بیدار است او در خواب تر هست بیداریش از خوابش بتر

چون بحق بیدار نبود جان ما هست بیداری چو در بندان ما

He who is awake (in this world) is actually more asleep

His wakefulness is worse than his sleep

When our souls are not wakeful with God’s vision

Our wakefulness is like being awake in a prison.

(M I / 419-420)

5- Love of physical wealth can drown you:

آب د ر کشتی هلاک کشتی است آب اندر زیر کشتی پشتیی است

باد درویشی چو در باطن بود بر سر آب جهان ساکن بود

Water in the ship drowns her

But under the ship, it lifts her

When the desire of Sufism is born inside

It abides over the worldly waters and stays outside.

(M I / 985)

6- Divine light enlightens the inner being:

این برون از آ فتاب و از سها و اندرون از عکس انوار علی

پس نهانیها بضد پیدا شود چونکه حق را نیست ضد پنهان شود

The outer illumination comes from the sun and the stars’ light

The inner illumination comes from God’s reflecting light

Thus hidden things by their opposites come to view

Since God has no opposites, He is beyond any view.

(MI / 1125-1131)

7- Take out your blue glasses:

پیش چشمت داشتی شیشی کبود ز ان سبسب عالم کبودت می نمود

گر نه کوری این کبودی دان ز خویش خویش را بد گو مگو کس را تو بیش

You have blue glass in front of your eyes

Therefore, the whole world looks blue in front of your eyes

If you are not blind, know that this blueness is because of you

Then rebuke yourself and find faults not in others but in you.

(MI / 1329-1330)

8- What you sow so shall you reap:

ای که تو از ظلم چاهی میکنی از برای خویش دامی میکونی

گرد خود چون کرم پیله بر متن بهر خود چه میکنی اندازه کن

O you, who are digging a well of cruelty for others

You are actually digging a trap for yourself

Don’t weave a cocoon like a worm around yourself

Just think what you are weaving around yourself.

(MI / 1311-1312)

9- The concept of God is beyond dimensions:

زیر و بالا پیش و پس وصف تن است بی جهت آن ذات جان روشن است

بر گشا از نور پاک شه نظر تا نه پنداری تو چون کوته نظر

Below, above, behind and front are the attributes of this body

But the spiritual essence is bright without any dimension

Open your eyes with the pure spiritual King’s light

So that you may not see things with narrower sight.

(MI / 2008-2009)

10- Some fail to discern the other world:

ای که اندر چشمه شورست جات تو چه دانی شط و جیحون و فرات

ای که تو نا رسته از این فانی رباط تو چه دانی محو و شکر و انبساط

You who have home in the briny water

What can you think about the sweetness of Tigris or Euphrates’s water?

And you who have failed to free yourself from worldly ties

How would you know of self-effacement, divine drunkenness and extreme joys?

(MI / 2725–2726)

11- Come to the essence:

بت پرستی چون بمانی در صور صورتش بگزار و در معنی نگر

مرد حجی همره حاجی طلب خواه هندو خواه ترک و یا عرب

منگر اندر نقش و اندر رنگ او بنگر اندر عزم و در آهنگ او

گر سیاه است او هم آهنگ توست تو سپیدش خوان که هم رنگ توست

You are idolater if you are stuck among outer shapes

Leave them aside and come to their inner shapes

A pilgrimage seeks for the company of a pilgrimage

May he be of Hindu, Turkish an Arabic origin

Even if he is black, he is your companion

Regard him as a white person for he is your comrade.

(MI / 2893-2894-2895- 2896)

12- For a thorn this barren world is paradise:

خار بی معنی خزان خواهد خزان تا زند پهلو ی خود با گلستان

پس خزان اورا بهارست و حیات یک نماید سنگ و یاقوت ذکات

A thorn without spirituality desires for fall

So that it may stand by a green garden wall

For a thorn autumn is spring and full of life

In its eyes stone and pure ruby are one, and all.

(M I / 2922- 2924)

قوت اصلی بشر نور خداست قوت حیوانی مر و را نا سزه است

لیک از علت درین افتاد دل که خورد او روز شب زین آب و گل

آن غذای خاصگان دولتست خوردن آن بی گلو و آلتست

13- The real food of a perfect man is light of God:

Man’s real food is the light of God

And bestial food does not suit him.

It is because of ailment that man eats worldly food day and night,

But the real food of the elect ones is divine light

And eating of that kind of food needs no mouth or sight.

(M II/ 1082-1083)

13- Without love one is like a wingless bird:

هر کرا جامه ز عشقی چاک شد او ز حرص و جمله عیبی پاک شد

جمله معشوقست و عاشق پرده زنده معشوقست و عاشق مرده

چون نباشد عشق را پروای او او چون مرغی ماند بی پر وای او

He whose garments are torn off because of love, is freed

From all kinds of sins, faults and worldly greed

All is the Beloved and the lover is only a covering

Dead is the lover while the Beloved is eternally living.

When a lover fails to have any love fire

He is like a bird without wings and any desire.

(M I / 22-30-31)

14- Love is the best healer:

شاد باش ای عشق خوش سودای ما ای طبیب جمله علتهای ما

دوای نخوت و ناموس ما ای تو افلا تون و جالینوس ما

Long live our love of sweet madness

And soother of all kinds of sicknesses

And the healer of vanity and self centeredness

And you are our Galen as well as Aristocles.

(M I / 23-24)

15- Language of the spiritual matters is different from the languages of this world:

هر که او از هم زبانی شد جدا بی زبان شد گر چه دارد صد نوا

He who falls away from those who speak the same language

He may utter hundred sounds and yet he has no language.

(M I / 28 )

16- Refinement of manners is the fundamental rule:

از خدا جوییم توفیق ادب بی ادب محروم شد از لطف رب

بی ادب نتها نه خود را داشت بد بلک آتش در همه آفاق زد

از ادب پر نور گشتست این فلک وز ادب معصوم و پاک آمد ملک

Let us pray to God to give us fine manners

For an ill-mannered is deprived of His leniency

An ill mannered does not waste him only

He puts the entire universe to fire without mercy.

By means of fine manners enlightened is the sky

By means of fine manners angels are filled with decency.

(M I / 79-80-91)

17- On God’s love:

مجملش گفتم نگفتم از آن بیان ورنه هم افهام سوزد هم زبان

I narrated love briefly avoiding detail

Or else my tongue and mind would fail.

(M I / 1758)

18- Love of this world is transient:

عشقهای کز پی رنگی بود عشق نبود عا قبت ننگی بود

The love that depends on colours and grace

Soon ends up in dishonour and disgrace.

(M I / 205)

19-Worldy worries are for training:

بهر آنست این ریاضت و ین جفا تا بر آرد کوره از نقره جفا

بهر آنست امتحان نیک و بد تا بجوشد بر سر آرد ز بد

The troubles in this life and the training full of toils

Are to extract the dross from the silver that broils

And the reason of testing the good and the bad

Is to skim off the scum of gold when it boils.

(M I / 232-233)

20- Love is the astrolabe that leads to God:

علت عاشق ز علتها جداست عشق اصطرلاب اسرار خداست

عقل در شرحش چو خر در گل بخفت شرح عشق و عاشقی هم عشق گفت

The ailment of love is of a different kind

It’s the astrolabe that leads to secrets, divine

And intellect in comprehending love is like a donkey stuck in mud and clay,

It is love alone that can explain the meaning of love and the lover’s way.

(M I /110-115)

21-Sensual desires of the common people are like children’s desire for toys:

خلق اطفال اند جز مست خدا نیست بالغ جز رهیده از هوا

جنگ خلقان همچو جنگ کودکان جمله بی معنی و بی مغز و مهان

Except lovers of God common folks are children by nature

Unless they are not free of pump and show they are not mature

Wars of the folk are like the children’s fight

Meaningless, non-sense and devoid of inner sight.

(M I / 3430-3435)

22- The state of a vain religious man:

خویش بین چون از کسی جرمی بدید آتشی در وی ز دوزخ شد پدید

حمیت دین خواند او آن کبررا ننگرد در خویش نفس کبررا

When a self-conceited man happens to see other’s sins

He begins to burn with hellish fire and on them he grins

For him his pride is “A defense of his own belief”

Yet he fails to notice his own sins to gain a self-relief.

(M I / 3347-3348)

23- The garden of love has many other fruits beside pains:

باغ سبز عشق کو بی منتها ست جز غم و شادی درو بس میوهاست

عاشقی زین هر دو حالت برترست بی بهار و بی خزان سبز و ترست

In the green garden of love that is edgeless

There are fruits other than grief and happiness

Actually, love is above all these two things

For love is ever green, fresh without falls or springs.

(M I / 1793- 1794)

24- When a couple meets, joint pleasure belongs to God:

مرد و زن چون یک شود آن یک توی چونکه یکها محو شد آنک توی

این من و ما بهر آن بر ساختی تا تو با خود نرد خد مت باختی

تا من و تو همه یک جان شوند عاقبت مستغرق جانان شوند

When a man joins a woman, their oneness belongs to Thee

When the oneness disappears, there is no one left, but Thee

Thee hath created “I and we” just for the reason

That Thee may set a game of Thy own satisfaction

And when I and we join in one soul and heart

Finally, they are absorbed in oneness of the Sweetheart.

(M I / 1786- 1787-1788)

25- Crying in this world is due to God’s love:

چون خدا خواهد پوشد عیب کس کم زند در عیب معیوبان نفس

چون خدا خواهد که مان یاری کند میل ما را جانب زاری کند

هر کجا آب روان سبزه بود هر کجا اشکی دوان رحمت شود

When God wishes to hide the blame of someone

He does not care much for the blames of that one

When God wishes to be our friend

Towards crying he turns our trend

Like the running water that keeps places green

Where there are tears, God’s mercy is on the scene.

(M I / 816- 81-820)

26- No pain, no gain:

رنج و غم را حق پی آن آفرید تا بدین ضد خوش دلی آید پدید

پس نهانیها بضد پیدا شود چونک حق را نیست ضد پنهان بود

God has created grief and worry for the reason

That he may grant us real joys as a conclusion.

All hidden things are known by their opposites

God has no opposites so He is hidden for this reason.

(M I / 1130-1131)

27- Knowledge is the source of wisdom:

خاتم ملک سلیمانست علم جمله عالم صورت و جانست علم

منبع حکمت شود حکمت طلب فارغ آید او ز تحصیل و سبب

The seal of the kingdom of Solomon is knowledge

The whole universe is form, while its essence is knowledge

The seeker of wisdom becomes source of wisdom

Freeing him from education and reasoning’s boredom.

(M I / 1030-1063)

28- Don’t expose yourself to the jealousy of people:

دانه باشی مرغانت بر چنند غنجه باشی کودکانت بر کند

دانه پنهان کن بکلی دام شو غنجه پنهان کن گیاه بام شو

If you are exposed like grains, birds shall peck at you

If you are a bud, children will pluck you

Hide your seeds and sow them on a roof

Hide your buds and be like simple grass of the roof.

(M I / 1833-1834)

29- Man’s knowledge is only a drop:

قطره دانش که بخشیدی پیش متصل گردان بدریاهی خویش

قطره علمست اندر جان من وا رهانش از هوا وز خاک تن

A drop of knowledge that You have given me

Put that drop back in Your eternal sea

There is only a drop of knowledge within me

From my show and clay of body keep it free.

(M I / 1882-1883)

30- Try to be humble:

تن قفس شکلست تن شد خار جان در فریب داخلان و خارجان

تا توانی بنده شو سلطان مباش زخم کش چون گوی شو چوگان مباش

The body is like a cage and thorns for the soul it becomes

Due to the tricks of the external and the internal ones

Don’t be a king if you can be a slave

Bear the blows like a ball and be not a stave.

(M I / 1849-1868)

31- Not all the hearts capable to receive God’s command:

در وجود آدمی جان و روان می رسد از غیب چون آب روان

امر حق را باز جو از واصلی امر حق را نیابد هر د لی

To the human body flows like running waters,

Soul from some yonder unseen quarters

Through His beloved man find out God’s command

For not all hearts can receive God’s real command.

(M I / 2222-2229)

32- Knowledge is fruitful only for the spiritual goal:

علمها ی اهل دل حمالشان علمهای اهل تن احمالشان

علم چون بر دل زند یاری بود علم چون بر تن زند باری بود

The knowledge of lovers of God up raises them

For the worldly men knowledge is a burden on them

When knowledge is applied to the heart, it’s a good friend

But it’s burden, when applied to the physical demand.

(M I / 3446- 3447)

33- Every night our souls are set free from their cages of body:

گر هزاران دام باشد در قدم چون تو با ما ای نباشد هیچ غم

هر شبی از دام تن ارواح را می رهانی می کنی الواح را

می رهند ارواح هر شب زین قفص فاراغان از حکم و گفتار و قصص

شب ززندان بی خبر زندانیان شب ز دولت بی خبر سلطانیان

نی غم و اندیشه سود و زیان نی خیال این فلان و ان فلان

حال عارف این بود بی خواب هم گفت ایزد ‘هم رقود’ زین مرم

Although in our lives there are many a snare,

Why should we worry, for You are with us to take care?

Every night You set our souls free from our bodies

And dig away all the planks of grave of worries

The souls get free and come out of the cages

Free from orders, speeches and old stories

At night all prisoners forget about their cages

At night all rulers become unaware of stately affairs

They have no more worries of losses or gains

They are fully free from people or their own pains

A godly man has almost a similar state

Because God said “They are asleep, yet they are all awake”.

(M I / 387-388-389-390-392)

34- This world has little value for God:

صد چون عا لم در نظر پیدا کند چون که چشمت را بخود بینا کند

گر جهان پیشت بزرگ و بی بنیست پیش قدرت ذره می دان که نیست

When God makes you see things through His eyes

He creates hundreds of other worlds for your eyes

Although this world seems to be large and wide

It is nothing more than a tiny mote in Almighty’s eyes.

(M I / 523-524)

35- God gave us two spades (hands) to work:

خواجه چون بیلی بدست بنده داد بی زبان معلوم شد اورا مراد

گرتوکل می کنی در کار کن کشت کن پس تکیه بر کردار کن

If a master gives you two spades to you

It is clear what he wants from you

Work hard and trust in God

Sow the land and believe in Lord.

(M I / 932-947)

36- Be humble like clay:

از بهاران کی شود سرسبز سنگ خاک شو تا گل بروی رنگ رنگ

Because of springs do stones become green for ever?

So be soft like soil and grow colourful flowers.

(M I / 1911)

37- Enter the sea of love and be silent:

محو می باید نه نحو اینجا بدان گر تو محوی بی خطرآب ران

آب دریا مرده را برسر نهد ور بود زنده ز دریا کی رهد

Here be self-effaced and leave aside your grammar

And if you are self-effaced then step into the sea water

For the sea water carries the dead away

While a living one is left in water to sway.

(M I / 2841-2842)

38- Ritual prayers protect you:

باد خشم و باد شهوت باد آز برد او را که نبود اهل نماز

Wind of anger, the wind of greed and the wind of lust

Takes over those who give up prayers and the trust.

(M I / 3796)

39- Too much eating is a burden:

نان گلست و گوشت کمتر خور از این تا نمانی همچو گل اندر زمین

Eat less of bread and of meat for they are mud and clay

So that you may not remain under earth like mud and stay.

(M I / 2872)

40- Not all can know the taste of divine love:

مرغ کآب شور باشد مسکنش او چه د اند جای آب روشنش

ای که اندر چشمه شور است جات تو چه دانی شط و جیهون و فرات

ای تو نا رسته از این فانی ربات توچه دانی محو و سکر و انبساط

The bird that abides in the briny water

How can it know the taste of clean water?

And you who have made home in dirty water

Can you ever know the taste of Tigris, Jaihun or Euphrate’s water?

And you who have failed to free from this immortal inn

Know the pleasure of self effacement, drunkenness without sin.

(M I / 2724-2725-2726)

41- Physical senses are deceptive:

آنچ تو گنجش توهم می کنی زآن توهم گنج گم می کنی

Whatever your imaginations present you as a pleasure

With the same imaginations you may lose your treasure.

(M I / 2425)

42- Not all can know the taste of divine love:

مرغ کآب شور باشد مسکنش او چه د اند جای آب روشنش

ای که اندر چشمه شور است جات تو چه دانی شط و جیهون و فرات

ای تو نا رسته از این فانی ربات توچه دانی محو و سکر و انبساط

The bird that abides in the briny water

How can it know the taste of clean water?

And you who have made home in dirty water

Can ever know the taste of Tigris, Jaihun or Euphrate’s water?

And you who have failed to be free from this immortal inn

Know the pleasure of self effacement,drunkenness without sin.

(M I / 2724-2725-2726)

43- A humble prayer:

ای خدا جانرا تو بنما آن مقام که درو بی حرف می روید کلام

O my God! Lead my soul to such a state,

Where speeches may rise without letters and debate.

(M I / 3062)

44- All sounds remind God:

ما چو ناییم و نوا درما ز توست ما چو کوهیم و صدا در ما ز توست

We are like the reed-flute and the sound in it is Yours

We are like the mountain but the echo in it is Yours.

(M I/ 599)

45-Set yourself free:

مکر ها در کسب دنیا باردست مکرها در ترک دنیا واردست

این جهان زندان و ما زندانیا ن حفره کن زندان و خود را ور رهان

Tricks for achieving the worldly goals may seem to be right

But for abandoning this world they have deceiving sight

We are like prisoners while the world is a prison

Dig a tunnel and get out of this prison.

(MI / 980-981)

46- A few know their own faults:

زاغ اگر زشتی خود بشناختی همچو برف از درد و غم بگداختی

If a crow could discover its ugliness

It would melt away like snow due to pains and distress.

(M I / 2332)

47- Make death sweeter:

این همه غمها که اندر سینهاست از بخار و گرد بود باد ماست

دانک هر رنجی ز مردن پاره ایست جز مرگ از خود بران گر چاره ایست

چون ز جز مرگ نتوانی گریخت دانک کلش بر سرت خواهند ریخت

جز مرگ ار گشت شیرین مر ترا دانک شیرن می کند کل را خدا

All these worries that we carry in our chests

Are because of our burning desires and greedy breasts

Beware! Every piece of worry is a part of death

Try to avoid, if you can, the part of death

Since you cannot avoid the part of death

Then know that the entire death will be poured on your head

If the part of death has become dear to you

God will make the whole death sweet for you.

(M I / 2296-2297-2298)

48- God (Beloved) is the source of life to souls:

آنچنانکه پرتوی جان بر تن است پرتوی جانانه بر جان من است

جان جان چو وا وا کشد پارا ز جان جان چنان گردد که بی جان تن بدن

چو تو نه دهی راه جان خود برده گیر جان که بی تو زنده باشد مرده گیر

As the light of soul falls on the body

So falls the light of Beloved on my soul

When the Beloved withdraws His light from my soul

My soul becomes as lifeless as the body without life

If You don’t admit my soul to your presence, it shall stray

The soul that lives without You is dead and can find no way.

(M I / 3273-3274- 3907)

Masnevi II

1- Everything comes from the world unseen:

لفظ چون وکرست و معنی طایرست جسم جوی و روح آب سایر ست

او روانست و تو گویی واقف است او دوانست و تو گوی عاکف است

A word is like a nest, and its meaning is like a bird

The human body is like a river-bed, while the spirit is a stream

The water runs in it, yet you see it still

The water flows but you say, “It’s without motion”.

(M II / 3292-3293)

2- Root of everything is in the other world:

قشرها بر روی این آب روان از ثمار باغ غیبی شد دوان

قشر ها را مغز اندر با غ جو زآنک آب از باغ می آید بجو

The floating fruit-skins on the running water

Come down from the fruits of a hidden garden

Look for the essence of the skins in the garden

Because the water is flowing downwards from that garden

(M II / 3297-3298)

3- If your ideas are like roses you are a rose garden:

ای برادر تو همه اندیشه ای ما بقی تو استخوان و ریشه ای

گر گلست اندیشه تو گلشنی وربود خاری تو همه گلخنی

O brother! You are only thoughts from top to toe

The rest of you is made of flesh and bone, you know

If your thoughts are like roses, you are a rose garden of desire

If your thoughts are like thorns, you are nothing but fuel for fire.

(M II / 277-278)

4- Cry for your sins to win divine mercy:

زابر گریان شاخ سبز و تر شود زآنک شمع از گریه روشن تر شود

The more a candle cries the brighter it burns

The more a cloud shed tears over a twig the fresher it becomes.

(M II/ 480)

5- The real food of a perfect man is light of God:

قوت اصلی بشر نور خداست قوت حیوانی مر و را نا سزه است

لیک از علت درین افتاد دل که خورد او روز شب زین آب و گل

آن غذای خاصگان دولتست خوردن آن بی گلو و آلتست

Man’s real food is the light of God

And bestial food does not suit him.

It is because of ailment that man eats worldly food day and night,

But the real food of the elected ones is divine light

And eating of that kind of food needs no mouth or sight.

(M II/ 1082-1083)

6- A man is known by the company he keeps:

گر خفاشی را ز خورشیدی خوریست آن دلیل آمد که آن خورشید نیست

نفرت خفاشکان باشد دلیل که منم خورشید تابان جلیل

If a bat begins to receive spiritual light from the sun

It is a proof that the sun is no longer the real sun

And if a bat hates the sun

It is the proof that the sun is the real sun.

(M II / 2084-2085)

7- The sign of divine curse:

لعنت این باشد که کَژبینش کند حاسد و خودبین و پر کینش کند

The curse of God makes a man see everything distorted,

And fills him with self conceit, jealousy and hatred.

(M II / 2513)

8- Love of God is above all religions:

ملت عشق از همه دینها جداست عاشقان را ملت و مذهب خداست

The nation of love has a different religion

For lovers God, only God is their nation and religion.

(M II / 1770)

9- A Sufi and a scholar:

دفتر صوفی سواد و حرف نیست جز دل اسپید چون برف نیست

زاد دانشمند آثار قلم زاد صفی چیست آثار قد م

The book of a Sufi is without ink and letters

He has a heart snow-white and clean like fresh waters

A scholar’s provision is the impressions of his pen

While a Sufi’s provision is the foot-prints of Godly men.

(M II / 159-160)

10- Gain spiritual insight to see diamonds instead of pebbles:

این همه عالم طلبگار خو شند و ز خوش تزویر اندر آتشند

طالب زر گشته جمله پیر و خام لیک قلب از زر نداند چشم عام

صبح کاذب را ز صادق وا شناس رنگ می را باز دان از رنگ کاس

تا بود کز از دیدگان هفت رنگ دیده پیدا کند صبر و درنگ

رنگها بینی بجز این رنگها گوهرها بینی بجای سنگها

گوهر چی بلک دریای شوی آفتاب چرخ پیمایی شوی

The whole world is desirous of pleasures, they aspire

And due to pleasing deception they all burn in fire

The old and the young are all searching for gold

But they fail to distinguish false from the real gold.

Notice the difference between the real dawn and the false

And the colour of wine from the colour of its glass

Your eyes are captive of seven colours’ observance

They may produce new ones by means of perseverance

Then you may begin to see colours other than these ones

And may begin to see diamonds instead of these stones

And then you may become a great sea and reverse

To become a sun that rotates over the whole universe.

(M II / 743- 744- 755–756- 757–758)

11- A Sufi’s body is the target of fire but not his soul:

هست آن آهن فقیر سخت کش زیر پتک و آتش است او سرخ خوش

پس نظر گاه شعاع آن آهنست پس نظر گاه خدا دل نی تن است

The suffering Sufi is like a piece of iron, by burning it glows

Although his face is red under hammers and bright with blows

That iron is the target of God’s burning sight

It is not Sufi’s body, but his heart burning with divine light.

(M II / 830-838)

12- Whatever you sow, sow it for God:

کار عارف راست کو نه احولست چشم او بر کشتهای اولست

گر بروید ور بریزد صد گیاه عاقبت بروید آن کشت اله

کشت اول کامل و بگزیده است تخم ثانی فاسد و پوسیده است

هر چه کاری از برای او بکار چون اسیر دوستی ای دوستدار

Since a knower of God is not squint, his deeds are straight

His eyes are fixed on the primordial seeds and fate

Though hundreds of herbs may grow and fade

Yet God’s herbs remain the same as they were first made

The first grown seeds are perfect and immortal

While the second seeds are rotten and mortal

Whatever you sow, sow for God, who has no end

Because you are captive of that beloved Friend.

(M II / 1052- 1057- 1059-1063)

13- An infidel is unaware like the spider of a house:

آدمی داند که خانه حادثست عنکبودی نه در وی عابثست

کرم کاندر چوب زاید سست حال کی بداند چوب را وقت نهال

ور بداند کرم از ماهیتش عقل باشد کرم باشد صورتش

گرچه عقلت سوی بالا می پرد مرغ تقلیدت بپستی می چرد

علم تقلیدی وبال جان ماست عاریه ست و نشسته کآن ماست

زین خرد جاهل همی باید شدن دست در دیوانگی باید زدن

Man knows that a house is made by someone

But a playing spider of the house is aware of none

The worm that is born lazily in a piece of wood

How shall it know that wood was once a fresh shoot?

If the worm could know by means of knowledge its essence

It will be all intellect though its worm in appearance

Although your intellect flies upwards beyond the bounds

Yet your conventional bird of mind feeds on the ground

The conventional intellect is painful to our souls

For it is a borrowed intellect, yet we die for its roles

It is better to be ignorant than to posses such an intellect

It is better to be mad than to claim for such an intellect.

(M II / 2320- 2322-2323-2326-2327-2328)

14- Greed kills knowledge:

جهل را بی علتی عالم کند علم را علت کژ و ظالم کند

Lack of self-greed makes an ignorant man, wise

While the excess of ego leads knowledge to cruelty and demise.

(M II / 2752)

15- When one carnal sense is properly trained other senses begin to surrender:

چون یکی حس در روش بگشاد بند ما بقی حسها همه مبدل شوند

چون یکی حس غیر محسوسات دید گشت غیبی بر همه حسها پدید

حسها با حس تو گویند راز بی زبان و بی حقیقت بی مجاز

When one of the carnal senses opens up

Other senses also begin to break up

When one sense begins to behold the untouchable

Then to all other senses non-dimensional are perceivable

The other senses begin to disclose secrets to your sense

Without power, reality or without uttering a word of sense.

(M II / 3340-3341-3346)

16- Physically we are animal but spiritually we are angels:

تو بتن حیوان بجانی از ملک تا روی هم بر زمین هم بر فلک

ما همه مرغ آبیانیم ای غلام بحر می داند زبان ما تمام

Physically you’re animal and spiritually you’re angel, ready to fly

So that you may walk on earth as well as float in the sky

O son! We are all like floating swimming sea birds

And the sea knows our language and the spoken words.

(M II / 3776- 3779)

17- Greed hampers piety:

صاف خواهی چشم وعقل و سمع را بر دران تو پردهای طمع را

If you want to have your eyes, intelligence and ears neat

Then tear off the curtains of greed and your self-conceit.

(M II / 569)

18- The nebulae are dependent on the divine wind:

این جهان نیست چون هستان شده وآن جهان هست بس پنهان شده

خاک بر باد ست باز می کند کژ نمایی پرده سازی می کند

چشم حس اسب است و نور حق سوار بی سواره اسب خود نآید بکار

دست پنهان و قلم بین خط گزار اسپ در جولان و نا پیدا سوار

تیر پران بین و نا پیدا کمان جانها پیدا و پنهان جان جان

Ever since this non-existent world has come into being

The other world in existent is hidden from our perceiving

This world is like dust playing on wind and carried away

By forming forms and veils, it performs its play

The physical eye is like a horse and the light of God the rider

What is the use of a horse if it has no rider?

See, the hand is hidden while the pen is writing

Or the rider is hidden, yet the horse is running,

Watch the flying arrow while its bow is concealed

Bodies are visible, while the soul of souls is unrevealed.

(M II / 1280-1281-1285- 1286-1303-1304)

19- Light of God is your true friend after death:

روز مرگ این حس تو باطل شود نور جان داری که یار دل بود

آن زمان که این جان حیوانی نماند جان باقی بایدت بر جا نشاند

On the day when you die

The carnal senses shall depart

But your spiritual light shall remain

Being the friend of your heart

When your carnal being is dead

You need the living soul instead.

(M II / 940-943)

20- The real king:

شاه آن دان کو ز شاهی فارغست بی مه و خورشید نورش بازغست

مخزن آن دارد که مخزن ذ ات اوست هستی آن دارد که با هستی عدوست

پس بدآن مشغول شو کآن بهترست تا ز تو چیزی برد کآن کهتر ست

The real king is he who from kingship is free

Without the sun and moon his soul shines with glee

He whose essence is a treasure, is in fact a treasure

He who is the enemy of his own being enjoys the real pleasure

Thus be busy with those things that are fruitful

So that none of these worldly losses make you woeful.

(M II / 1469-1470-1507)

21- Be humble to receive divine mercy:

آب رحمت بایدت رو پست شو و آنگهان خور خمر رحمت مست شو

چرخ را در زیر پا آر ای شجاع بشنو از فوق فلک بانگ سماع

پنبه واسواس بیرون کن ز گوش تا بگوشت آید از گردون خروش

If you are looking for the water of divine mercy be humble and low

Then drink the wine of divine mercy and be drunk and glow

Take the sky under your feet with courage and bravery

And listen to the celestial sounds coming from the distant sky

Take the cotton of doubts and suspicions out of your ear

So that the celestial cries you may be able to hear.

(M II / 1940-1943-1944)

22- Love revives the dead:

از محبت تلخها شیرین شود از محبت مسها زرین شود

از محبت دردها صا فی شود از محبت درد ها شافی شود

از محبت مرده زنده می کند از محبت شاه بنده می کند

Because of love the bitter changes into sweet

Because of love copper shines like golden bead

Because of love dregs become crystal clear

Because of love pains and worries disappear

Because of love the dead become alive

Because of love a king becomes a slave to revive.

(M II / 1529-1530-1531)

23- This world is only a leaf of that garden:

سوی شهر از باغ شاخی آورند باغ و بستان را کجا آنجا برند

خاصه باغی کین فلک یک برگ اوست بلک آن مغز است وین دیگر چو پوست

Only a branch of a tree from a garden has been brought here

No garden or orchard can fully be carried away from there

Specially from the garden of which only a leaf is this world

That world is like the kernel, while its cover is this world.

(M II / 3230-3231)

24- Soul has no nationality:

روح با عقل است و با علم است یار روح را با ترکی و تازی چه کار

Soul is the friend of intelligence and knowledge

It has nothing to do with Turkish or Arabic.

(M II / 56)

25- Give up the spiral of shapes and come out to reality:

چند بازی عشق با نقش سبو بگزر از نقش سبو رو آب جو

صورت ظاهر فنا گردد بدان عالم معنی بماند جاودان

How long you will be busy with the pictures on the jar?

Leave the pictures aside and look for the water

The visible shapes shall soon disappear

Yet the spiritual shapes shall remain for ever.

(M II / 1021-1020)

26- When Divine secrets reveal the physical intellect fails:

نفس با نفس دیگر چون یار شد عقل جزوی عاطل و بیکار شد

When the worldly body is acquainted with the spiritual one

The individual intellect fails and becomes useless one.

(M II / 21)

27- The whole universe is moving because of the Mover:

دست پنهان و قلم بین خط گزار اسپ در جولان و نا پیدا سوار

پس یقین در عقل هر داننده است این که با جنبیده جنبانیده است

The hand is hidden and yet the pen is writing,

The horse is running but the rider is hidden,

Therefore, any learned man does know

That where there is the motion there the mover is.

(M II 1303 and M IV 153)

28- The partial soul has trust of the universal soul:

تاب نور چشم با پیه است جفت نور دل در قطره خونی نهفت

شادی اندر گرده و غم در جگر عقل چون شمعی درون مغز سر

جان کل با جان جزو آسیب کرد جان ازو دری ستد در جیب کرد

The power of eye-light has coupled with the fat of fluid

The light of heart has concealed in the drop of blood

Happiness has concealed in the kidney, while grief in the liver

And intellect is like a candle within the brain in the head

The universal soul contacted the partial soul

The partial soul asked for a pearl

The universal soul put it in its pocket.

(M II / 1180-1181-1183)

29- About the spiritual senses:

پنج حسی هست جز این حس آن زر سرخ و ین حسها چو مس

حس ابدان قوت ظلمت می خورد حس جان از آفتابی می چرد

There are five other senses than these physical ones

The others are like red gold, while these are like copper

The physical senses live on darkness

While the spiritual senses live on the light of the sun.

(M II / 49-51)

30- A sound heart can judge the right from the wrong:

چون شود از رنج و علت دل سلیم طعم صدق و کذ ب را باشد علیم

When the heart gets rid of pain and disease,

It begins to know which food is right and which is wrong to eat.

(M II / 2738)

Masnevi III

1- Wars teach peace:

جنگهای خلق بهر خوبیست برگ بی برگی نشان طوبیست

خشمهای خلق بهر آشتیست دام راحت دایما بی راحتیست

There is a good side of public wars

Leafless trees are the sign of greener trees

Anger of public finally sets to peace

And a trap of discomfort is a sign for the coming ease.

(M III/ 989- 990)

2- Tears can wash spots of sins:

این نجاسه ظاهر از آبی رود آن نجاسه باطن افزون می شود

جز با آب چشم نتوان شستن آن چون نجاست بواطن شد عیان

The outer dirt can be washed away with water and rain

While the inner dirt may increase and still remain

However, when the inner dirt appears

It can be washed away with your falling tears.

(M III / 2092-2093)

3- A worldly man has nothing yet he is afraid of thieves:

عور می ترسد که که دامنش برند دامن مرد برهنه کی درند

مرد دنیا مفلس است و ترس ناک هیچ اورا نیست ‘ از دزدانش باک

او برهنه آمد و عریان رود وز غم دزدش جگر خون می شود

The naked man is afraid that his clothes may be torn

But how can ever a nude man’s clothes are torn?

A worldly man is penniless and yet full of grief

He has nothing in his own possession yet he fears a thief

He comes to this world naked and goes to the other nude

Yet the fear of a thief burns his heart and makes him rude.

(M III / 2631-2632-2633)

4- A godless man adheres to this world like an embryo to the womb of its mother:

چون جنین کش می کشد بیرون کرم می گریزد او سپس سوی شکم

که اگر بیرون افتم ز شهر و کام ای عجب بینم بدیده این مقام

آن جنین هم غافلست از عالمی همچو جالینوس او نا محرمی

او نه داند کآن رطوباتی که هست آن مدد از عالم بیرونست

آ نچنان چار عنصر در جهان صد مدد آرد ز شهر لا مکان

A worldly man is like an embryo,

Divine mercy wants to take him out

He runs back to his mother’s belly in doubt

Fearing that if he falls out of his joy and place

He may never the see again his dwelling space

The embryo doesn’t know about this world

Like Galen, he is not aware of the other world

How can he know that what comes as supply

Comes from some unfamiliar outer world

Similarly, the four elements of this world

Receive hundreds of aid from the city of the unknown world.

(M III/3964- 3966- 3969- 3970- 3971)

5- Worldly shapes are deceptive:

گر ز صورت بگذ ر ید ای دوستان جنتست و گلستان در گلستان

صورت خود چون شکستی سوختی صورت کل را شکست آموختی

Friends! If you pass beyond these deceiving forms

You can see rose gardens behind other rose gardens

When you break up and burn off your own form

You have learnt to surrender to the universal form.

(M III / 578-579)

6- Suspicion is like one winged bird:

علم را دو پر گمان را یک پر ست ناقص آمد ظن بپرواز ابترست

مرغ یک پر زود افتد سر نگون باز بر پرد دو گامی یا فزون

چون ز ظن وا رست علمش رو نمود شود دو پر آن مرغ یک پر پر گشود

Knowledge has two wings while opinion has only one

Suspicion is weak and hampers your flight in the long run

One winged bird soon falls head down

If it tries to fly again, it can fly only a few steps around

One can gain real knowledge by getting rid of the suspicion

A single winged bird then becomes two winged by God’s permission.

(M III / 1510-1511-1513)

7- God created nothing useless:

حق تعالی گر سموات آفرید از برای دفع حاجات آفرید

هر کجا دردی دوا آنجا رود هر کجا فقری نوا آنجا رود

عبرت و بیداری از یزدان طلب نه از کتاب و از مقال و حرف و لب

If God has created the heavens and the lands

He has done so to meet our needs and our demands

Where there is pain, there the medicine goes

Where there is poverty, there the help goes

Ask from God alone for the wakefulness and the lessons

Not from books or speeches or words of professions.

(M III / 3209-3210-3271)

8- Why a lover of God is unhappy:

هر زمان گوید بگوید بخت نو که ترا غمگین کنم غمگین مشو

من تو را غمگین و گریان زآن کنم تا کت از چشم بدآن پنهان کنم

Every moment my new fate utters these words to me

“I shall make you unhappy but you should try not to be,

I shall make you sad and lead you to perpetual cries,

And that I may protect you from the evil eyes”.

(M III / 4149-4150)

9- Be afraid of spiritual poverty but not of mundane poverty:

می کشد شیر قضا در بیشها جان ما مشغول کار پیشها

آن چنان کز فقر می ترسند خلق زیر آب شور رفته تا بحلق

گر بترسندی از آن فقر آن آفرین گنجها شان کشف گشتی در زمین

The lion of destiny is dragging us towards a jungle fast

While our souls are busy with trades and earnings steadfast

Folks are afraid of poverty and dearth of bread

They are drowned in briny water up to their head

If only they could fear the poverty giver

Many treasures and spiritual riches they shall discover.

(M III / 2204-2205-2206)

10- This world is not as large as it seems to be:

انبیا را تنگ آمد این جهان چون شهان رفتند اندر لا مکان

غفلت از تن بود چون تن روح شد بیند او اسرار را بی هیچ بد

جسم بند آمد فراخ و سخت تنگ خنده او گریه فخرش جمله ننگ

For all prophets this world was narrow and boring

For they had been in the non-existent world the most pleasing

Negligence is because of this body but when the soul goes free

It watches all the hidden things with a profound glee

The body is highly cramped in this world by a narrow frame

Where laughing means crying and the pride means shame.

(M III / 3538-35666-3544)

11- Finally all prayers join:

مد حها شد جملگی آمیخته کوزها در یک لگن در ریخته

ز آنکه ممد و ح جز یک بیش نیست کیشها زین روی جز یک کیش نیست

All praises and prayers join rapidly

As jars are emptied in a vessel finally

Because the Praised One is none but One

Therefore all beliefs unite in one religion.

(M III / 2123-2124)

12- Silent journey:

از ره و منزل ز کوتاه و دراز دل چه داند کوست مست دلنواز

آن دراز و کوته اوصاف تنست رفتن ارواح دیگر رفتنست

تو سفر کردی ز نطفه تا بعقل نه بگامی بود نی منزل نه نقل

What shall know the heart that is mad because of the Sweetheart,

Of ways, of the terminal and of the long and the short?

Long and short are the attributes of a physical body

Souls have non- dimensional ways and certainly many.

From a sperm you have come down to wisdom by God’s grace

Without walking to a goal, stopping or moving from place to place.

(M III / 1977-1978-1979)

13- Love gives birth to love:

هیچ عاشق خود نباشد وصل جو که نه معشوقش بود جویای او

جذب آبست این عطش در جان ما ما از آن او و او هم آن ما

جمله اجزای جهان ز آن حکم پیش جفت جفت و عاشقان جفت خویش

No lover seeks union just on his own,

Unless the Beloved’s love to him is prone

Attraction of water is the cause of our thirst

For we are a part of it and it is a part of us

All universal particles are pair by fate

They seek each other like a lover seeks his mate.

(M III / 4393- 4399-4401)

14- Love is beyond colours:

عاشقان اندر عدم خیمه زدند چون عدم یک رنگ و نفس واحدند

Lovers have pitched their tents in the world non-existence,

They have all become one because there is one colour in the non-existence.

(M III / 3024)

15- Pass to totality:

ای دلا منظور حق آنگه شوی که چو جزوی سوی کل خود روی

حق همی گوید نظر مان بر دلست نیست بر صورت که آن آب و گلست

O dear heart! You are accepted by God

Only when your individuality is lost in the universality

As God says, “I look at the hearts of people

And not at their shapes made of mud and clay”.

(M III / 2243-2244)

16- It is our body that is in prison:

این زمین و آسمان بس فراخ سخت تنگ آمد بهنگام مناخ

غفلت از تن بود چون تن روح شد بیند او اسرار را بی هیچ بد

چون زمین بر خاست از جو فلک نه شب ونه سایه بشد لی و لک

This the wide world and the large sky

Become narrow when one goes to sleep

Negligence is due the physical body but when it becomes soul

It sees all the secrets openly without asking why and how

When the earth comes out of this physical atmosphere

No night, no day, no shadow is left for you and me

(M III / 3543-3567-3568)

17- A real heart should be above the heavens:

تو همی گوی مرا دل نیز هست دل فراز عرش باشد نه به پست

آن دلی که ازآسمانها بر تر است آن دل ابدال یا پیغمبر است

پاک گشته آن زگل صافی شده در فزونی آمده وافی شده

آینه دل چون شود صافی و پاک نقشها بینی برون از آب و خاک

You say that you also have a good heart

But a real heart is above God’s throne and far

And the heart that is above the heavens,

Is the heart of a saint or a prophet.

It is cleaned off from clay and dust

It has grown up and has become perfect

When the mirror of your heart becomes clean and fair

Then it begins to show you pictures of the invisible world.

(M III 2245–2248–2249- II/ 7)

18- Your toughest enemy is within you:

زآن عوان مقتضی که شهوتست دل اسیر حرص و آز و آفتست

ز آن عوان سر شدی دزد و تباه تا عوانانرا بقهر توست راه

By being helplessly obedient to your indispensable lust

Your heart is slave of greed, desire and disaster

Because of this obedience you are a thief and lost

This obedience shall give way to losses sooner and faster.

(M III 4064-4065)

19- There are other causes behind the visible ones:

است بر اسباب اسباب دیگر در سبب منگر بر آن افگن نظر

There are other causes than the visible one

Don’t look at the secondary cause, look at the primary one.

(M III / 2516)

20- A true lover of God loves Him without expecting anything:

این محب حق ز بهر علتی وآن دیگر را بی غرض خود خلتی

پس محب حق باومید و بترس دفتر تقلید می خواند بدرس

وآن محب حق زبهر حق کجاست که ز اغراض و ز علتها جداست

Some love God for needs and demands

Some love God expecting nothing but God Himself

Some love God because of fear and hopes

They read copied pages as their religious lessons

Where is then the lover who loves God for God sake,

Free from self-interest, cause and reasons?

(M III / 4591- 4595-4596)

21- Receive sorrows with affection:

غم خور و نان غم افزایان مخور ز آنک عاقل غم خورد و کودک شکر

قند شادی میوی باغ غم است این فرح زخمست و آن غم مرهمست

غم چون بینی در کنارش کش بعشق از سر ربوه نظر کن در دمشق

Welcome sorrows and avoid the bread of sorrow increasers

Because the wise eat sorrows while children eat sweets

Pleasing sweets are fruits of sorrows

Sweets of joy cause serious wounds but the sorrows are healers

When you come across sorrows accept them with love

And look at them from the point of view of realities.

(M III / 3751-3752-3753)

Masnevi IV

1- Divine love is like a flame:

عشق آن شعله ست کو چون بر فروخت هر چه جز معشوق باقی جمله سوخت

Love is the flame and when it begins to blaze

It burns off everything except the beloved, worthy of praise.

(M IV / 588)

2- Self conceit is like a crown:

عقل تو دستور و مغلوب هواست در وجدت ره زن راه خداست

عقل جزوی را وزیر خود مگیر عقل کل را ساز ای سلطان وزیر

عقل جزوی عقل استخراج نیست جز پذیرای فن و محتاج نیست

جان که او دنباله زاغان پرد زاغ او را سوی گورستان برد

Your carnal sense is obedient to show and lust

It is like a bandit within you on the way to divine trust

Don’t take your individual sense as your vicegerent

Sultan! Make the universal sense your agent

Your carnal sense is not exclusive and vast

It needs scientific knowledge and learning fast

The soul that follows the crow-like selfhood and lust

Can be lead to nowhere, no garden but only to dust.

(M IV / 1246-1258-1295-1311)

3- Worldly folk are stuck in materialistic circles:

خلق را بنگر که چون ظلمانی اند در متاع فانی چون فانی اند

از تکبر جمله اندر تفر قه مرده از جان زنده اندر مخرقه

این عجب که جان بزندان اندرست و آنگهی مفتاح زندانش بدست

See the people how cruel they are to themselves

And how lost they are in the mortal riches

Due to their own pride they are scattered into parts

And are spiritually dead but alive in obstinacy

Strangely, they have imprisoned themselves

Although the key of freedom is in their own hands.

(M IV / 2032- 2033-2034)

4- A non-believer believes in what he sees:

حجت منکرهمین آمد که من غیر این ظاهر نمی بینم وطن

هیچ نندیشد که هرجا ظاهریست آن ز حکمتهای پنهان مخبریست

فایده هر ظاهری خود باطنست همچو نفع اندر دواها کامن است

A non-believer’s excuse is, “I believe in none but what I see,

There is no other world except this visible one I see”

He fails to see that God is manifest in everything

And everything has the proof of His being

Every object manifest is supported by the inner being

Just as medication has its hidden quality.

(M IV / 2878 – 2879-2880)

5- Common people prefer to live in this prison:

خلق را بنگر که چون ظلمانی اند در متاع فانی چون فانی اند

از تکبر جمله اندر تفر قه مرده از جان زنده اندر مخرقه

این عجب که جان بزندان اندرست وآنگهی مفتاح زندانش بدست

Lo! How they are fond of living in total darkness

Along with their mortal wealth they prefer wretchedness

Due to vain pride, they are divided into parts, losing their ties

They are dead by souls and try to live by telling lies

And amazingly they do so without any logical reason

They have the keys in their hands, yet they desire to stay in prison.

(M IV / 2032-2033-2034)

6- An infidel is slave of his eyes:

حجت منکر همین آمد که من غیر این ظاهر نمی بینم و طن

هیچ نندیشد که هر جا ظاهریست آن ز حکمتهای پنهان مخبریست

فایده هر ظاهری خود باطنست همچو نفع اندر دواها کامن است

An unbeliever claims that he believes what he sees

And he finds no better home than this he sees

He fails to see that everywhere God is unconcealed

And by means of His wisdom He is fully revealed

The benefit of each form lies behind the things unsealed

Like the utilities of medicine under herbs concealed.

(M IV / 2878-2879-2880)

7-Physically man is microcosm and spiritually man is macrocosm:

هین مشو نومید نور از آسمان حق چون خواهد می رسد در یک زمان

صد اثر در کانها از اختران می رسا ند قدرش در هر زمان

اختر گردون ظلم را ناسخ است اختر حق در صفا تش راسخ است

پس بصورت عالم اصغر توی پس بمعنی عالم اکبر توی

Don’t be disappointed! Celestial light can come down any time

When God wants, light can reach you in a short time

Every time He sends huge energy from the stars

To the deeper mines by his grace and powers

The stars of this world are liable to darkness and change

While God’s stars have static attributes with no range

Your physical form is a microcosm

While your spiritual essence is the macrocosm.

(M IV / 513-514-515-521)

8- God’s art changes nebula into shining stars:

سوی حق گر راستانه خم شوی وا رهی از اختران محرم شوی

چون شوی محرم گشایم با تو لب تا بیبینی آفتابی نیم شب

جز روان پاک او را شرق نه در طلوعش روز و شب را فرق نه

روز آن باشد که او شارق شود شب نماند شب چو او بارق شود

آفتابی را که رخشان می شود دیده پیشش کند و حیران می شود

خوار و مسکین بینی اورا بی قرار دیده را قوت شده از کرد گار

کیمیای که ازو یک ماثری بر دخان افتاد گشت آن اختری

If you bow to God sincerely

You become free from these stars and see the reality

When you become aware of the other world

Only then I can utter my words openly

And you will begin to see the sun at night

In the spiritual world there is no east or west

In rising or setting there is no difference

Day is born by rising of the sun

And night is no more a night when the other sun shines bright

There the sun shines, it shines extremely bright

The eyes there are blurred and filed with surprise

The worldly sun there is a mote and little thing

When God blesses your eyes with His light

God is such a chemist when his art provokes

It brings out shining stars from the wandering smoke.

(M IV / 583-584-585-588-590-591)

9- Divine intoxication keeps you inwardly busy:

هین کمالی دست آور تا تو هم از کمال دیگران نفتی بغم

از خدا میخواه دفع این حسد تا خدایت وا رهانت از جسد

مر ترا مشغولیی بخشد درون که نپرد از آن سوی بیرون

جرعه می را خدا آن می دهد که بدو مست از دو عالم می رهد

You, too, try to do your best to attain divine perfection

So that you may not worry for others’ ascension

Ask God to keep you away from this jealousy

Thus may God set you free from your physical fallacy

And finally He may keep you busy esoterically

And you may not be engaged further exoterically

For God’s one draught of wine is so diverse

That it makes you forget the entire universe.

(M IV / 2680- 2681-2682-2683)

10- It is the spiritual blindness that matters:

کوری کوران ز راحمت دور نیست کوری حرص است کآن معذور نیست

ماهیا آخر نگر منگر بشست بدگلویی چشم آخر بینت بست

ای دل از کین و کراهت پاک شو و آنگهان الحمد خوان چالا ک شو

The blindness of the blind is not deprived of God’s mercy

It’s the blindness of greed that has no excuse and needs remedy

O fish! See the result; don’t fix your eyes on the baited hooks

Your strong hunger has blinded you and blurred your looks

O heart! Rid yourself of hatred and deep jealousy

Then say, “Glory to God” and be active, full of life and free.

(M IV / 1706-1708-1736)

11- Intellect is the shadow of God:

عقل سایه حق بود حق آفتاب سایه را با آفتاب او چی تاب

Intellect is the shadow of God while God is the Sun

How can shadow stand in front of that Glorious Sun?

(M IV / 2111)

12- Body is like buttermilk, while the soul is butter:

جوهر صدقت خفی شد در دروغ همچو طعم روغن اندر طعم دوغ

روغن اندر دوغ باشد چون عدم دوغ در هستی بر آورد علم

Your true essence in your deceptive body is concealed

As butter in the buttermilk is unrevealed

Good shaking is needed to take the hidden butter apart

Then the butter appears from the buttermilk’s heart.

(M IV / 3030-3046).

13- The ignorant are unaware:

تو چو کرمی در میان سیب در و ز در خت و باغبا نی بی خبر

In this world man lives like a worm in an apple

Unaware of the garden and the gardener.

(M IV / 1870)

14- Man is the whole universe:

پس بصورت آدمی فرع جهان وز صفت اصل جهان این را بدان

ظاهرش را پشه آرد بچرخ باطنش باشد محیط هفت چرخ

In form man may be a part of the universe

But actually by nature he is the whole universe

Physically he may seem to be disturbed by a simple gnat

But spiritually, seven heavens in him preserve.

(M IV / 3767-3768)

15- How to speak to non believers?

آب اگر در روغن جوشان کنی دیگدان و دیگ را ویران کنی

نرم گو لیکن مگو غیر صواب وسوسه مفروش در لین الخطاب

If you pour water into boiling oil

Your pan and stove shall both spoil

So use soft words but tell the reality

Don’t say skeptical things and words of dishonesty.

(M IV / 3816-3817)

16- The earth and the universe are alive:

پس زمین و چرخ را دان هوشمند چونکه کار هوشمندان می کند

Think! the universe and the earth are living and wise

As they perform whatever the other wise beings do.

(M IV / 4410)

17- After death you become al eyes:

پس بدانی چون که رستی از بدن گوش و بینی چشم می تاند شدن

So know that once you are delivered from this body

Your ears and nose turn into seeing eyes.

(M IV / 2400)

18- Polish your heart:

گر تن خاکی غلیظ و تیره است صیقلش کن ز آنکه صیقل گیره است

تا درو اشکال غیبی رو دهد عکس حوری و ملک در وی جهد

صیقلی دید آهن و خوش کرد رو تا که صورتها توان دید اندر او

If your clayish body is filthy and dark

Polish it for it can be polished

Until you turn the unseen into be seen

And watch the nymph and angels there

As a piece of iron is polished and cleaned

And begins to show faces there in.

(M IV / 2473-2474-2474)

19- God created the visible things from the invisible:

هیچ نقاشی نگارد زین نقش بی امید نفع بهر عین نقش

بلک بهر میهمانان و کهان که بفرجه وا رهند از اند هان

هیچ خطاطی نویسد خط بفن بهر عین خط نه بهر خواندن

نقش ظاهر بهر نقش غایبشت و آن برای غا یب دیگر ببست

اول از بهر دوم باشد چنان که شدن بر پایهای نردبان

و آن دوم بهر سوم می دان تمام تا رسی تو پایه پایه تا ببام

Does a painter paint charming picture,

Hoping for no benefits but just for drawing sake?

No, he paints for the young or for the guests

To free them for a while from the worldly frets

Does a calligrapher write a letter only for fun?

No, he does it for reading and not just for fun

The visible form is for the invisible one

Which takes shape for another invisible one

The first one is there because of the second one

And thus they form the steps of the ladder

The second one is for the third one

So you may climb to the top one by one.

(M IV / 2881-2882-2886-2887-2892-2893)

20- Stages of man:

آمده اول باقلیم جماد وز جمادی در نباتی افتار

سالها اندر نباتی عمرکرد وز جمادی یاد نآورد ا ز نبرد

و زنباتی چون بحیوانی فتاد نآمدش حال نباتی هیچ یاد

باز از حیوان سوی انسانیش می کشید آن خالقی که دانیش

He (man) came first to the world of inorganic state

From there he fell to the world of vegetable state

Where he lived for many years

Not remembering the previous struggling state

When he fell from the vegetable state to the animal one

He forget again his previous state

Then the Creator, whom you know well

Lead man to humanity from the animal state.

(M IV / 3637-3638-3646)

Masnevi V

1- The infidels are captive of pictures and shapes:

دختران را لعبت مرده دهند که زلعب زندگان بی آگاه اند

کافران قانع بنقش انبیا که نگارنده ست اندر دیرها

Young girls play with dolls that are dead

Because they don’t know the real game before they wed

Infidels are happy with prophets’ pictures and profiles

Painted on the walls of the temples and the tiles.

(M V / 3597-3599)

2- Kill these four birds:

سر ببر این چار مرغ زنده را سرمدی کن خلق نا پاینده را

بط و طاوس و زاغست و خروس این مثا ل چار خلق اندر نفوس

Cut off these four living birds’ heads

Make them immortal and save them from dust

They are duck of greed, peacock of show

Crow of desires and cock of lust

They are four elements living in people’s heads.

(M V / 42-43)

3- Strengthen your spiritual desire:

جهد کن تا این طلب افزون شود تا دلت زین چاه تن بیرون شود

خلق گوید مرد مسکین آن فلان تو بگوی زنده ام ای فلان

گرتن من همچو تنها خفته است هشت جنت در دلم بشگفته است

جان چو خفته در گل و نسرین بود چه غمست ار تن در آن سرگین بود

Try hard so that the spiritual desire may increase

And your heart from this well-type body may release

People may say that poor fellow is now dead

But you can claim, “I am still alive without dread,

My body may seem to be sleeping quite alone

Yet within me I have eight paradises born”

When a soul sleeps in eglantines or roses

Little it worries if the body in mud or dung reposes.

(M VI / 1735-1736-1737)

4- A bad friend is worst than a snake:

حق ذ ات پاک الله الصمد که بود به مار بد از یار بد

مار بد تنها ترا به جان زند یار بد بر جان و بر ایمان زند

Listen for the Truth and for God’s sake

A bad friend is worse than a snake

For a bad snake can bite your body without desire

A bad friend hurts your body and sets your belief on fire.

(M V 2634-)

5- For God’s lovers, He is enough:

عاشقانرا شادمانی و غم اوست دست مزد و اجرت خدمت هم اوست

For lovers of God, He alone is the sorrow and the source of pleasure

He is wages of their labour and the real treasure.

(M V / 586)

6- Death is not fearful for lovers:

تلخ نبود پیش ایشان مرگ تن چون روند از چاه و زندان در چمن

گوید ای یزدان مرا در تن مبر تا درین گلشن کنم من کر و فر

For lovers of God death is not bitter or a burden

Since they pass from this well to a garden

They say “Our Lord don’t put us back in our bodies again

And let us live in your love garden free and without pain”.

(M V / 1713-1723)

7- Let your sorrows attack your body and not your soul:

نعمت حق را بر جان و عقل ده نه بطبع پر ز حیر پر گره

بار کن پیگا ر غم را بر تنت بر دل و جان کم نه آن جان کندنت

Pass the bounty of God to your intellect and souls

But not to your nature inclined to twists and rolls

Let your body receive the arrows of sorrows

Thus save your heart and soul from pains and blows.

(M V / 1092-1093)

8- Only divine love is eternal:

هر چه جز عشقست شد ماکول عشق دو جهان یک دانه پیش نول عشق

Anything other than love,

Is devoured by love,

The two worlds are like a grain,

In the beak of love and pain.

(M V / 2726)

9- Love eliminates infidelity:

هر که اندر عشق یابد زندگی کفر باشد پیش او جز بندگی

For he who finds new life in love,

Anything other than slavery is infidelity

(V / 1666)

10- Why man is after different goals?

قبله جان را چون پنهان کرده اند هر کسی رو جانبی آورده اند

Since the spiritual target has been concealed

People run after the targets and goals revealed.

(M V / 328)

11- Man’s journey:

تو از آن روزی که در هست آمدی آتشی یا باد یا خاکی بدی

گربر آن حالت ترا بودی بقا کی رسیدی مر ترا این ارتقا

ا ز مبدل هستی اول نماند هستی بهتر بجای آن نشاند

از جمادی بی خبر سوی نما وز نما سوی حیات و ابتلا

باز سوی عقل و تمیزات خوش باز سوی خارج این پنج و شش

در فناها این بقارا دیده بر بقای جسم چون چفسیده

هین بده ای زاغ این جان باز باش پیش تبدیل خدا جان باز باش

تازه می گیر و کهن را می سپار که هر امسالت فزونست از سه پار

Ever since you have come to existence

You were fire or wind or dust

If you remained at that state

How could you rise to this height?

The first stage has gone due to the new one

Now a better life you have found

Unaware you went from minerals to vegetation

And from vegetation to real life and worries

Again, towards intelligence and pleasing discriminations

And then out side of all those confusions

So, you have noticed eternity in those mortal lives

Now why are you stuck to this body?

Come on, crow, and give up this life to become a falcon

And be sacrificing in the presence of divine transformations

Chose the fresh life and give up the old one

Every this year is better than the past three years.

(M V / 789-790-791-800-801-807-808-809)

12- The soul and the body:

از این بدن اندر عذابی ای بشر مرغ روحت بسته با جنس دگر

روح بازست و طبایع زاغها دارد از زاغان و چغدان داغها

O man! You are in torment due to this physical body

While the bird of your soul is attached to another kind

Your soul is a falcon but your bodily nature is like crows

It has deep impressions of crows and owls.

(M V / 842-843)

Masnevi VI

1- Our food is nothing else but clay and dust:

این دهن خود خاک خواری آمدست لیک خاکی را که آن رنگین شدست

این کباب و این شراب و این شکر خاک رنگین است و نقشین ای پسر

چونک خوردی و شد آنها لحم و پوست رنگ لحمش داد و این هم خاک کوست

هندو و قفچاق و رومی و حبش جمله یک رنگ اند اندر گور خوش

رنگ با قی صبغته الله است و بس غیر آن بر بسته دان همچون جرس

This mouth has always been eating some kind of earth

Colourful foods of many kinds are also forms of earth

The kebab and wine, and many sweet dishes

My son! Are all different shapes and colours of the earth

When you eat them, they change into flesh and skin

Colours disappear so where is the clay and the earth?

Hindu, Qifchaq, the Anatolian and the Black

In grave they all lay as one, happy under the earth.

The everlasting colour is the colour of God’s names

All the rest of colours are like visionary bells hung for games.

(M VI / 4705- 4706- 4707-4709-4711)

2- Love is the cash of the other world:

مایه در بازار این دنیا زرست مایه آنجا عشق و دو چشم ترست

Gold is the cash of this world’s bazaar to pay off the price

The cash of the other world is the tears of two crying eyes.

( M VI / 839).

3- Open the eyes of the heart to see the secrets:

آنک او را چشم دل شد دیدبان دید خواهد چشم او عین العیان

He whose eyes of the heart begin to see

His physical eyes begin to see everything openly.

(M VI /4405)

4-God’s attribute is love:

توبه کرم و عشق همچون ا ژ دها توبه وصف حلق و آن وصف خدا

Repentance is like a worm,

And love is like a dragon,

Repentance belongs to man,

And love belongs to God.

(M VI / 970)

5- Titles and ranks are source of worries and destruction:

نام میری و وزری و شهی در نهانش مرگ و درد و جان دهی

بنده باش و بر زمین رو چو سمند چون جنازه نه که بر گردن برند

These worldly titles “Prince”, “Vizier”, and “Royalty”

Have these concealed meaning: “Death”, “Pains” and “Mortality”

So be a slave (of God) and walk on earth like a horse

Not like a coffin to be carried on peoples’ shoulders.

(M VI / 323-324)

6- There is a secret you within you:

توی تو در دیگری آمد دفین من غلا م مرد خود بینی چنین

Your real you is buried in another you

I am slave of that who knows the real you.

(M VI / 3776)

7- Don’t be afraid of death but of your body:

از وجودی ترس کاکنون در وی آن خیالت لا شی و تو لا شی

لا شی بر لا شی عاشق شدست هییچ نی مر هیچ نی را ره زدست

چون برون شد این خیالات از میان گشت نامعقول تو بر تو عیان

Be afraid of the body in which you are living

It’s your illusion and it is, in fact, nothing

Nothing has fallen in love with nothing

Nothing has thus waylaid your nothing

When you lose this kind of feeling

Your intellect perceives the real revealing.

(M VI / 1447-1448-1449)

8- The celestial mill gives you nothing if you have no grains:

همچو مرغ خاک کآید در بحار زآن چه یابد جز هلاک و جز خسار

آسیای چرخ بر بی گندمان مو سپیدی بخشد و ضعف میان

When a land-bird happens falls into sea

What can it gain except a loss and injury?

This celestial mill offers nothing but whiteness of hair

To those who have no wheat and nothing to prepare.

(M VI / 4430-4432)

9- Conflict in this world is due to opposites:

این جهان جنگ است کل چون بنگری ذره با ذره چو ن دین با کا فری

ذره کآن محو شد در آفتاب جنگ او بیرون شد از وصف و حساب

آن جهان جز باقی و آباد نیست ز آنکه آن ترکیب از اضداد نیست

این تفانی از ضد آید ضد را چون نباشد ضد نبود جز بقا

When you look closely, you find this world all at war

Mote fights with a mote, and an infidel with a believer

But when a mote is lost in the sun light

The war is over and the atoms stop to fight

The other world is eternal and everlasting

Because there are no opposite elements for struggling

The devastation is born of opposites’ fighting

If there are no opposites, there the peace starts abiding.

(M VI / 36- 40-56-57)

10- Seek in this world no rest and peace:

عاشقان در سیل تند افتاده اند بر قضای عشق دل بناهده اند

همچو سنگ آسیا اندر مدار روز شب گردان و نالان بی قرار

چون قراری نیست گردون را از او ای دل اختر وار آرامی مجو

Lovers have in torrent of love fallen

And it is the fate of love they have chosen

They turn up like the celestial mill-stone

Day and night they cry and moan

Since love has struck the whole universe with tempest

O my heart! Like stars, you too, move on and seek no rest.

(M VI / 910-911-914)

11- The mundane forms are the reflection of the non-dimensional world:

صورت از بی صورت آید در وجود هم چنان کز آتشی زاد است دود

صورت فکر است بر بام مشید و آن عمل چون سایه ارکان پدید

بی نهایت کیشها و پیشها جمله ظل صورت اندیشها

بی جهت دان عالم امر ای صنم بی جهت تر باشد آمر لا جرم

Formlessness gives birth to these worldly forms

Like the smoke that is born out of fires

Forms of ideas are far above the roof of high spots

And their impact acts upon the physical elements

There are countless religions and professions

Those are all shadows of the forms of conceptions

Non-dimensional is the world of command, my brothers!

Naturally, the Commander is more non-dimensional than the others.

(M VI/ 3712-3730-3728- IV 4/ 3693)

12- Every form depends on God’s performance:

فاعل مطلق یقین بی صورت است صورت اندر دست او چون آلتست

تا مدد گیرد از او هر صورتی از کمال و از جمال و قدرتی

Surely the Absolute Performer is formless

And all forms are like tools in His hands

Every form takes help from

His perfection, beauty and power.

(M VI / 3742- 3744)

13- Soul is more sensitive to consciousness than body:

جان چه باشد با خبر از خیر و شر شاد از احسان و گریان از زرر

چون سر و ماهیت جان مخبرست هر که او آگاه تر با جان تر است

روح را تاثر آگاهی بود هر کرا این بیش اللهی بود

What is soul? It’s aware of good and evil

It cries on injuries and pleases with kindness

Since conscience is the inner nature of the soul

The more one is conscious; the closer is he to the soul

Soul is more sensitive to awareness

He who has more awareness is closer to God.

(M VI / 148-149-150)

14- Every thing in the universe is in action; how can man remain inactive?

گر نمی بینی تو تدویر قدر در عناصر جوشش و گردش نگر

ز آنک گردشها آن خاشاک وکف باشد از غلیا ن بحر با شرف

اختران هم خانه خانه می روند مرکب هر سعد و نخسی می شوند

تو که یک جزوی دلا زین صد هزار چون نباشی پیش حکمش بی قرار

If you can’t see the rotation of the fate (Divine decree)

Then look at the revolving and boiling of elements

The whirling of straws and foam

Is due to the storm of the Noble Ocean.

Stars also move from house to house

Telling every bad or good fortune.

You, who are a part of the thousands,

Because of the decree

Should also be in a restless motion.

(M VI / 916- 917- 920- 927)

15- On unity of creation:

این دوی اوصاف دید احولست ورنه اول آ خر آخر اولست

Duality is the characteristic of a squint-eyed

Otherwise the first is the last and the last is the first.

(M VI / 819)

16- For lovers of God prayers do not depend on time:

پنج وقت آمد نماز و رهنمون عاشقانرا فی صلا ة دايمون

نیست زر غبا وظیفه عاشقان سخت مستسقیست جان صادقان

نیست زر غبا وظفیه ماهیان ز آنک بی دریا ندارند انس جان

Five time ritual prayers have been imposed on the believers

But the lovers of God offer prayers continuously

Visiting once a week is not the way of true lovers of God

Their souls have great thirst for the water of love

As fishes have no concept of weekly visiting

Because for them without water life has no meaning.

(M VI / 2669- 2671-2672)

Some Quatrains on Love

Divan 361

عشق آمد و شد چو خونم اندر رگ و پوست تا کرد مرا تهی و بر کرد از دوست

اجزای وجود من همه دوست گرفت نامیست ز من برمن و باقی همه اوست

Love came and settled in me like my blood in skin and veins

And emptied me to fill me with my friend from top toe

All my parts and organs were taken over by my friend

Within me nothing is left except my friend.

Divan 45

در جان توجانیست بجو آن جانرا در کوه تو کانیست بجو آن کانرا

صوفی رونده گر توانی م جوی بیرون تو مجو ز خود بجو تو آ نرا

There is another soul within you, go and seek it

There is another mine within your mountain, go and seek it

O Sufi in search! If you are looking for Him

Don’t look for Him outside, find Him inside you.

Divan 1122

از بلبل سرمست نوای شنوم وز باد سماع دلربای شنوم

در آب همه خیال یاری بینم وزگل همه بوی آشنای بینم

I hear a song of the demented nightingale

And from the wind I hear a charming song

In water I see nothing but the image of my Beloved

And from the roses comes the smell of my familiar friend.

چون صبح ولا ی حق دمیدن گیرد جان در تن زندگان پریدن گیرد

جای برسد مرد که در هر نفسی بی رحمت چشم دوست دیدن گیرد

When in the morning the great light of God begins to shine

Soul in the living body gets ready to fly

Then man reaches a place where in his each breath

Without toil the eye of the Friend begins to behold.

Divan 810

مرا غم عشق تو امان می ندهد وآن کیست که در غم تو جان می ندهد

از هجر تو شد هزار دل گشت خراب وز وصل تو هیچ کس نشان می ندهد

Pain of your love gives me no peace of heart

There is hardly anyone who could find peace being apart

Due to separation many a heart has perished

And none shows a way that leads to conjunction.

Divan 1358

از شبنم عشق خاک آدم گل شد صد فتنه و شور در جهان حاصل شد

صد نشتر عشق بر رگ روح زدند یک قطره از آن چکید و نامش دل شد

Because with the dew of love the clay of Adam was kneaded

There rose many afflictions and cries in the world

Many lancets were applied to the veins of soul

Only one drop fell thereof and was named as heart.

Divan 1821

تو آب نه ای خاک نه ای تو دیگری بیرون ز جهان و گل در سفری

قالب جویست و جان درو آب حیات آنجا که توی از ین دو هم بی خبری

You are neither water nor clay, you are something else

You are traveling beyond this world and clay

Your body is a river and the water running in it is your life

The spot where you really are, you are unaware of these two.

Divan 562

گه ترکم و گه هندو گه رومی و گه زنگی از نقش توست ای جان اقرارم وانکارم

Sometime I am a Turk, and sometime I am a Hindu or sometime I am an Anatolian or even a Negro,

My acceptance or refusal all depends on Your manifestation.

Divan 583

بر گور من آن کو گذرد مست شود ورایست کند تا بابد مست شود

در بحر رود بحر بمد مست شود در خاک رود گور و لحد مست شود

He who passes by my grave becomes drunk

He rises up to the other world and becomes eternally drunk

If he enters the sea; the sea becomes wavy and drunk

If he goes under the ground, his grave and the tomb becomes drunk.

Divan 674

در عشق نه پستی نه بلندی باشد نی بیهشی نه هوشمندی باشد

قرای و شیخی و مریدی نبود قلا شی و کم زنی و رندی باشد

In love there is neither a height nor lowness

In love there is neither unconsciousness nor awareness

There is no teaching, no disciple and no master

Instead there is intoxication, modesty and divine drunkenness.

Divan 712

رو دیده بدوز تا دلت دیده شود زآن دیده جهان دیگرت دیده شود

گر تو ز پسند خویش بیرون آی کارت همه سربسر پسندیده شود

Go and stitch (close) your physical eyes

So that your heart may turn into two other eyes

And through those eyes you may see the other worlds.

If you stop liking and praising your own self

All your deeds will become well praised and right.

Divan 565

این تنهای هزار جان بیش ارزد این آزادی ملک جهان بیش ارزد

در خلوت یکزمانه با حق بودن ازجان و جهان و این و آن بیش ارزد

This loneliness is more precious than thousands of creatures

This freedom is more valuable than the whole properties of the world

To be with God for a while in privacy

Is more precious than life, this world and even all the possessions.

Divan 1

آن دل که شد او قابل انوار خدا پر باشد جان او ز اسرار خد ا

زنهار تن مرا چو تنها مشمر کو جمله نمک شد بنمک زار خدا

The heart that begins to deserve the light of God

His soul is filled with the secrets of his Lord

Never think that our body is all alone

For it has turned into salt in the salt-mine of God.

Divan 25

ای دوست بدوستی قرینیم ترا هر جا که قدم نهی زمینیم ترا

در مذهب عاشقی روا که باشد عالم تو بینیم و نه بینیم ترا

O friend! We are close to you because of your friendship

Wherever you step we become ground under your foot

It is not fair in the sect of love

That we see your world and do not see you.

Divan 28

این آتش عشق می پزاند مارا هر شب بخرابات کشاند ما را

با اهل خرابات نشاند ما را تا غیر خرابات نداند ما را

The fire of love keeps burning in us

Every night to the tavern it draws us

To the company of tavern-haunters it leads us

So that nobody else there but only they know us.

57 Divan

عشقست طریق و راه پیغمبر ما ما زاده عشق و عشق شد مادر ما

اینما در ما نهفته در چادر ما پنهان شده ازطبیت کافر ما

Love is the path and way of our Prophet

We are born of love and love is our mother

The mother is hidden in our tent (body)

To hide herself from our infidel nature.

Divan 106

علمی که ترا گره گشاید بطلب زآن پیش که از تو جان بر آید بطلب

آن نیست که هسست می نماید بگزار آن هست که نیست می نماید بطلب

Ask for the knowledge that unties your knots

Before you die look for the knowledge of those sorts

Don’t ask for the non-existent things that seem to be existent

Ask for those that are existent but look non-existent.

Divan 79

آن لقمه که در دهان نگنجد بطلب و آن علم که در نشان نگنجد بطلب

سریست میان دل مردان خدا جبریل درآ نمیان نگنجد بطلب

Ask for the morsels that cannot be contained in the physical mouth

Ask for the knowledge that cannot be detected by the physical eyes

There are secrets in the hearts of God-loving men

Even the angel Gabriel fails to understand those secrets of men.

Divan 85

اندیشه و غم را نبود هستی و تاب آنجا که شراب و ربابست و کباب

عیش ابدی نوش کنید ای اصحاب چون سبزه و گل نهید لب بر لب آب

Where there are music, kebab and wine

There is no way for worries and woes

Choose the eternal drink gentlemen

Before the mud and freshness of your lips

Join the lips of river and running waters.

Divan 1645

مستم ز می عشق خراب افتاده بر خواسته دل از خور و خواب افتاده

در دریای که پا سر پیدا نیست جان رفته و تن بر سر آب افتاده

I am intoxicated and badly fallen because of love-wine

My heart has no more interest in sleeping or eating

In the ocean that has no boundaries and no end

My soul has drowned but only my body on water is floating.

Divan 1181

بر یاد لبت لعل نگین می بوسم آنم چو بد ست نیست این می بوسم

دستم چو بر آسمان تو می نرسد می آرم سجده و زمین می بو سم

Remembering your lips the red diamond of my ring I kiss

Since I can’t reach your lips, helplessly this I kiss

And when I fail to reach your high sky

I prostate down on the earth, and then the earth I kiss.

Divan 1905

عشق آن نبود که هر زمان بر خیزی و ز زیر دو پای خویش گرد انگیزی

عشق آن باشد که چون در آی بسماع جان در بازی و ز دو جهان بر خیزی

Love does not mean that you should rise up anytime

And raise dust from under your feet every time

Love means that when you begin to perform Sema

You risk your life and rise up from the two worlds.

Bibliography

M(Masnevi): Nicholson R.A. “The Mathnawi of Jellal’uddin Rumi” Luzac and Co., 1943 London and “Masnewi-yi Manawi”, Nasrullahpur Javedi,

Amir Kabir, Tehran.

Divan: “Kulliyat-i Divan-e Shams-i Tabrezi” Amir Kabir, Tehran.

Türkmen, Erkan. “The Essence of Rumi’s Masnevi”, Ministry of Culture of the Turkish Rebublic of Turkey, 2002 Ankara.