Story of the thirsty man who dropped walnuts from the top of a walnut-tree into the water-brook that was in the hollow, without reaching the water (himself), in order that he might hear the sound made by the walnuts falling on the water, which thrilled him with joy as (though it were) sweet music.
745. The water
was in a deep place: the
thirsty man went up the tree
and scattered the walnuts one by one.
The walnuts
were falling from
the walnut-tree into the water: the sound was coming (to his
ears), and he was seeing the bubbles.
A sensible person said to him,
“Leave off, O youth:
truly the (loss
of
the) walnuts
will bring thirst
(regret) to you.
The more the fruit falls into the water—(since)
the water is below
at a (great) distance from
you, The river-water will have
carried it (the fruit)
far away before you with
effort come down from
the top (of the tree).”
750. He replied, “My purpose in
this scattering is not (to
obtain possession
of)
the walnuts:
look more keenly, do not
stop at this
superficial (view).
My purpose is
that the sound of the water
should come
(to my ears); also, that I should see these
bubbles on the
surface of the
water.”
What, indeed,
is the thirsty man's business in the world? To circle for ever round the
base of the
tank,
Round the channel and round the Water and the sound of the Water, like a pilgrim circumambulating the Ka‘ba of
Truth.
Even so, in (composing) this Mathnawí thou, O Ziyá’u
’l-Haqq (Radiance of God)
Husámu’ddín, art
my object.
755. The whole
Mathnawí in its branches and roots is thine:
you have accepted (it). Kings accept
(both) good and bad:
when they accept (anything), it is reprobate no
more. Since you have planted
the
sapling, give it water.
Since you have given it freedom
(to
grow), untie the knots.
In (all) its expressions my object is (to reveal)
your mystery;
in composing it my object is (to
hear)
thy voice.
To me your voice is the voice of God: Heaven forfend that (I should say) the lover is separate
from the Beloved.
760. There is a union beyond
description or analogy between the
Lord of Man and the
spirit of
Man.
But I said
nás (Man), not nasnás; nás is none but
the
spirit that
knows the (Divine) Spirit.
Nás is Man, and
where is Manhood?
You
have never beheld the head (spiritual
principle) of Man:
you are a tail.
You have recited (the text) you didst not throw when you threwest, but you
are
a (mere) body:
you have remained in division.
Like Bilqís, O foolish one, abandon
the kingdom of your body for the sake of the prophet
Solomon.
765. I am crying “lá hawl,” not on
account of my own words,
nay, but on account
of the false suggestions of the person
accustomed to think (evil),
Who is conceiving in his heart a vain
fancy about my words,
(a
fancy arising)
from the false
suggestions and incredulities of (evil) thought.
I am
crying “lá hawl,” that is, “there is no help,” because in your heart
there is a
contradiction of
me.
Since my words have stuck in your throat, I am silent:
do you speak your own (words).
A sweet flute-player was playing the
flute: subito e podice ejus
erupit ventus.
770. Fistulam in
podice posuit, saying,
“If you play better than I, take it (the flute) and play!” O Musalmán, (whilst you are still engaged) in the quest, good manners are indeed nothing but forbearance with every one that is unmannerly.
When you see any one complaining of such and such a person's ill-nature and bad temper,
Know that the
complainant is bad-tempered, forasmuch
as he speaks ill of that bad-tempered person,
Because he (alone)
is good-tempered who is quietly forbearing towards the bad-tempered and ill-
natured.
775. But in (the case of) the Shaykh,
the complaint
is (made) by the command of God; it is not (made) in consequence of anger and contentiousness and vain desire.
It is not a complaint, it is spiritual
correction, like
the complaints made
by the prophets.
Know that the intolerance of the prophets
is by command (of God);
otherwise, their clemency is exceedingly tolerant of evil.
They mortified their
(carnal) nature in toleration of evil; if
there be intolerance (on their
part), it is Divine.
O Solomon (of the
age), amidst the
crows and falcons be
you (a manifestation of) the
clemency
of God: sort
with (adapt yourself to)
all the birds.
780. Oh, two hundred
(like) Bilqís are abased before your clemency, for (you sayest in the words of the
Prophet), “(O God),
guide my people, verily they
know not.”
How Solomon, on whom be peace, sent a threatening message to Bilqis, saying, “Do not think to persist in polytheism and do not make delay.”
“Hark, Bilqis,
come! Else, it will be bad
(for thee): your army will
become yours enemy and will revolt.
Thy chamberlain will destroy your door: your soul with (all) its soul will act as an
enemy towards
thee.”
All the atoms of earth and heaven
are God’s army,
(as you will
find out) on putting
it
to the test. You
have seen what
the wind did to the
people of ‘Ad,
you have seen what
the water did at the
Deluge;
785. How that vengeful Sea
dashed on Pharaoh, and how
this Earth
behaved to Qarun
(Korah);
And what those babil (swifts) did to the Elephant,
and how the gnat devoured
the skull of
Nimrod;
And how a David hurled with his hand a stone (which) be came six hundred
pieces and shattered
an army,
Stones rained upon the
enemies of Lot,
so that they were sub
merged in the
black water,
If I relate the help given rationally to the
prophets by the inanimate things of the world,
790. The Mathnawi will become of such extent that, if forty camels carry it, they will be unable to
bear the full load.
The (infidel’s) hand will
give testimony against the
infidel will become an army of God, and
will
submit (to the Divine
command).
O you that in your
actions have studied to oppose God, you
are in the midst of His army:
be afraid!
Every part
of you is an army
of God in accord (with Him)
they are obedient to you now,
(but) not sincerely’.
If He say to the eye, “Squeeze
(torture) him, ‘eye-ache will
wreak upon you a hundred vengeances;
795. And if He say to the teeth,
‘Plague (him),” then you will suffer chastisement
from your teeth.
Open the (book of)
Medicine and read
the chapter on diseases, that you may see what is done
by the
army of the body.
Since He is the
Soul of the soul of
everything, howls it a light matter to be hostile
to
the Soul of the soul?
“Let alone
the army of
demons and genies who, (devoted to me)
from the core of their hearts, cleave
the ranks (of
my enemies)
for
me.
First, O Bilqis relinquish your kingdom:
when
you gainest me, all the kingdom is
yours.
800. When you have come to me,
you yourself wilt know that
without me you wert
(as) a picture in the bath-house.”
Even if the picture be the picture
of a sultan or a rich
man, it is a
(mere) form: it has no savour
(consciousness) of its own spirit.
Its beauty is for others: its eyes and mouth
are open in vain.
O you who have
devoted yourself (to
contending with others) in strife, you have
not known
‘(discriminated) others from your
self.
You stop at every form that you come to, saying,
“I am this.” By God, you arc not that
(form).
805. (If) you are left
alone by people
for a single moment, you re
main (plunged) up to the throat in grief and
anxiety.
How are you this (form)? You are that Unique One, for (in
reality) you are fair and
lovely and intoxicated with yourself.
You are your own bird
your own prey,
and
your own snare; you are
your own seat
of honour, your own
floor, and yow own
root.
The substance is
that which subsists in
itself; the accident is that
which has become a derivative
of
it (of the substance).
If you are born of Adam,
sit like him and behold all his progeny
in yourself
810. What is in the jar that is not (also) in the river? What is in the house that is not (also) in the city?
This world is the jar, and the
heart (spirit) is like the
‘river; this world is the chamber,
and the heart is the
wonderful city.
How Solomon, on whom be peace, explained (to Bilqis), saying, “My labour in (bringing about)
your (conversion to the) Faith is purely for God’s sake: I
have not one atom of self-interest, either as regards your person or your beauty or
your kingdom. You yourself wilt see (this) when the eye of your spirit is opened by the light of God.”
“Hark, come, for I am a Messenger (Prophet) sent to call (the
people to
God): like Death, I am the slayer of lust, I am not given to lust.
And if there
be lust (in me), I am the ruler
of (my) lust: lam not captive to lust for the face
of an idol.
My deepest nature’ is a breaker of idols,
like (Abraham) the Friend of God and all the prophets.
815. O slave, if
I enter
the idol-temple,
the idol will prostrate itself, not I, in
adoration.” (Both) Ahmad
(Mohammed) and Bu Jahl went into the
idol- temple; (but) there
is a great difference between this going and that going.
This one (Mohammed) enters, the idols lay down
their heads before him; that one (Bu Jahl)
enters and lays down his head
(before the
idols), like the peoples (of old).
This world, (which is) associated with lust,
is
an idol-temple: it is a nest (abode) for the prophets
and the infidels (alike),
But lust is the slave
of holy men: gold does not burn
(in the fire), because it is sterling coin from the mine.
820. The infidels are alloy,
while the holy men are as (pure) gold: both these (classes of)
persons are within
this
crucible.
When the alloy came (into the crucible), it became
black at once; (when)
the
gold came in, its goldenness was made manifest.
The gold gladly cast (itself with) hands
and feet into the crucible: its vein
(original nature)
laughs
in the face
of the fire.
Our body is our veil
in the world: we are like a sea
hidden beneath this straw.
O fool, do not
regard the king of the (true)
Religion as clay;
for the accursed Iblis took this view
(of Adam).
825. How is it possible to daub this
sun with a
handful of earth?
Pray, tell me
(that)! Though you pour
earth and a hundred ashes
over its light, it will come up above them.
Who (what) is straw that it should cover the
face of the water?
Who (what) is clay that it should cover the sun?
O Bilqis
arise royally, like (Ibráhim
son
of) Adham: raise the smoke from
(consume utterly) this
kingdom of two or three days’ duration.
The remainder of the story of Ibrahim son of Adham, may God sanctify his spirit.
(Reclining) on a throne, that man of good name heard at night a noise of tramping and shrill cries
from the roof.
830. (He heard)
loud footsteps
on the roof of the palace, and said to himself, “Who dares to do this?”
He shouted, at the pal4ce-window, “Who is it? This is not a man, belike it is a genie.
A wondrous
folk put their
heads down (from
the roof), (saying), “We are going
round by night
for the purpose of
search.”
“Eh, what are ye seeking?” “Camels,” they
replied. He said, “Take heed! who ever sought camel
on a roof?”
Then they said to him, “How art you seeking to meet with God on the throne of state?”
835. That was
all. None saw him again: he vanished like a genie
from (the sight of) man.
His reality
(real self) was hidden, though he was in people’s presence: how should the people see
aught but beard and frock
(of the dervish)?
When he became far
(disappeared) from his own and the people’s eyes, he became renowned
in
the world, like the ‘Anqá.
Whenever the soul of any (spiritual)
bird has come to (Mount)
Qaf, all the world
boast and brag on
account of it.
When this orient light (from
Solomon)
reached Sabá, a tumult arose in Bilqis
and her people.
840. All the
dead spirits took wing: the dead
put forth their heads
from the grave,
(which is)
the body.
They gave the good
news to one
another, saying,
“Hark! Lo, a voice is coming from Heaven.”
At (the sound of)
that voice (men’s) religions wax great;
the leaves and
boughs of the heart become green.
Like the
blast of the
trumpet (on Judgement-Day) that
breath from Solomon
delivered the dead from the tombs.
May (such) felicity be yours after this (epoch
of
Solomon)! This (epoch)
is
past. God best knoweth
the certain truth.
The rest of the story of the people of Saba, and of the admonition and guidance given by Solomon, on whom be peace, to the kinsfolk of Bilqis—to every one (the particular guidance) suitable to his religious and spiritual difficulties; and how he caught (decoyed) each sort of conceptional bird with the whistle and bait proper for that sort of bird.
845. I will tell the story of Sabá in lover’s style. When the Zephyr came towards the tulip-field,
The bodies met
(experienced) the day of their
union (with
the
spirits which
dwell
in them)’: the children turned again in the direction of their home.
Amongst the communities the community of secret Love is like a liberality surrounded by the meanness of (spiritual) distemper.
The baseness of spirits is (derived)
from their bodies; the nobility of bodies is (derived) from their spirits.
O lovers, the draught (of Love) is given to you. Ye are the everlasting: everlastingness is bestowed on you.
850. O ye that
are forgetful, arise and love!
That is the wind of Joseph: smell (its perfume)! Come,
O (master of the) bird-speech
of Solomon, sing the
song of every bird that
comes.
Since God has sent you to
the birds, He has instructed you in
the
note of every
bird.
To the necessitarian bird speak
the language of necessitarianism ; to the bird
whose wings are broken speak of patience
(quietism).
Keep the patient bird happy and
free from harm;
to
the bird (resembling
the) ‘Anqá recite the
descriptions of (Mount) Qáf.
855. Bid the pigeon beware
of the falcon; to the falcon
speak of 8
forbearance and being
on its guard (against acting unjustly).
And as for the bat that is left destitute (of spiritual illumination),
make it to consort and to be
familiar with the
Light.
Cause the warlike partridge to learn peace;
to the cocks display the signs of
dawn.
Even so
proceed from the hoopoe to the eagle, and show the
way. And God best knoweth the right course.
How Bilqis was freed from her kingdom and was intoxicated with longing for the Faith, and how at the moment of her (spiritual) emigration the regard of her desire became severed from the whole of her kingdom except from her throne.
When Solomon
uttered a single whistling note to the birds
of Saba he
ensnared them all,
860. Except, maybe, the bird that was without spirit or wings, or was dumb
and deaf, like a
fish, from the beginning.
Nay, I have spoken
wrongly, for if the
deaf one lay his head
before the inspiration of the Divine
Majesty, it will
give to him (the power of) hearing.
When Bilqis set out
(from Saba) with
heart and soul,
she felt
remorse too for
the bygone time, She
took leave of her kingdom and riches
in the same way as those lovers (of God) take leave of
honour and disgrace (reputation).
Those charming pages and handmaidens
(of hers seemed) to her eye
(loathly) as a rotten
onion.
865. For love’s sake, orchards and palaces and
river-water
seemed to her
eye (contemptible as) a dunghill.
Love, in the hour of domination and anger, makes the pleasing ones to become hideous to the eye.
Love’s jealousy
causes every emerald
to appear as a leek: this is the (inner)
meaning of La’. O (you who
givest) protection , (the meaning of) “There
is no god but
He” is that
the moon should seem to you a
black kettle.
No wealth, no
treasury, and no
goods or gear were being grudged
by her (Bilqis) except her
throne.
870. Then Solomon
became aware of (this feeling in) her heart, for the way was open from his heart to hers.
He that hears
the voice of ants will also hear the
cry from the inmost soul
of them that are afar. He
that declares the mystery
of “an ant said will also know the
mystery of this ancient dome
From afar he (Solomon) discerned
that to her
(Bilqis) who was following
the
path of resignation
it was bitter to part with her throne.
If I explain
the
reason why she
had that love
and complaisance to her throne,
it (the discourse)
will become (too) long.
875. Although this reed-pen is in fact an insensible thing and is not homogeneous with the writer, (yet)
it is a familiar friend to him.
Likewise, every tool of a
craftsman is, (though)
lifeless, the
familiar friend of the spirit
of
Man.
This reason I would
have explained precisely, if there
were not some moisture
(dimness) in the eye of your understanding.
There was no possibility of
transporting the
throne (from Saba)
because of its
hugeness which
exceeded (all) bounds.
It was filigree work,
and there was
danger in taking
it to pieces, (since its parts were joined) like the limbs of the body with one another.
880. Therefore Solomon said, “Although in the
end the diadem
and throne will become
chilling
(repulsive) to her”—
(For) when the spirit puts
forth its head
(manifests itself) from
the Unity (to which it has
attained), in
comparison with its
splendour the body
has no splendour (at all);
(When) the flaming sun
lifts up its head,
who
will make Scorpio’s tail
his
resting—place’?—
“Yet, notwithstanding all this, in the actual case (the means of) transporting her throne (hither)
must be sought,
885. In order that she may not
feel hurt at the
time of meeting (with me), and
that her wish
may be fulfilled, like (the wishes of) children.
It (the throne)
is lightly esteemed
by me, but it is exceedingly dear to her: (let it be brought
hither), that the
devil too may be
(present) at the
table (banquet)
of
the houris.
That throne
of delight will become
a lesson to her soul, like the (coarse) frock and
(rustic) shoon
in the
presence of Ayáz
So that the afflicted
one (Bilqis) may know in what
(plight) she was
(formerly) and from
what
(low) places to what a (high)
place she has arrived.”
God is ever
keeping the clay and
semen and piece of
flesh (embryo) before
our eyes,
890. (As though) to
say, “O man of evil
intention, whence did I bring
you, that you have
(such) a disgust at it?
You wert in love with that (state)
in the period thereof: at that time you wert
denying this
(present) grace (which I have bestowed
on thee).”
Inasmuch as this (present) bounty is the (means of) rebutting the denial which you didst make in the beginning (when you wert) amidst the clay,
Thy having been brought to life is the argument against denial (of the Resurrection); (but thou
art still denying it): this sick
(soul) of yours is made
worse by the medicine.
Whence should clay have the (power of) imagining this thing? Whence should semen conceive opposition and
denial?
895. (Nevertheless) since at
that moment you wert
devoid of heart
and spirit,
you wert
(implicitly) denying
(the faculty of) reflection and (the possibility of) denial.
Since your (former) denial arose from the state of lifelessness (irrationality), so by this (present)
denial (the certainty of)
your resurrection is established.
Hence the
(appropriate)
parable of you is (a case) like (that of)
the person who knocks at the door
(of a house), and
the master replies to him from within,
saying, “The master is not (here).”
From this “is not” the person
knocking perceives that he is (there), and
consequently does not take
his hand off the
door- ring at all.
Therefore the very fact of
your denial is making
it clear that He (God)
brings about
manifold
resurrections from lifeless matter.
900. How much (Divine)
artifice passed (was expended)
O you denial (incarnate), till the water
and day (of
your original nature)
produced denial from
(the state
signified by the words) Hal aid!’
The water and clay was
really saying, “There
is no denial” (was
really making an affirmation): it was crying, ‘There
is no affirmation” (was uttering
a denial), unaware
(of
the
fact that its denial
was an implicit affirmation).
I would expound this (topic) in a
hundred ways, but
the (reader’s) mind
would
stumble at the subtle discourse.
How Solomon, on whom be peace, devised a plan for bringing the throne of Bilqis from Saba.
A certain
‘Ifrit (demon) said,
“By (my) art I will bring her throne
here before your departure from this council.”
Asaf said, “By
means of the
greatest Name (of God) I will bring
it here into
your presence in a
single moment.”
905. Though the ‘Ifrit was a master of magic, yet
that (miracle) was
displayed by the
breath
(spiritual power) of Asaf.
The throne of Bilqis came into the presence instantly, but through Maf, not through the art of them that have the (malignant) nature of ‘Ifrits.
He (Solomon) said, “Praise
to God for this and a hundred
such (favours) which
I have seen
(received) from the Lord of created beings.”
Then Solomon turned his eyes towards the throne. “Yes,” he said, “you art one that catches fools,
O tree!”
Oh, many are the fools that lay down
their heads before
wood and graven
stone.
910. (Both) the worshipper and
the object of
worship are ignorant
of the spirit;
(but) he (the worshipper) has
felt a movement
and a slight effect of the
spirit.
He has felt, at the moment when he
became rapt (in devotion) and bewildered, that
the stone spoke and
made signs.
When the wretched
man bestowed his devotion in the wrong place
and deemed the lion of
stone to be a (real) lion,
The real Lion,
from kindness, showed
munificence and at once
threw a bone to the
dog,
And said, “Although the
dog is not in (due) order,
yet as regards
me the bone is a bounty of which
all partake.”
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