Story of the encomiast who from regard for reputation was thanking the object of his praise, while the scent (signs) of his inward grief and pain and the shabbiness of his outward garb showed that those expressions of gratitude were vain and false.
A certain man came
(home) from ‘Iráq,
(clad) in a tattered cloak: his friends
inquired concerning
(his) separation (from them).
1740. “Yes,” he replied; “there
was (the sorrow of) separation, but the journey was very blessed and fortunate for me,
For the Caliph
gave me ten
robes of honour—may a hundred praises
and laudations (ever)
accompany him!”
He was reciting
expressions of gratitude and praise till
he carried gratitude
beyond bound and limit.
Then they said to
him, “Thy wretched
guise bears witness to
your mendacity.
(You art) naked, bare-headed,
consumed (with afflictions): you have stolen (these) expressions of gratitude or learned (them
by rote).
1745. Where are the signs of the gratitude and praise due to your prince on
your unplenished head
and
feet?
If your tongue is weaving (making up) praise of that
king, (yet)
your seven members
are complaining (of him).
In the generosity of
that king and sultan of munificence was there
not (room for) a pair of shoes
and trousers
for thee?”
He replied, “I
gave away what
he bestowed: the
prince left nothing undone in the
way of solicitude.
I received all the presents
from the prince and
distributed them among the
orphans and the poor.
1750. I gave the riches away and
received long
(everlasting) life in return,
because I was utterly self-sacrificing.”
Then they said to him, “Bless you! the riches are gone: what (then) is this naphtha-smoke within thee?
A hundred loathings like thorns are in your heart: how should grief be the sign of rejoicing? Where are the signs of love and charity and being pleased (with God), if
what you have said of what passed
is true?
I grant, forsooth,
that the riches
are gone: (then)
where is (your) desire (for spiritual riches)? If
the torrent
has gone by, where
is the torrent-bed?
1755. If (as you pretendest) yours eye was (once) black and
soul-inspiring, and if it is soul- inspiring no longer, (then) why is it
blue?
Where are the signs of self-sacrifice,
O sour one? The smell of false and
empty words is coming
(from thee): be silent!”
Charity (for God's sake)
has a hundred
signs within
(in
the heart): the good deed
has a hundred tokens.
If riches be
consumed in charity, a hundred lives come into the heart as a substitute.
A sowing of pure seeds in God's earth, and
then no income!
(That is impossible.)
1760. If the (spiritual) ears of corn
grow not from the gardens of Hú (God), then tell (me),
how should God's earth
be “spacious”?
Since this earth of
mortality is not without
produce, how should God's earth be (without it)? That
(earth of God) is a spacious place.
Verily, the produce of
this earth (of
God) is infinite: even the least (produce) for a single
seed is seven-hundredfold.
You said, “Glory to God!” Where are the signs (in you) of those who glorify? Neither in
your exterior nor within is there a
trace.
(Only) the gnostic's glorification of God is right
(perfect), for his feet
and hands have borne
witness to his glorification.
1765. It has lifted
him
up from the
dark pit of the body and
redeemed him from
the bottom of the
dungeon of this world.
On his shoulder is the sign of glorification—the silken
robe of piety and the light which associates itself (with him).
He is delivered
from the transitory
world, he is dwelling in the Rose-garden, and (therein is) a
running fountain.
His sitting-place and home
and
abode is on the throne of the high-aspiring inmost consciousness, and his station
Is the Seat of sincerity in which all the siddíqs are flourishing and joyous and fresh of
countenance.
1770. Their praise (of God), like the
garden's praise
on account of
spring, has a hundred signs and a hundred
pomps.
Fountains and palms and herbs and rose-beds and plots of bright-coloured flowers
bear witness
to its springtide.
Everywhere thousands of witnesses to the Beloved
are (engaged) in bearing
testimony, as the pearl (bears testimony) to the oyster-shell.
(But) from your
breath (words) comes the smell of a bad
conscience, and your
(inward) pain is reflected from your head and
face, O braggart!
In the battle-field (of this
world) there are
sagacious ones who
know (distinguish) the
smell: do
not in (your)
presumption idly utter (imitate) the ecstatic cries (of
the
true enthusiasts).
1775. Do not
brag of musk,
for that smell of
onions is revealing the secret (true nature) of your breath (words
and professions).
You are saying, “I have eaten
rose-sugar,” while the smell of garlic is striking (your hearers)
and saying (in effect), “Don't talk nonsense.”
The heart is like unto a great house: the house of the heart has neighbours
concealed (from
view):
Through the window-slit and (crevices in) the walls they observe the hidden thoughts—
Through a slit whereof the owner of the house has no conception and in which he has no share.
1780. Recite from the Qur’án (the verse
which declares) that
the Devil and his
tribe secretly get scent
of (become acquainted with)
the
(inward) state
of humankind,
By a way of which humankind are ignorant,
because it is not of this sensible (world) or one of these semblances (phenomenal objects).
Do not devise any fraud
amongst the assayers: do not address
any idle boast to the touchstone,
O base spurious coin.
The (spiritual)
touchstone has a
way to (know) the genuine
and the spurious coin,
for
God made him the
commander of (both) body
and heart.
Since the devils, notwithstanding their grossnesses, are acquainted with our inmost soul and
thought and belief,
1785. (And) have a
passage (means of
penetrating) stealthily
within, (so
that) we are overthrown
by their thievish practices,
(And since)
they continually inflict a (great) derangement
and damage (upon us), for
they are masters of the (interior)
tunnel and window-slit—
Why, then, should the illuminated spirits in the world be unaware
of our hidden state?
Have the spirits that pitched
their tent
on Heaven become inferior to the devils
in respect of permeation (the power of insinuating
themselves into our hearts)?
The devil goes like a
thief towards Heaven, and he
is
pierced with
a burning meteor:
1790. He falls down headlong
from the
sky as the wretched (infidel falls when smitten) in battle by the blow of the spear-point.
That is caused by the jealousy
(indignation) of the
delectable spirits (the prophets and saints):
(hence) they (the angels)
cast them (the devils) headlong from
Heaven.
If you are palsied
and lame and blind and deaf,
(yet) do not hold this
(bad) opinion of the great spirits.
Be ashamed and do not utter
idle words, do not torment yourself (in vain), for there
are many spies (observing you)
beyond the (ken of the) body.
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