بخش 102 - دعا و شفاعت دقوقی در خلاص کشتی

When Daqúqí beheld that turmoil, his pity was stirred and his tears flowed fast.

He said, “O Lord, do not look at their deeds! Take their hands (to succour them), O auspicious King!

Bring them back well and safe to the shore, O Thou whose hand (power) reaches (both) sea and land!

O Gracious One, O Merciful and Everlasting One, pass over this wickedness committed by devisers of evil!

O Thou who hast given, free of cost, a hundred eyes and ears, and, without bribe, hast dispensed intellect and understanding;

Who hast bestowed the gift before the merit (was existent), having suffered from us the whole (sum) of ingratitude and transgression:

O Almighty One, Thou art able to pardon our great sins in privacy.

We have burnt ourselves from concupiscence and greed, and even this invocation we have learned from Thee.

(We beseech Thee) in reverence for Thy having taught (us) to invoke (Thee) and for having lighted the lamp (of invocation) amidst darkness like this.”

Thus was the invocation running on his tongue at that time, like (the words of) faithful mothers.

The tears were flowing from his eyes, and that invocation was going up to Heaven from him (while he was) beside himself (unconscious).

That unconscious invocation is, in truth, different: that invocation is not from him (the speaker), it is spoken by the (Divine) Judge.

God is making that invocation, since he (the speaker) is naughted (faná): the invocation and the answer (to it) are (both) from God.

There is not present (at that time) the medium, namely, the created person: body and spirit (alike) are unaware of making that supplication.

The (chosen) servants of God are merciful and long-suffering: they possess the disposition of God in regard to putting things right.

They are kind and bribeless ones, helpers in the hard plight and the heavy (grievous) day.

Hark, seek this (saintly) company, O afflicted one! Hark, hold them (as) a prize before the (coming of) affliction.

Through the breath (prayer) of that (spiritual) hero the ship was saved, while the people in the ship thought (they were saved) by their own efforts,

(Supposing) that maybe in (the hour of) dread their arm had skilfully shot an arrow at the target.

Foxes, in the chase, are saved by their legs, but the foxes inconsiderately deem that (safety to proceed) from their tails.

(Hence) they play fondly with their tails, thinking, “These save our lives in the ambuscade (of calamity).”

O fox, preserve your legs from (being broken by) brickbats; when you have no legs, what use is your tail, O bold-eyed one?

We are like foxes, and the noble (saints) are (as) our legs: they save us from a hundred kinds of vengeance.

Our subtle contrivance is as our tails: we play fondly with our tails, left and right.

We wag our tails in argumentation and cunning, in order that Zayd and Bakr may remain amazed at us.

We have sought to excite the amazement of the people; we have eagerly grasped at Divinity,

That by means of guile we may gain possession of (the people's) hearts; we do not see that we are in a ditch.

You are in the ditch and in the pit, O scoundrel: keep your hands off the moustache of others!

When you arrive at a fair and beauteous garden, after that lay hold of the people's skirts and lead them.

O you who dwell in the prison of the four (elements) and the five (senses) and the six (directions), lead others also to (such) a goodly place!

O you who, like an ass-servant, are the comrade of the ass's rump, you have found a (fine) spot to kiss: take us (to it)!

Since (true) servitude to the Beloved has not been granted you, whence has arisen in you the wish for sovereignty?

In your desire that they should say to you “Bravo!” you have tied a bowstring on the neck of your soul.

O fox, abandon this tail, (which is) contrivance, and devote your heart to the lords of the heart (the saints).

(Whilst you are) under the protection of the lion, roast-meat will not fail;O fox, do not hasten towards the carcase.

O heart, thou wilt be regarded (with favour) by God at the moment when, like a part, thou goest towards thy Whole.

God saith, “Our regard is (bestowed) on the heart; it is not (bestowed) on the external form, which is (only) water and earth.”

You say, “I too have a heart”; (but) the heart is above the empyrean, it is not below.

Certainly in the dark earth also there is water, but ’tis not proper for you to wash your hands with that water,

Because, though it is water, it is overcome by the earth. Do not, then, say of your heart, “This too is a heart.”

The heart that is higher than the heavens is the heart of the saint or the prophet.

That (heart) has become cleansed of earth and purified; it has come to (full) growth and has been made complete.

It has taken leave of earth and has come to the Sea; it has escaped from the prison of earth and has become of the Sea.

(But) our water has remained imprisoned in earth. Hark, O Sea of Mercy, draw us out of the clay!

The Sea says, “I draw thee into myself, but thou art vainly pretending to be the sweet water.

Thy vain pretence is keeping thee deprived of fortune: abandon that (idle) fancy and enter into me.”

The water in the earth (of the body) desires to go into the Sea, (but) the earth has seized the water's foot and is dragging (it back).

If it release its foot from the hand of the earth, the earth will be left dry, and it (the water) becomes absolutely free.

What is that drawing back of the water by the earth? (It is) your drawing (towards you) the dessert and unmixed wine (of sensuality).

Even so every lust in the world, whether it be (for) riches or power or bread—

Each of these things produces an intoxication (ardent desire) in you, and when you gain it not, it inflicts a headache upon you.

This headache of grief has become a proof that your intoxication was caused by that missed object (of desire).

Do not partake of these (objects) but according to the measure of (your) necessity, lest they grow predominant and become rulers over you.

You scornfully refused (help), saying, “I am the owner of a (purified) heart: I have no need of any one else, I am united (with God).”

That is as though the water in the earth should scornfully refuse, saying, “I am the water, and why should I seek aid?”

You fancied this polluted (heart) was the (pure) heart; consequently you averted your heart from those possessed of (purified) hearts.

Do you indeed think it possible that this heart which is in love with milk and honey should be that (pure) heart?

The deliciousness of milk and honey is the reflexion of the (pure) heart: from that heart the sweetness of every sweet thing is derived.

Hence the heart is the substance, and the world is the accident: how should the heart's shadow (reflexion) be the object of the heart's desire?

Is that (pure heart) the heart that is enamoured of riches and power, or is submissive to this black earth and water (the body),

Or to vain fancies which it worships in the darkness for the sake of fame?

The heart is naught but the Sea of Light: is the heart the place for vision of God—and then blind?

The heart is not (contained) in hundreds of thousands (of persons) noble or common; it is in a single one: which is he? Which?

Leave (what is only) a fragment of the heart and seek the (perfect) heart, in order that by means of it that fragment may become as a mountain.

The (perfect) heart is encompassing (the whole of) this realm of existence and scattering gold in beneficence and bounty.

It chooses to lavish blessings derived from the Blessedness of God upon the people of the world.

Whosoever's skirt is right and ready, the largesse of the heart comes to that person.

Your skirt (to catch that largesse) is supplication and presence (with God): beware, do not put in your skirt the stone of iniquity,

In order that your skirt may not be torn by those stones and that you may distinguish the sterling coin (of truth) from the colours (of falsehood).

You have filled your skirt with stones (of iniquity) from this world, and also with stones of silver and gold, as children (do).

Inasmuch as from that fancy of silver and gold there was no (real) gold, the skirt of your sincerity was rent and your sorrow increased.

How should the (coloured) stone appear to the children as stone, till Reason lays hold of their skirts?

The Elder (Pír) is Reason, not that white hair (of eld): hair is not contained in (has nothing to do with) this fortune and hope (which is bestowed by Reason).