بخش 37 - مناجات

O Thou who hast transmuted one clod of earth into gold, and another clod into the Father of mankind,

Thy work is the transmutation of essences and (the showing of) munificence; my work is mistake and forgetfulness and error.

Transmute mistake and forgetfulness into knowledge: I am all choler, make me patience and forbearance.

O Thou who makest nitrous earth to be bread, and O Thou who makest dead bread to be life,

O Thou who makest the distracted soul to be a Guide, and O Thou who makest the wayless wanderer to be a Prophet,

Thou makest a piece of earth to be heaven, Thou givest increase in the earth from the stars.

Whosoever makes the Water of Life to consist of (the pleasures of) this world, death comes to him sooner than to the others.

The eye of the heart (the inward eye) that contemplated the (spiritual) firmament perceived that here (in the sensible world) is a continual alchemy.

The harmonious cohesion of the patched garment, (which is) the body, without being stitched (together), is (owing to) the transmutation of essences and (to) an all-embracing elixir.

From the day when thou camest into existence, thou wert fire or air or earth.

If thou hadst remained in that condition, how should this (present) height have been reached by thee?

The Transmuter did not leave thee in thy first (state of) existence: He established a better (state of) existence in the place of that (former one);

And so on till (He gave thee) a hundred thousand states of existence, one after the other, the second (always) better than the beginning.

Regard (all change as derived) from the Transmuter, leave (ignore) the intermediaries, for by (regarding) the intermediaries thou wilt be come far from their Origin.

Wherever the intermediaries increase, union (with the Origin) is removed: (in proportion as) the intermediaries are less, the delight of (attaining to) union is greater.

By knowing the intermediaries thy bewilderment (in God) is diminished: thy bewilderment gives thee admission to the (Divine) Presence.

Thou hast gained these (successive) lives from (successive) deaths: why hast thou averted thy face from dying in Him?

What loss was thine (what loss didst thou suffer) from those deaths, that thou hast clung (so tenaciously) to (this earthly) life, O rat?

Since thy second (life) is better than thy first, therefore seek to die (to the world), and worship the Transmuter.

O contumacious man, thou hast experienced a hundred thousand resurrections at every moment from the beginning of thy existence until now:

From inanimateness (thou didst move) unconsciously towards (vegetal) growth, and from (vegetal) growth towards (animal) life and tribulation;

Again, towards reason and goodly discernments; again, towards (what lies) outside of these five (senses) and six (directions).

These footprints are (extend) as far as the shore of the Ocean; then the footprints disappear in the Ocean;

Because, from (Divine) precaution, the resting-places (appointed for the traveller) on the dry land are (like) villages and dwellings and caravanserays,

(While) on the contrary the resting-places of the Ocean, when its billows swell, have no floor or roof (to shelter the traveller) during (his) stay and detention.

These (Oceanic) stages have no visible beacon: these resting-places have neither sign nor name.

Between every two resting-places Yonder there is (a distance) a hundred times as much as from the vegetal state to the Essential Spirit.

Thou hast seen this life (to be implicit) in (previous) deaths: how, (then), art thou (so) attached to the life of the body?

Come, O crow, give up this (animal) soul! Be a falcon, be self-sacrificing in the presence of the Divine transmutation.

Take the new and surrender the old, for every “this year” of thine is superior to three “last years.”

If thou wilt not be lavish (of thyself) like the date-palm, (then) pile old rags on old rags and make a heap,

And offer the stinking and rotten old rags to every blind man.

He that hath seen the new is not thy customer: he is God's prey, he is not thy captive.

(But) wherever is a flock of blind birds, they will gather around thee, O brackish flood-water,

That (their) blindness may be increased by (thy) brackish waters; for brackish water increases blindness.

Hence the worldly are blind of heart: they are drinkers of the brackish water of clay.

Continue to give brackish water and buy (the favour of) the blind in the world, since thou hast not the Water of Life within thee.

In such a (despicable) state (as has been described) thou wouldst fain live and be remembered: in blackness of face (shame and opprobrium), like a negro, thou art rejoicing.

The negro in (his) blackness is pleased (with himself), for he has (always) been a negro by birth and nature;

(But) he that (even) for a day is beloved and beautiful, if he become black, will seek to repair (the misfortune).

When the bird that can fly remains (helpless) on the earth, it is in anguish and grief and lamentation;

(But) the domestic fowl walks complacently on the earth: it runs about picking grain and happy and bold,

Because by nature it was (always) without (the power of) flight, while the other (bird) was (naturally) a flier and open-winged.