بخش 47 - در تفسیر قول مصطفی علیه‌السلام لا بد من قرین یدفن معک و هو حی و تدفن معه و انت میت ان کان کریما اکرمک و ان کان لیما اسلمک و ذلک القرین عملک فاصلحه ما استطعت صدق رسول‌الله

Therefore the Prophet said, “For the purpose of (traversing) this Way there is no comrade more faithful than works.

If they be good they will be thy friends for ever, and if they be evil they will be (as) a snake in thy tomb.”

How, O father, can one do this work and earning in the Way of righteousness without a master?

The meanest earning that goes on in the world, is it ever (practised) without the guidance of a master?

Its beginning is knowledge; then (follows) action, that it may yield fruit after a time or after death.

Seek help in (acquiring) crafts, O possessor of intelligence, from a generous and righteous craftsman.

Seek the pearl in the oyster-shell, my brother, and seek technical skill from the craftsmen.

If ye see sincere (spiritual) advisers, deal fairly (with them) and be eager to learn: do not show disdain.

If the man (engaged) in tanning wore a threadbare garment, that did not diminish the master's mastery (of his trade);

If the ironsmith wore a patched frock when blowing the bellows, his reputation was not impaired in the eyes of the people.

Therefore strip the raiment of pride from thy body: in learning, put on the garment of humility.

If thou wouldst learn (theoretical) knowledge, the way of (acquiring) it is oral; if thou wouldst learn a craft, the way of (acquiring) it is practical (by practice).

If thou desire (spiritual) poverty, that depends on companionship (with a Shaykh): neither thy tongue nor thy hand avails.

Soul receives from soul the knowledge thereof, not by way of book nor from tongue.

If those mysteries (of spiritual poverty) are in the traveller's heart, knowledge of the mystery is not yet possessed by the traveller.

(Let him wait) until the expansion (illumination) of his heart shall make it (full of) the Light: then God saith, “Did not We expand …?

For We have given thee the expansion (illumination) within thy breast, We have put the expansion into thy breast.”

Thou art still seeking it from outside; thou art a source of milk: how art thou a milker of others?

There is an illimitable fountain of milk within thee: why art thou seeking milk from the pail?

O lake, thou hast a channel to the Sea: be ashamed to seek water from the pool;

For did not We expand…? Again, hast not thou the expansion? How art thou become a seeker of the expansion and a mendicant?

Contemplate the expansion of the heart within (thee), lest there come the reproach, Do not ye see?