بخش 53 - داستان مشغول شدن عاشقی به عشق‌نامه خواندن و مطالعه کردن عشق‌نامه در حضور معشوق خویش و معشوق آن را ناپسند داشتن کی طلب الدلیل عند حضور المدلول قبیح والاشتغال بالعلم بعد الوصول الی المعلوم مذموم

A certain man, (when) his beloved let (him) sit beside her, produced a letter and read it to her.

In the letter were verses and praise and laud, lamentation and wretchedness and many humble entreaties.

The beloved said, “If this is for my sake, (to read) this at the time of (our) meeting is to waste one's life.

I am here beside thee, and thou reading a letter! This, at any rate, is not the mark of (true) lovers.”

He replied, “Thou art present here, but I am not gaining my pleasure well (completely).

That which I felt last year on account of thee is non-existent at this moment, though I am experiencing union (with thee).

I have drunk cool water from this fountain, I have refreshed eye and heart with its water.

I am (still) seeing the fountain, but the water is not there: maybe some brigand has waylaid (and cut off) my water.”

She said, “Then I am not thy beloved: I am in Bulghár, and the object of thy desire is in Qutú

Thou art in love with me and (also) with a state of feeling; the state of feeling is not in thy hand (in thy possession), O youth.

Therefore I am not the whole of that which is sought by thee; I am (only) part of the object of thy quest at the present time.

I am (only) the house of thy beloved, not the beloved (herself): (true) love is for the cash, not for the coffer (that contains it).”

The (real) beloved is that one who is single, who is thy beginning and end.

When thou findest him, thou wilt not remain in expectation (of aught else): he is both the manifest and also the mystery,

He is the lord of states of feeling, not dependent on any state: month and year are slaves of that Moon.

When he bids the “state,” it does his behest; when he wills, he makes bodies (become) spirit.

One that is stopped (on the way) is not (at) the (journey's) end; he will be seated, waiting and seeking the “state.”

His (the perfect saint's) hand is the elixir that transmutes the “state”: (if) he move his hand, the copper becomes intoxicated with him.

If he will, even death becomes sweet; thorns and stings become narcissus and wild-rose.

He that is dependent on the “state” is (still) a human being: at one moment he is (made) greater by the “state,” at another moment he is in decrease.

In similitude the Súfí is “the son of the time,” but the pure one (şáfí) is unconcerned with “time” and “state.”

“States” are dependent on his decision and judgement; (they are) vivified by his Messiah-like breath.

“Thou art in love with thy ‘state,’ thou art not in love with me; thou art attached to me in the hope of (experiencing) the ‘state.’”

He that at one moment is deficient and at another moment perfect is not He that was worshipped by Khalíl (Abraham): he is one that sinks;

And he that is liable to sink and is now that and (now) this is not the (true) beloved: “I love not them that sink.”

He that is now pleasing and now unpleasing, at one time water and at one moment fire,

May be the mansion of the Moon, but he is not the Moon; he may be the picture of the Adored One, but he is not conscious.

The Súfí that seeks purity is ‘the son of the time’: he has clasped the ‘time’ tightly as (though it were) his father.

The pure one (şáfí) is plunged in the Light of the Glorious (God); he is not the son of any one, (he is) free from ‘times’ and ‘states’—

Plunged in the Light which is unbegotten: (the description) He neither begetteth nor is He begotten belongs to God (alone).

Go, seek a love like this, if thou art (spiritually) alive; otherwise, thou art a slave to the changing “time.”

Do not regard thy ugly or beauteous form; regard Love and the object of thy search.

Do not regard the fact that thou art despicable or infirm; look upon thy aspiration, O noble one.

In whatsoever state thou be, keep searching; O thou with dry lip, always be seeking the water,

For that dry lip of thine gives evidence that at last it will reach the springhead.

Dryness of lip is a message from the water (to say) that this agitation (anxious search) will certainly bring thee to the water,

For this seeking is a blessed motion; this search is a killer of obstacles on the Way to God.

This search is the key to the things sought by thee; this (search) is thy army and the victory of thy banners.

This search is like chanticleer crowing and proclaiming that the dawn is at hand.

Although thou hast no equipment, do thou be ever seeking: equipment is not necessary on the Way of the Lord.

Whomsoever thou seest engaged in search, O son, become his friend and cast thy head before him,

For through being the neighbour of the seekers thou (thyself) wilt become a seeker, and from the shadows (protection) of the conquerors thou (thyself) wilt become a conqueror.

If an ant has sought (to attain) the rank of Solomon, do not look languidly (contemptuously) on its quest.

Everything that thou hast of wealth and (skill in) a handicraft (or profession)— was it not at first a quest and a thought?