The Turbid Water Entreats God for Help
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 5, section 9 of 175: How the water, after becoming turbid, entreats God Almighty to succour it (استعانت آب از حق جل جلاله بعد از تیره شدن). Below, each of its 38 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
How the water, after becoming turbid, entreats God Almighty to succour it. استعانت آب از حق جل جلاله بعد از تیره شدن
ناله از باطن برآرد کای خدا
آنچ دادی دادم و ماندم گدا
(Then) from its interior it raises cries of lamentation, saying, “O God, that which Thou gavest (me) I have given (to others) and am left a beggar.
ریختم سرمایه بر پاک و پلید
ای شه سرمایه‌ده هل من مزید
I poured the (whole) capital over pure and impure (alike): O King who givest the capital, is there any more?”
ابر را گوید ببر جای خوشش
هم تو خورشیدا به بالا بر کشش
He (God) saith to the cloud, “Bear it (the water) to the delectable place; and thou too, O sun, draw it up aloft.”
راههای مختلف می‌راندش
تا رساند سوی بحر بی‌حدش
He maketh it to go diverse ways, that He may bring it unto the boundless sea.
خود غرض زین آب جان اولیاست
کو غسول تیرگیهای شماست
Verily, what is meant by this water is the spirit of the saints, which washes away your dark stains.
چون شود تیره ز غدر اهل فرش
باز گردد سوی پاکی بخش عرش
When it is stained dark by (washing) the treason of the inhabitants of the earth, it returns to Him who endows Heaven with purity.
باز آرد زان طرف دامن کشان
از طهارات محیط او درسشان
From yonder, trailing the skirt (of glory), it brings back to them lessons concerning the purities of the All-encompassing (God).
از تیمم وا رماند جمله را
وز تحری طالبان قبله را
Through mingling with the people (of the world) it falls sick and desires (to make) that journey, saying, “Revive us, O Bilál!
ز اختلاط خلق یابد اعتلال
آن سفر جوید که ارحنا یا بلال
O melodious sweet-voiced Bilál, go up into the minaret, beat the drum of departure.”
ای بلال خوش‌نوای خوش‌صهیل
میذنه بر رو بزن طبل رحیل
Whilst the body is standing (in the ritual prayer), the spirit is gone on its journey: hence at the moment of return it says, “Salám!”
جان سفر رفت و بدن اندر قیام
وقت رجعت زین سبب گوید سلام
(On its return to the world) it liberates all from performing the ablution with sand, and seekers of the qibla from endeavouring to ascertain the proper direction.
این مثل چون واسطه‌ست اندر کلام
واسطه شرطست بهر فهم عام
This parable is like an intermediary in the discourse: an intermediary is required for the apprehension of the vulgar.
اندر آتش کی رود بی‌واسطه
جز سمندر کو رهید از رابطه
Without an intermediary, how should any one go into the fire, except (one like) the salamander? for he is independent of the connecting link.
واسطه‌ی حمام باید مر ترا
تا ز آتش خوش کنی تو طبع را
You need the hot bath as an intermediary, so that you may refresh your constitution by (the heat of) the fire.
چون نتانی شد در آتش چون خلیل
گشت حمامت رسول آبت دلیل
Since you cannot go into the fire, like Khalíl (Abraham), the hot bath has become your Apostle, and the water your guide.
سیری از حقست لیک اهل طبع
کی رسد بی‌واسطه‌ی نان در شبع
Satiety is from God, but how should the unclean attain unto satiety without the mediation of bread?
لطف از حقست لیکن اهل تن
درنیابد لطف بی‌پرده‌ی چمن
Beauty is from God, but the corporealist does not feel (the charm of) beauty without the veil (medium) of the garden.
چون نماند واسطه‌ی تن بی‌حجاب
هم‌چو موسی نور مه یابد ز جیب
When the bodily medium is removed, (then) he (who is disembodied) perceives without (any) screen, like Moses, the light of the Moon (shining) from (his own) bosom.
این هنرها آب را هم شاهدست
که اندرونش پر ز لطف ایزدست
These virtues possessed by the water bear witness likewise that its interior is filled with the grace of God.
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by: Reza about (category: Masnavi, Persian Poetry)
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