The Masnavi, Book Three Page 12
In tribulation, ‘O God!’ you will pray,
But, when it’s gone, you ask me: ‘Where’s the way?’
I say this since those men with certainty
Of God are deep in prayer perpetually.
Those veiled by intellect and doubt you’ll see
Sometimes veiled, sometimes feeling ecstasy;
The partial intellect’s sure, then unsure;
From doubts the Universal One’s secure.
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Sell skills and logic for perplexity!
Don’t seek Bukhara but humility!
Why am I steeped in speech to this degree
That now they tell tall tales concerning me?
Through moaning, I seek ultimate negation,
To then inspire the people in prostration.*
But this is no mere tale if you’ve experience—
It shares the state Bu Bakr gained in his presence.*
‘Mere tales of past folk’* rebels mockingly
Called the Qur’an—this showed hypocrisy.
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Filled with the Light of God, in Placelessness,
Of past and future one could not care less.
Future and past are relative to you;
In truth they’re one thing, but you think they’re two.
One man is someone’s son and someone’s father:
A roof is under Zayd yet over Amr*—
Whether it’s under or above depends
On those two persons; it’s the same roof, friends.
This discourse is a mere analogy;
Words can’t convey such deep truths adequately.
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Water-skin, there’s no stream left any more—
Seal your mouth! Candy’s ocean has no shore.
Pharaoh sends people to the cities in search of magicians
Moses returned, left Pharaoh standing there,
Who summoned counsellors from everywhere.
They said, ‘We have magicians, and each one
In magic is a peerless champion.’
They thought it best then that from all around
Magicians should be sought who were renowned.
At this point Pharaoh sent his officers
In all directions to find sorcerers:
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An officer was sent with this sole aim
Wherever there was one who’d earned much fame.
There were two youths like this, whom they reached soon—
Their magic pierced the belly of the moon,
And they would milk that pale orb in the sky,
While on a wine jar magically they’d fly.
They’d make the moonlight look like cotton too
And sell it quickly to those with no clue,
Taking much silver—when buyers grew aware
They’d slap themselves for falling for this pair.
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Of all the stunts they pulled this is a sample;
They didn’t follow anyone’s example.
Pharaoh’s official message came, which said:
‘Your ruler is in need now of your aid,
Because a pair of paupers formed a menace,
Marching against the Pharaoh and his palace,
Although they only have one rod at hand,
Which turns into a snake at their command.
The ruler and his men now feel despair,
Lamenting helplessly due to this pair.
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Through magic surely there are methods to
Save all our lives from threats posed by these two?’
When this news finally reached those sorcerers’ ears,
Their hearts filled up with longings and with fears,
And, once their veins throbbed through affinities,
Amazed, they leaned their heads down on their knees—
Just as for Sufis, knees are learning-places:
They solve the problems each magician faces.
The two magicians summoned their father from the grave and asked his soul about the real nature of Moses
They asked their mother on the following day:
‘Where is our father’s grave? Show us the way!’
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She led them, so they’d find the route to take.
They fasted for three days for Pharaoh’s sake,
Then said, ‘O father, Pharaoh in despair
Has sent this message to us both, to share
That two men make him anxious—in this case
Before his army they’ve made him lose face.
That pair lack soldiers and lack weaponry
Apart from one rod that scares worryingly.
You’ve left this world for where pure souls are found,
Though you appear to be still in the ground—
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Our father’s spirit, help us understand
Whether it’s magic or through God’s command,
A cause for us to bow submissively,
To benefit from God’s own alchemy!
Though we despair, hope draws near to our place;
Though exiles we are drawn back by God’s grace.
The dead magician answers his sons
Through a shared dream their father still could teach:
‘Describing it is far beyond our speech;
To make it plain is not allowed to me,
Although I see close up the mystery;
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But I will show a sign that you can view,
So that this hidden thing is shown to you.
Lights of my eye, when you go to that place
Find out first where he sleeps, then that night race,
While that sage falls asleep, close to his side,
And steal his great rod, putting fear aside:
If you succeed to steal it, that means he
Is a magician—you’ll win easily;
If you’re unable to, he’s a divine
Prophet of God and guided, sons of mine.
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Even if Pharaoh conquers East and West,
Moses stays nonetheless of those God’s blessed.
Souls of your father, I’ve conveyed this clue—
Inscribe it on your heart; God knows what’s true.
When the magician sleeps, then logically
There’s no one to perform his sorcery.
When shepherds sleep, wolves feel no threat’s around,
For they’re not active when they’re sleeping sound.
But how can those wolves hope to reach the sheep
Whose shepherd’s God, when it’s known He won’t sleep?
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God’s magic’s real and true, and actually
It’s wrong to call that truth mere sorcery.
This is the sign that proves that it’s no lie:
Even if he dies, God will raise him high.’
A comparison between the sublime Qur’an and the rod of Moses, and the death of Mohammad to the sleep of Moses, and those who seek to alter the Qur _an to those two sorcerers who aimed to take away Moses’ rod while he was asleep
God told the Prophet once, ‘Though you may die
This teaching won’t die, for I’ve raised so high
Your holy book and miracle. No man
Can get past me to alter the Qur’an.
In the two worlds I’m always your protector;
For those who scoff at you I’m their rejecter.
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No one can add on or delete a line—
Don’t seek protection then apart from mine.
Each day I will increase still more your splendour
And etch your lovely name on gold and silver.
I’ll make more pulpits also just for you;
Due to my love, your wrath is my wrath too.
For fear, they mention your name secretly,
And when they pray they do so furtively.
They fear all the cursed infidels around,
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With minarets I will fill all the skies
And grab rebellious men to blind their eyes.
Your servants will gain power and take towns soon;
Your realm will seem to stretch from fish to moon!*
We will preserve it till the Resurrection;
No one will abrogate your great religion.
You’re not a sorcerer, My Messenger;
You’re truthful, Moses’ inheritor,
And the Qur’an is like his rod for you—
Serpent-like, it can gulp down falsehoods too.
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Even when you lie under soil, each word
You’ve uttered will be like the rod when heard.
They’ll fail if they should try to snatch your rod,
So sleep in blessed peace all thanks to God.
Your body sleeps, but, up above, your light
Has strung a bow to arm you in the fight—
Your light’s bow shoots down its all-powerful rays
At each word the philosopher’s mouth says.’
The Prophet managed this, and much more too;
He slept, but not his fortune, which still grew.
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‘When a magician sleeps, souls of your father,*
The work he does will then lack any splendour.’
Both sons then kissed his grave’s soil and departed
To Egypt where they wanted a war started.
When they arrived with that aim over there,
They looked for Moses’ house everywhere.
At that same time coincidentally,
Moses was sleeping under a palm tree.
The locals pointed them in the right way:
‘Look for him in the palm groves,’ they would say.
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Among the trees they saw him suddenly
Asleep but as awake as one can be:
He’d shut his eyes to sleep of course, but kept
Watch over all things near him as he slept.
Many have eyes awake but hearts asleep—
What can mere bodily eyes see? Not a peep;
Yet with eyes closed, but an awake heart, you
Can open hundreds more with which to view.
Wake up if you don’t have a mystic’s heart.
Fight to become a seeker, make a start.
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But if your heart’s awake, then sleep in peace—
Your own attention to the world won’t cease.
‘My eyes sleep,’ once the Prophet clarified,
‘But there’s no sleep-time for my heart inside.’
Watchmen can sleep while their great king’s awake—
Sacrifice all things for the seeing heart’s sake!
A thousand couplets can’t in full express,
Dear mystic friend, the pure heart’s wakefulness.
When they saw Moses sleeping there stretched out,
They tried to steal the rod they’d heard about—
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The sorcerers rushed for the rod and said:
‘Let’s snatch it from behind his sleeping head!’
When they prepared to draw close, then the rod
Started to quiver through the power of God.
The rod vibrated so much that the pair,
Through fear, became both paralysed right there.
Then it became a serpent and surged near,
Making them flee with faces pale through fear.
They kept on falling over due to terror,
Scampering down the slopes from their own error.
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Moses was heaven-sent these men thus learnt,
By seeing how they got their fingers burnt!
Then diarrhoea and a fever’s ache
Made them both suffer more than they could take.
Immediately they sent a man to Moses,
So he could ask the Prophet for forgiveness,
Saying: ‘We’ve tried to test you. How should we
Have dared to try except through jealousy?
We’ve sinned against the King—please now request
Forgiveness for us, you whom He has blessed.’
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When he forgave them, they recuperated
And then in front of him they both prostrated.
Moses said, ‘Noble men, I’ve pardoned you.
From hell you can now feel secure anew,
As if I’ve never noticed you before,
So don’t beg my forgiveness any more.
Come back a seeming stranger known to me,
To fight for Pharaoh’s side just outwardly.’
They then both kissed the ground and went away,
Expecting such a circumstance one day.
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The magicians of the cities assemble before Pharaoh and receive honours and put their hands on their breasts as a pledge to defeat his enemy, saying: ‘You can count on us!’
When these magicians went back to their ruler
He gave them both some precious robes of honour,
And also an advance of what he’d give
Of horses, slaves, and what they’d need to live,
Saying: ‘Most worthy men, whose rank is high,
If you succeed in this next test, then I
Will shower down so many gifts on you,
That generosity will be stunned too.’
They said, ‘King, through your fortune which we hail,
His work will be destroyed and we’ll prevail.
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We’re champions in this art, and none has hope
Of standing up to us, for they can’t cope.
Mention of Moses has become a chain
For those complaining: “Not those tales again!”’*
Mention of Moses serves now to contain
The light of Moses, which is what you’ll gain.
God knows, Moses and Pharaoh are in you—
You must search in yourself to find these two.
Until the end Moses’ light will prosper;
The light’s not different, though the lamps may differ:
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The lamps and wicks are different obviously—
Their light’s not different though, if you can see.
If you gaze at the glass lamp, you’ll be lost:
It brings on dualism as the cost.
Focus just on the light and you’ll break free
From bodily limits and plurality.
It’s due to viewpoints, kernel of existence,
That Muslim, Jew, and Magian show a difference.
The difference of opinion over the nature and the shape of an elephant
An elephant was brought to a dark building
By Indians, so they could hold a viewing,
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So lots of people would come just to see—
They rushed into the darkness eagerly.
It was impossible to see it there,
So people groped to feel it everywhere:
One man’s hand brushed its trunk—he said, ‘This creature
Is like a pipe.’ He based this on one feature.
Another could feel just its ears—that man
Believed the elephant was like a fan.
Another felt one of its legs alone:
‘Its shape is like those columns made of stone.’
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Another touched its back and then cried out:
‘It’s similar to a throne without a doubt.’
When they heard ‘elephant’ each one conceived
Only the part that they themselves perceived.
Different perspectives meant discrepancies:
One called it straight like I’s, one bent like c’s.
For arguments there would have been no space
If each had held a candle in that place;
The sensual eye’s no better than the hand—
The
whole of it the hand can’t understand.
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The ocean’s eye and foam are worlds apart—
Leave its foam, use the eye inside its heart!
It’s that which sets the ocean’s foam in motion,
But you see foam and no more of the ocean.
Like ships off course we crash against each other
With eyes in darkness though we’re in clear water.
You’re fast asleep inside the body’s boat—
Look at the water’s water as you float:
Water beyond this water’s waves rolls them;
Spirit beyond our spirits here calls them.
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Where were Moses and Jesus when That One
Watered the meadow of existents, son?