1Cademy - دفتر دوم - بخش ۱۹ - مثل / Book Two - Section 19

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر دوم / Masnavi: Book Two

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دفتر دوم - بخش ۱۹ - مثل / Book Two - Section 19 - A Parable

Original content

آن غریبی خانه می جست از شتاب
دوستی بردش سوی خانهٔ خراب

گفت او این را اگر سقفی بدی
پهلوی من مر تو را مسکن شدی

هم عیال تو بیاسودی اگر
در میانه داشتی حجرهٔ دگر

گفت آری پهلوی یاران بهست
لیک ای جان در اگر نتوان نشست

این همه عالم طلب کار خوشند
وز خوش تزویر اندر آتشند

طالب زر گشته جمله پیر و خام
لیک قلب از زر نداند چشم عام

پرتوی بر قلب زد خالص ببین
بی محک زر را مکن از ظن گزین

گر محک داری گزین کن ور نه رو
نزد دانا خویشتن را کن گرو

یا محک باید میان جان خویش
ور ندانی ره مرو تنها تو پیش

بانگ غولان هست بانگ آشنا
آشنایی که کشد سوی فنا

بانگ می دارد که هان ای کاروان
سوی من آیید نک راه و نشان

نام هر یک می برد غول ای فلان
تا کند آن خواجه را از آفلان

چون رسد آنجا ببیند گرگ و شیر
عمر ضایع راه دور و روز دیر

چون بود آن بانگ غول آخر بگو
مال خواهم جاه خواهم و آب رو

از درون خویش این آوازها
منع کن تا کشف گردد رازها

ذکر حق کن بانگ غولان را بسوز
چشم نرگس را ازین کرکس بدوز

صبح کاذب را ز صادق وا شناس
رنگ می را باز دان از رنگ کاس

تا بود کز دیدگان هفت رنگ
دیده ای پیدا کند صبر و درنگ

رنگها بینی به جز این رنگها
گوهران بینی به جای سنگها

گوهر چه بلک دریایی شوی
آفتاب چرخ پیمایی شوی

کارکن در کارگه باشد نهان
تو برو در کارگه بینش عیان

کار چون بر کارکن پرده تنید
خارج آن کار نتوانیش دید

کارگه چون جای باش عاملست
آنک بیرونست از وی غافلست

پس در آ در کارگه یعنی عدم
تا ببینی صنع و صانع را بهم

کارگه چون جای روشن دیدگیست
پس برون کارگه پوشیدگیست

رو بهستی داشت فرعون عنود
لاجرم از کارگاهش کور بود

لاجرم می خواست تبدیل قدر
تا قضا را باز گرداند ز در

خود قضا بر سبلت آن حیله مند
زیر لب می کرد هر دم ریش خند

صد هزاران طفل کشت او بی گناه
تا بگردد حکم و تقدیر اله

تا که موسی نبی ناید برون
کرد در گردن هزاران ظلم و خون

آن همه خون کرد و موسی زاده شد
وز برای قهر او آماده شد

گر بدیدی کارگاه لایزال
دست و پایش خشک گشتی ز احتیال

اندرون خانه اش موسی معاف
وز برون می کشت طفلان را گزاف

همچو صاحب نفس کو تن پرورد
بر دگر کس ظن حقدی می برد

کین عدو و آن حسود و دشمنست
خود حسود و دشمن او آن تنست

او چو فرعون و تنش موسی او
او به بیرون می دود که کو عدو

نفسش اندر خانهٔ تن نازنین
بر دگر کس دست می خاید به کین

English translation

A stranger was looking for a house in haste; a friend took him toward a ruined house. He said, 'If this had a roof, it would have become a dwelling for you beside me; your family too would have rested comfortably if it had another chamber within it.' He said, 'Yes, being beside friends is best, but, dear one, one cannot dwell in an if. All this world seeks sweetness, and through sweet deception they are in the fire. All, mature and raw, have become seekers of gold, but the common eye cannot tell counterfeit from gold. A gleam may fall on counterfeit coin and make it seem pure; do not choose gold by conjecture without a touchstone. If you have a touchstone, choose; otherwise go and pledge yourself to a knower. Either there must be a touchstone within your own soul, or, if you do not know the road, do not go forward alone. The cries of ghouls are familiar cries, a familiarity that draws toward ruin. It calls: Listen, caravan, come toward me; here are the road and the signs. The ghoul calls each one by name, O so-and-so, to draw that traveler away from the caravan. When he arrives there, he sees wolves and lions: life wasted, the road far, and the day late. Say then: what is that ghoul's cry in the end? I want wealth, I want rank, and reputation. Stop these voices within yourself so that secrets may be disclosed. Remember God and burn the ghouls' cries; sew the narcissus-like eye shut against this vulture. Distinguish the false dawn from the true; know the color of the wine apart from the color of the cup. Then perhaps, through patience and lingering, from the seven-colored eyes another eye will appear. You will see colors other than these colors; you will see jewels in place of stones. What jewels? Rather, you will become a sea; you will become a sun traversing the sky. The worker is hidden in the workshop; go into the workshop and see him plainly. When the work has woven a veil over the worker, you cannot see him from outside that work. Since the workshop is the worker's dwelling-place, whoever is outside it is heedless of him. So enter the workshop, that is, nonexistence, so that you may see the craft and the Craftsman together. Since the workshop is the place of clear sight, outside the workshop is concealment. Obstinate Pharaoh turned his face toward existence; therefore he was blind to the Workshop. Therefore he sought to change destiny, to turn decree back from the door. Decree itself was every moment laughing under its breath at that schemer's mustache. He killed hundreds of thousands of innocent children so that God's command and decree might be turned aside; so that Moses the prophet would not emerge, he took thousands of wrongs and bloodshed upon his neck. He committed all that bloodshed, and Moses was born and made ready to overcome him. Had he seen the workshop of the Eternal, his hands and feet would have been stilled from scheming. Moses was safe inside his house, while outside he was killing children wantonly. Like a person ruled by the lower self, who nurtures the body and suspects others of malice: This one is an enemy, that one envious and hostile, while his envious enemy is that very body. He is like Pharaoh, and his body is his Moses; he runs outside asking: Where is the enemy? His lower self, inside the cherished house of the body, bites its hand in spite at others.

Updated 2026-06-30

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