1Cademy - دفتر دوم - بخش ۸۳ - شرح فایدهٔ حکایت آن شخص شتر جوینده / Book Two - Section 83 - Explanation of the Benefit of the Tale of That Person Seeking the Camel

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر دوم / Masnavi: Book Two
دفتر دوم - بخش ۸۰ - قصهٔ آن شخص کی اشتر ضالهٔ خود می‌جست و می‌پرسید / Book Two - Section 80 - The Tale of the Person Who Sought His Lost Camel and Inquired

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دفتر دوم - بخش ۸۳ - شرح فایدهٔ حکایت آن شخص شتر جوینده / Book Two - Section 83 - Explanation of the Benefit of the Tale of That Person Seeking the Camel

Original content

اشتری گم کرده ای ای معتمد
هر کسی ز اشتر نشانت می دهد

تو نمی دانی که آن اشتر کجاست
لیک دانی کین نشانیها خطاست

وانک اشتر گم نکرد او از مری
همچو آن گم کرده جوید اشتری

که بلی من هم شتر گم کرده ام
هر که یابد اجرتش آورده ام

تا در اشتر با تو انبازی کند
بهر طمع اشتر این بازی کند

او نشان کژ بنشناسد ز راست
لیک گفتت آن مقلد را عصاست

هرچه را گویی خطا بود آن نشان
او به تقلید تو می گوید همان

چون نشان راست گویند و شبیه
پس یقین گردد تو را لا ریب فیه

آن شفای جان رنجورت شود
رنگ روی و صحت و زورت شود

چشم تو روشن شود پایت دوان
جسم تو جان گردد و جانت روان

پس بگویی راست گفتی ای امین
این نشانیها بلاغ آمد مبین

فیه آیات ثقات بینات
این براتی باشد و قدر نجات

این نشان چون داد گویی پیش رو
وقت آهنگست پیش آهنگ شو

پی روی تو کنم ای راست گو
بوی بردی ز اشترم بنما که کو

پیش آنکس که نه صاحب اشتریست
کو درین جست شتر بهر مریست

زین نشان راست نفزودش یقین
جز ز عکس ناقه جوی راستین

بوی برد از جد و گرمیهای او
که گزافه نیست این هیهای او

اندرین اشتر نبودش حق ولی
اشتری گم کرده است او هم بلی

طمع ناقهٔ غیر روپوشش شده
آنچ ازو گم شد فراموشش شده

هر کجا او می دود این می دود
از طمع هم درد صاحب می شود

کاذبی با صادقی چون شد روان
آن دروغش راستی شد ناگهان

اندر آن صحرا که آن اشتر شتافت
اشتر خود نیز آن دیگر بیافت

چون بدیدش یاد آورد آن خویش
بی طمع شد ز اشتر آن یار و خویش

آن مقلد شد محقق چون بدید
اشتر خود را که آنجا می چرید

او طلب کار شتر آن لحظه گشت
می نجستش تا ندید او را بدشت

بعد از آن تنهاروی آغاز کرد
چشم سوی ناقهٔ خود باز کرد

گفت آن صادق مرا بگذاشتی
تا باکنون پاس من می داشتی

گفت تا اکنون فسوسی بوده ام
وز طمع در چاپلوسی بوده ام

این زمان هم درد تو گشتم که من
در طلب از تو جدا گشتم به تن

از تو می دزدیدمی وصف شتر
جان من دید آن خود شد چشم پر

تا نیابیدم نبودم طالبش
مس کنون مغلوب شد زر غالبش

سیاتم شد همه طاعات شکر
هزل شد فانی و جد اثبات شکر

سیاتم چون وسیلت شد بحق
پس مزن بر سیاتم هیچ دق

مر تو را صدق تو طالب کرده بود
مر مرا جد و طلب صدقی گشود

صدق تو آورد در جستن تو را
جستنم آورد در صدقی مرا

تخم دولت در زمین می کاشتم
سخره و بیگار می پنداشتم

آن نبد بیگار کسبی بود چست
هر یکی دانه که کشتم صد برست

دزد سوی خانه ای شد زیر دست
چون در آمد دید کان خانهٔ خودست

گرم باش ای سرد تا گرمی رسد
با درشتی ساز تا نرمی رسد

آن دو اشتر نیست آن یک اشترست
تنگ آمد لفظ معنی بس پرست

لفظ در معنی همیشه نارسان
زان پیمبر گفت قد کل لسان

نطق اصطرلاب باشد در حساب
چه قدر داند ز چرخ و آفتاب

خاصه چرخی کین فلک زو پره ایست
آفتاب از آفتابش ذره ایست

English translation

You have lost a camel, O trusted one; everyone gives you signs of the camel. You do not know where that camel is, but you know that these signs are false. And one who has not lost a camel, out of contentiousness, seeks a camel like that loser, saying, 'Yes, I too have lost a camel; whoever finds it, I have brought his reward.' So that he may become your partner in the camel, he plays this game from greed for the camel. He learns the crooked sign from the straight one; indeed, what you said becomes a staff for that imitator. Whatever sign you say was wrong, he says the same in imitation of you. When they give a true and fitting sign, certainty then comes to you, with no doubt in it. That becomes the healing of your sick soul, the color of your face, your health and your strength. Your eye becomes bright, your foot running; your body becomes soul and your soul moving. Then you say, 'You spoke truly, O trustworthy one; these signs are a clear communication. In it are trustworthy, manifest signs; this will be a writ of acquittal and the worth of salvation.' When he gives this sign, you say, 'Go ahead; it is time to set out, become the leader. I will follow you, O truthful speaker; you have caught the scent of my camel, show where it is.' For the one who is not the owner of a camel, who is searching for this camel out of contentiousness, this true sign did not increase certainty except by reflection from the true camel-seeker. He caught the scent from that one's earnestness and heat, that this shouting of his was not idle. He had no right in this camel, but yes, he too had lost a camel. Greed for another's she-camel had become his veil; he had forgotten what was lost from him. Wherever that one runs, this one runs too; from greed he becomes fellow-sufferer with the owner. When a liar set out with a truthful one, his lie suddenly became truth. In that desert where that camel hurried, the other also found his own camel. When he saw it, he remembered his own; that friend and kinsman became free of greed for the camel. That imitator became a verifier when he saw his own camel grazing there. At that moment he became a seeker of the camel; he had not been seeking it until he saw it in the plain. After that he began to go alone and turned his eye toward his own she-camel. The truthful one said, 'You have left me; until now you were keeping watch over me.' He said, 'Until now I was a mocker, and out of greed I was flattering. Now I too have become one who shares your pain, for in seeking I have separated from you in body. I was stealing the description of the camel from you; my soul saw its own, and its eye was filled. Until I found it I was not seeking it; now copper has been overcome and gold has prevailed. My offense became all acts of obedience and gratitude; jest perished, and earnestness established gratitude. Since my offense became a means to the Real, do not beat any drum against my offense. Your truthfulness had made you a seeker; earnestness and seeking opened truthfulness for me. Your truthfulness brought you into seeking; my seeking brought me into truthfulness. I was sowing the seed of fortune in the earth, but I thought it mockery and unpaid forced labor. It was not forced labor; it was a quick gain. Every grain I sowed sprang up a hundredfold. A thief went stealthily toward a house; when he entered, he saw that the house was his own. Be warm, O cold one, until warmth arrives; put up with roughness until softness arrives. Those are not two camels; that is one camel. Expression has become narrow; meaning is very full. Expression is always inadequate to meaning; therefore the Prophet said, every tongue has become weary. Speech is an astrolabe in calculation: what measure can it know of the sphere and the sun, especially a sphere of which this heaven is a feather, and a sun of whose sun this sun is a particle.'

Updated 2026-06-30

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