1Cademy - دفتر دوم - بخش ۲۱ - امتحان پادشاه به آن دو غلام کی نو خریده بود / Book Two - Section 21 - The Kings Examination of the Two Slaves He Had Newly Bought

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر دوم / Masnavi: Book Two

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دفتر دوم - بخش ۲۱ - امتحان پادشاه به آن دو غلام کی نو خریده بود / Book Two - Section 21 - The King's Examination of the Two Slaves He Had Newly Bought

Original content

پادشاهی دو غلام ارزان خرید
با یکی زان دو سخن گفت و شنید

یافتش زیرک دل و شیرین جواب
از لب شکر چه زاید شکرآب

آدمی مخفیست در زیر زبان
این زبان پرده ست بر درگاه جان

چونک بادی پرده را در هم کشید
سر صحن خانه شد بر ما پدید

کاندر آن خانه گهر یا گندمست
گنج زر یا جمله مار و کزدمست

یا درو گنجست و ماری بر کران
زانک نبود گنج زر بی پاسبان

بی تامل او سخن گفتی چنان
کز پس پانصد تامل دیگران

گفتیی در باطنش دریاستی
جمله دریا گوهر گویاستی

نور هر گوهر کزو تابان شدی
حق و باطل را ازو فرقان شدی

نور فرقان فرق کردی بهر ما
ذره ذره حق و باطل را جدا

نور گوهر نور چشم ما شدی
هم سؤال و هم جواب از ما بدی

چشم کژ کردی دو دیدی قرص ماه
چون سؤالست این نظر در اشتباه

راست گردان چشم را در ماهتاب
تا یکی بینی تو مه را نک جواب

فکرتت گو، کژ مبین نیکو نگر
هست هم نور و شعاع آن گهر

هر جوابی کان ز گوش آید بدل
چشم گفت از من شنو آن را بهل

گوش دلاله ست و چشم اهل وصال
چشم صاحب حال و گوش اصحاب قال

در شنود گوش تبدیل صفات
در عیان دیده ها تبدیل ذات

ز آتش ار علمت یقین شد از سخن
پختگی جو در یقین منزل مکن

تا نسوزی نیست آن عین الیقین
این یقین خواهی در آتش در نشین

گوش چون نافذ بود دیده شود
ورنه قل در گوش پیچیده شود

این سخن پایان ندارد باز گرد
تا که شه با آن غلامانش چه کرد

English translation

A king bought two slaves cheaply; With one of the two he spoke and listened. He found him keen of heart and sweet in reply— What is born of a sugar lip but sugar-water? A human being is hidden beneath the tongue; This tongue is a curtain at the gateway of the soul. When a wind drew the curtain aside, The secret of the courtyard of the house became visible to us— Whether in that house there are jewels or grain, A treasury of gold, or entirely snakes and scorpions, Or in it there is a treasure and a snake at the edge— For a treasury of gold is never without a guardian.

Without reflection he would speak such words As others would speak after five hundred reflections. You would say: within him was a sea; The entire sea was a speaking jewel. The light of every jewel that shone from him— From him came the furqān of truth and falsehood. The light of furqān would discern for us, Particle by particle, truth from falsehood apart. The light of the jewel would become the light of our eye; Both question and answer would come from us.

If you make your eye crooked you see two discs of the moon— This vision in confusion is what the question amounts to. Straighten your eye in the moonlight So that you see one moon—there is the answer. Your thought, "do not see crookedly, look well"— Is itself also the light and radiance of that jewel. Every answer that comes from the ear to the heart— The eye says: "Hear it from me; leave that behind." The ear is a go-between, and the eye belongs to the people of union; The eye is for the people of ḥāl, the ear for the people of qāl. In the hearing of the ear: transformation of attributes; In the witnessing of eyes: transformation of essence.

If your knowledge of fire became certainty through speech, Seek the ripeness; do not take up residence in certainty. Until you burn, that is not ʿayn al-yaqīn; If you want this certainty, sit down in the fire. When the ear is penetrating, it becomes an eye; Otherwise, Qul ("Say") is coiled in the ear.

This speech has no end; turn back— To what the king did with those slaves of his.

Updated 2026-06-30

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