50 MATHNAWI, BOOK I
mercy) descends continually: mayst thou never cease to keep up that (ascent and descent)!
Let us speak Persian[1]: the meaning is that this attraction (by which God draws the soul towards Himself) comes from the same quarter whence came that savour (spiritual delight experienced in and after prayer).
The eyes of every set of people remain (turned) in the direction where one day they satisfied a (longing for) delight.
The delight of (every) kind is certainly in its own kind (congener): the delight of the part, observe, is in its whole;
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Or else, that (part) is surely capable of (attachment to) a (different) kind and, when it has attached itself thereto, becomes homogeneous with it, As (for instance) water and bread, which were not our congeners, became homogeneous with us and increased within us (added to our bulk and strength).
Water and bread have not the appearance of being our congeners, (but) from consideration of the end (final result) deem them to be homogeneous (with us). And if our delight is (derived) from something not homogeneous, that (thing) will surely resemble the congener.
That which (only) bears a resemblance is a loan: a loan is impermanent in the end.
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Although the bird is delighted by (the fowler's) whistle, it takes fright when it (sees him and) does not find its own congener.
Although the thirsty man is delighted by the mirage, he runs away when he comes up to it, and seeks for water. Although the insolvent are pleased with base gold, yet that (gold) is put to shame in the mint.
(Take heed) lest gildedness (imposture) cast you out of the (right) way, lest false imagination cast you into the well.
Seek the story (illustrating this) from (the book of) Kalila (and Dimna), and search out the moral (contained) in the story. Setting forth how the beasts of chase told the lion to trust in God and cease from exerting himself.
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A number of beasts of chase in a pleasant valley were harassed by a lion.
Inasmuch as the lion was (springing) from ambush and carrying them away, that pasturage had become unpleasant to them all.
They made a plot: they came to the lion, saying, "We will keep thee full-fed by means of a (fixed) allowance.
Do not go after any prey beyond thy allowance, in order that this grass may not become bitter to us."
- ↑ The five preceding verses are in Arabic