(1) Till thy fortune comes forth as a new-born babe, Blood becomes not milk, sweet and pleasant to the mind. When that light of God, Husamu-'d-Din Turned his course down from the summit of heaven, While he had ascended to sublimest verities, In the absence of his spring the buds blossomed not, But when out of that sea he came to shore, This Masnavi, which is the polisher of spirits, Its recommencement occurred on the day of "Opening." The commencement date of this precious work The Bulbul started on this date and became a hawk; Yea, a hawk to hunt out these mysteries. May the wrist of the King be the resting-place of this hawk, And may this door be open to the people for ever!

(12) B (lo) Welcome, O Hawk! You who have taken wing, and after rebelling against your master have bowed your head! Bear yourself becomingly. You are fastened to the body of this world, and so are far from the other. When you are free of the worlds, present and future, you will rest on the hand of Alexander.

(45) When the roarings of savage beasts are uttered, Let it come that they be changed into the sacred sounds of the Six Syllables; When pursued by snow, rain, wind, and darkness, Let it come that I see with the celestial eyes of bright Wisdom.

(5) I cannot help admiring in every particular that divine utterance: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

(32) I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

(8) Salutations, O Peacock of the Garden of the Eight Doors! You have been afflicted because of the seven-headed serpent, through whom you were expelled from Eden. If you deliver yourself from this detestable serpent Adam will take you with him into Paradise.

(45) When the bright radiances of the Five Wisdoms shine upon me now, Let it come that I, neither awed nor terrified, may recognize them to be of myself; When the apparitions of the Peaceful and Wrathful forms are dawning upon me here, Let it come that I, obtaining the assurance of fearlessness, may recognize the Bardo.

(27) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

(19) The firmament is like a bird beating its wings along the way God has marked out for him, striking the Door with his head as with a hammer.

(4) Welcome, O Partridge! You who walk so graciously, and are content when you fly over the mountains of divine knowledge. Lift yourself up in joy and consider the benefits of the Way. Knock with the hammer on the door of the house of God; and humbly melt down the mountains of your pererse desires so that the camel can come out.

(14) I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

(12) Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves for to take me?

(36) If to be born amongst beasts, rock-caverns and deep holes in the earth and mists will appear. Enter not therein.

(11) You came in goodness, you appeared and you revealed goodness.

(27) You came into being from One, from One you left. You have come to One.

(3) An old woman offered Bu All a piece of gold saying: 'Accept this from me.' He replied: 'I can accept things only from God.' The old woman retorted: 'Where did you learn to see double? You are not a man of power to bind and unbind. If you were not squint-eyed would you see several things at once?'

There is neither Ka'aba nor Pagoda. Learn from my mouth the true doctrine - the eternal existence of Being. We

must not see anyone other than Him. We are in Him, by Him, and with Him. We may also be outside these states. Whoever is not immersed in the Ocean of Unity is not worthy of the race of men.

The day will come when the Sun will draw' aside the veil which covers it. So long as you are separate, good and evil will arise in you, but when you lose yourself in the sun of the divine essence they will be transcended by love. While you loiter on the road you will be held back by faults and weaknesses. Have you not yet realized that in your body there are conceit, vanity, self-pride, selflove and other dirty things! Though the serpent and the scorpion may seem to be dead within you they are only asleep; and if something touches them they will wake up with the strength of a hundred dragons. In each of us is a Hell of serpents. If you make yourself secure against these unclean creatures you may remain tranquil; if not, they will sting you even in the dust of the tomb until the day of reckoning.

And now, O Attar, leave your metaphorical discourses and return to the description of the mysterious Valley of Unity.

The Hoopoe continued: 'When the spiritual traveller enters this valley he will disappear and be lost to sight because the Unique Being will manifest himself; he will be silent because this Being wiU speak.

'The part will become the whole, or rather, there will be neither part nor whole. In the School of the Secret you will see thousands of men with intellectual knowledge, their lips parted in silence. What is intellectual knowledge here? It stops on the threshold of the door like a blind child. He who discovers something of this secret turns his face from the kingdom of the tuo worlds. The Being I speak of does not exist separately; everyone is this Being, existence and nonexistence is this Being. '

(4) More of the mount by us was now encompassed, And far more spent the circuit of the sun, Than had the mind preoccupied imagined, When he, who ever watchful in advance Was going on, began: "Lift up thy head, 'Tis no more time to go thus meditating. Lo there an Angel who is making haste To come towards us; lo, returning is From service of the day the sixth handmaiden. With reverence thine acts and looks adorn, So that he may delight to speed us upward; Think that this day will never dawn again." I was familiar with his admonition Ever to lose no time; so on this theme He could not unto me speak covertly. Towards us came the being beautiful Vested in white, and in his countenance Such as appears the tremulous morning star. His arms he opened, and opened then his wings; "Come," said he, "near at hand here are the steps, And easy from henceforth is the ascent." At this announcement few are they who come! O human creatures, born to soar aloft, Why fall ye thus before a little wind?

(233) 237 To say: The serpent which came forth from the earth is fallen; the flame which came forth from Nun is fallen. 237 Fall; glide away.

(2) So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, Turn itself back to re-behold the pass Which never yet a living person left. After my weary body I had rested, The way resumed I on the desert slope, So that the firm foot ever was the lower. And lo! almost where the ascent began, A panther light and swift exceedingly, Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er! And never moved she from before my face, Nay, rather did impede so much my way, That many times I to return had turned. The time was the beginning of the morning, And up the sun was mounting with those stars That with him were, what time the Love Divine At first in motion set those beauteous things; So were to me occasion of good hope, The variegated skin of that wild beast, The hour of time, and the delicious season; But not so much, that did not give me fear A lion's aspect which appeared to me. He seemed as if against me he were coming With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, So that it seemed the air was afraid of him;

(3) Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.