Page:Masnavi I Ma'navi.pdf/113

STORY I.] THE SUFI'S BEAST. 65 Expressions of religious or other feeling derive their only value from the state of mind from which they proceed (p. 107).

Every expression is the sign of a state of mind;

That state is a hand, the expression an instrument.

A goldsmith's instruments in the hand of a cobbler

Are as grains of wheat sown on sand.

'T'he tools of a cobbler in the hand of a cultivator

Are as grass before a dog or bones before an ass.

The words, "I am the Truth" were light in Mansur's 1 mouth,

In the mouth of Pharaoh "I am the Lord Supreme" was blasphemy.

The staff in the hand of Moses was a witness,

In the hands of the magicians it was naught.

For this cause 'Isa tanght not to that foolish man

The words of power whereby he raised the dead.

For he who is ignorant misuses the instrument;

If you strike fint on mud you will get no fire.

Hand and instrument resemble flint and steel;

You must have a pair; a pair is needed to generate.

He who has no peer or member is the "One,"

An uneven number, One without dispute!

Whoso says "one" and "two," and so on,

Confesses thereby the existence of the "One."

When the illusion of seeing double is swept away,

They who say "one" and "two" are even as they who say "One."

If you take "One" as your ball in his tennis-field,

It is made to revolve by the strokes of his bat.²

Yea, the ball that is even and without fault

Is made to revolve by the strokes of the King's hand.

O man of double vision, 3 hearken with attention, ¹ Mansur Hallaj, a celebrated Snf who was put to death at Bag- dad in 30g A.H. for using these words. 1.e., unity is made to appear plurality (see Gulshani Raz 710) & See Gulsban i Raz, l. 194,