Green Ears

The story of the ascetic who was cheerful and smiling during a famine, despite poverty and hardship, while people were dying of hunger. They asked him why he was happy when it was a time of mourning. He said he had no burden.

The ascetic remained cheerful during the famine, while everyone else was crying. They asked him why he was laughing when the famine had uprooted the believers. Mercy had turned its eyes away from us, and the scorching sun had burned the desert. The crops, gardens, and vineyards stood black; there was no moisture in the ground, neither high nor low. People were dying from this famine and torment, ten by ten and hundred by hundred, like fish out of water. You have no mercy for the Muslims; they are believers, and one body of flesh and blood. The suffering of one part of the body is the suffering of all, whether it is a time of peace or war.

He said, "In your eyes, this is a famine; in my eyes, this land is like paradise. I see ripe mango clusters in every field and place. I reach out to them with my hand, as if I pluck them from the test. When I remove my hand and eye, I see the friend of Pharaoh, O lowly people, which is why the Nile appears as blood to you. The friend of Moses quickly became wise, so you no longer see blood but the river's water. When you are unjust to your father, that father appears as a dog in your eyes. That father is not a dog; it is the effect of injustice that makes such a revered figure appear as a dog. They saw Joseph as a wolf because his brothers were envious and angry. When you make peace with your father, the anger goes away, and that dog becomes a close friend."

The explanation that the whole world is the form of the universal intellect: when you act unjustly with the universal intellect, the form of the world increases your sorrow. Most of the time, when you act unjustly with your father, the form of the father increases your sorrow, and you cannot see his face, even though he was once the light of your eyes and the comfort of your soul.

The whole world is the form of the universal intellect, which is the father of anyone who is of the heart. When someone increases disbelief with the universal intellect, the form of the whole appears as a dog to them. Make peace with this father, abandon disobedience, so that the earth and clay appear as a golden carpet. Then the resurrection will be your present state, and the heavens and earth will be transformed before you. I am always at peace with this father, so this world appears as paradise in my eyes. Every moment, a new form and new beauty appear, so that from seeing anew, boredom dies. I see the world full of blessings, waters flowing from springs, constantly gushing. The sound of its water reaches my ears, intoxicating my mind and consciousness. The branches dance like dancers, the leaves clap like musicians. The lightning is a mirror shining from the felt; if it shows a mirror, how would it be?

I won't speak of thousands, only one, because every ear is filled with doubt. To the imagination, this is a message of good news; the intellect says, "What good news, when it is my reality?" The story of the children of Uzair, peace be upon him, who asked about their father's condition. He said, "Yes, I saw him coming." Some recognized him and fainted; some did not recognize him and said, "He gave us good news, but what is this fainting?"

Like the sons of Uzair passing by, they came asking about their father's condition. They had grown old, and their father was young. Then their father suddenly appeared before them. They asked him, "O passerby, do you have any news of our Uzair?" Someone told us that today, after despair, he is coming from outside. He said, "Yes, he will come after me." One was happy when he heard this good news, shouting, "O bearer of good news, be happy!" The other recognized him and fainted, saying, "What place is there for good news, O foolish one, when we have fallen into the mine of sugar?"

To the imagination, it is good news, and to the intellect, it is reality, because the eye of imagination is veiled by absence. For the unbelievers, it is pain, and for the believers, it is a herald, but the reality of the situation is in the eyes of the insightful. Because the lover is intoxicated with the present moment, he is therefore above disbelief and faith. Disbelief and faith are both his doorkeepers, for he is the essence, and disbelief and religion are his two skins. Disbelief is a dry shell turned away, while faith is a shell that has found pleasure. The dry shells have a place in the fire, while the shell connected to the essence is a delightful soul. The essence itself is above the level of delight, above delight because it spreads pleasure.

This speech has no end; return so that our season may bring us out of the sea of dust. This was said according to the intellect of the common people; the rest of the speech remains hidden. Your intellect is like small pieces of gold, O accused one; how can I stamp a coin on scraps? Your intellect is divided among a hundred concerns, among thousands of desires and whims. You must gather the parts with love so that you become delightful like Samarkand and Damascus. When you gather yourself from confusion, then the king's coin can be stamped on you. If you increase by a grain, you are raw; the king will make a golden cup from you. Then you will have both the name and title of the king, and also his form, O seeker of union.

So that your beloved may be both bread and water, both lamp and witness, and the essence of wine. Gather yourself; the congregation is mercy, so that I can tell you what is. Because speaking is for belief, the soul of polytheism is free from belief. The soul is divided among the excesses of the heavens, shared among sixty thoughts. Then silence gives it stability, so the answer to fools is silence. I know this, but the intoxication of the body opens my mouth without my will, just as sneezing and yawning open this mouth against your will.

The interpretation of the hadith, "I seek forgiveness from Allah seventy times a day." Like the Prophet, from speaking and scattering, I repent seventy times a day. The boundless mercy flows every moment; you are asleep from understanding it, O people. The garment of the sleeper drinks from the stream of water; the sleeper in a dream seeks the mirage. He goes where he thinks there is the scent of water; this thought has closed the path for him. Because he said, "It is far from here," he became distant from reality by a fantasy. They are farsighted and only sleepwalkers; have mercy on them, O travelers.

I have not seen thirst bring sleep; sleep brings thirst to the foolish. True wisdom is that which grazes from the truth, not the wisdom brought by Mercury. The explanation that the partial intellect sees no further than the grave, while the rest are followers of the saints and prophets. The foresight of this intellect is up to the grave, and that of the heart is with the blowing of the trumpet. This intellect does not pass beyond the grave and dust, and this step does not tread the field of wonders. Be disillusioned with this step and this intellect; seek the hidden eye and be enriched. Like Moses, who finds light from the pocket, the mockery of the master and the students of the book. From this view and this intellect comes only dizziness; so leave the view and choose expectation.

Do not seek elevation from speaking; listening is better for the expectant than speaking. The position of teaching is a kind of lust; every imaginary lust is an idol on the path. If every fool understood his grace, why would God send so many messengers? The partial intellect is like lightning and a flash; in a flash, how can one reach the goal? The light of lightning is not for guidance, but it is a command for the cloud to weep. The lightning of our intellect is for weeping, so that non-existence weeps in longing for existence.

The child's intellect speaks on the book of the body, but it cannot teach itself. The sick intellect brings it to the doctor, but in medicine, its intellect is not correct. Look, the devils were going to the sky, eavesdropping on the secrets above. They were stealing a little of those secrets until the shooting stars drove them away from the sky. "Go, a messenger has come there; whatever you want, you will find from him. If you seek in the worthless, enter the houses through their doors. Knock on that door and stand at the gate; there is no way for you through the roof of the sky. You do not need this long path; we have given the secrets of the mystery to a mortal. Come to him if you are not a traitor; become sugarcane from him, even if you are not. That guide will grow greenery from your soil, which is not less than the hoof of Gabriel's horse. You will become fresh greenery, renewed in novelty, if you become the soil of Gabriel's horse.

The life-giving greenery that the Samaritan made into a calf until it became a jewel. It took life and cried out from that greenery, such a cry that it became a trial for the enemy. If you come faithfully to the people of the mystery, you will be freed from the head of the cap like a falcon. The head of the cap is a blindfold and earplug, from which the falcon is poor and wretched. That cap is a barrier to the eyes of the falcons, for all its inclination is towards its kind. When it cuts off from its kind, it becomes a friend of the king, and the king opens its eyes.

God drove the devils from His ambush, the partial intellect from His independence. "Lower your head; you are not independent, but a student of a heart and prepared. Go to the heart, for you are a part of the heart; beware, for you are the servant of a just king. His servitude is better than sovereignty, for 'I am better' is the cry of Satan. See the difference and choose, O prisoner, the servitude of Adam over the pride of Iblis."

He said, "The sun is his path, the word of Tuba for whoever humbles his soul. See the shade of Tuba and sleep well; lay your head in the shade without arrogance and sleep well. The shade of humbling the soul is a pleasant resting place, ready for that purity and refuge."