Followers

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Tilling the Soil


Seeing a man who was tilling the earth, a fool, unable to control himself, cried out, "Why are you ruining this soil?" "Fool," said the man, "leave me alone: try to recognize the difference between tending the soil and wasting it. How will this soil become a rose garden until it is disturbed and overturned?"




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n yeki âmad zamin-râ mi shekâft
ablahi feryâd kard va bar na-tâft "Kin zamin-râ az cheh virân mi koni mi shekafi va parishân mi koni" Goft "Ay ablah be-raw bar man ma-rân to `emârat az kharâbi bâz dân Kay shavad golzâr o gandom-zâr in tâ na-gardad zesht o virân n zamin Kay shavad bostân o kesht o barg o bar tâ na-gardad nazm-e u zir o zabar

-- Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Mathnawi
IV: 2341-2345
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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