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Don’t Ask How and Why

As long as you are still aware of yourself,

          don’t ask of my state;

don’t ask about the mystery of love

          and the nature of this affair.


As long as your petty intellect

          rules you,

don’t ask about the place

          where love commands.


When you walk with sincerity

          towards the lane of the Friend,

submit to instruction and don’t ask,

          how and why.


Why do you try to trudge with your own feet

          on the path to Reality?

Beware! As long as you’re a prisoner of self,

          don’t ask about God.


This path cannot be traversed

          with the motives of vain desire;

with this still in your mind, don’t ask about

          the path and conduct of the friends of God.


Our feast of madness does not admit

          rational people;

leave, keep away, and don’t ask about

          where the mad ones drink.


Once Nurbakhsh lost consciousness

          of self,

he said, “Don’t ask me about

          the realm of ‘I’ and ‘you.’”

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