Counsel and Admonition

People, this world is no place to rest at ease; for the wise, clinging to it is not worthwhile. What do sleepers know of the dawn bird's song? An animal knows nothing of the human world. Take the cure of discipline from a master of the path, for nothing afflicts us worse than ignorance. However lovely and fair a face may be, you cannot see it in a mirror that gives no light. The night of God's chosen ones is bright as the day that lights the world; for the enlightened there is truly no dark night. Break the demon's grip with the arm of self discipline, for this strength is not the raw force of the body. Devotion is not just pressing your forehead to the ground; bring honesty, for sincerity does not live on the forehead. Beware of following your own desires, for on God's road there is no monster more deadly than that desert ghoul. Scholar, worshipper, and Sufi are all children on the road; if there is a true man, he is none but the one who knows God. I fear the spirit's beloved will not turn to you, for all you ask is your own comfort and pleasure. Your house is full of wheat, yet you send not one grain ahead to the grave; your fear of death is not even as much as your fear of a hard winter. You seize a fellow believer's wealth, but when yours is taken you cry out that there is no faith left in the world. The craving for wealth and status has no end; there is no better estate than having no estate at all. Only the one who owns something fears the thief; the knowers have laid down all they have, so nothing troubles them. Whoever has pitched his tent in the open field of contentment feels no grief of ruin, even if the world is shaken by an earthquake. A single sincere piece of advice is worth a whole world; do not listen to me if there is no benefit for both worlds in my words. The harvest of a life wasted and days spent in idleness is nothing but regret and remorse. Sa'di, though you speak well and give good counsel, results come from action, not from eloquence. Until the crop of your hope ripens to harvest, there is no remedy but eyes weeping like rain. If you must beg, then beg at His door alone, for the beggars there are greater than any king. Lord, we came from nothing into being by Your craft, and whatever exists is not hidden from Your knowing gaze. Whether You drive me away or call me Your devoted servant, I will not turn from the King's court in despair. Where could I go, hopeless, from the door of Your grace? Forgive me, for Your court has no rival. You bite your hand in grief if you lose a single coin, yet you feel no regret for a whole life thrown away.