DÖRDÜNCÜ BÂB · İKİNCİ FASIL · Sekizinci Madde
Here is the translation of the provided text:
Eighth Point
Regarding the degrees of love for the Divine.
O beloved! It is known that the friends of God have said: Love is an indispensable element, the sole condition [for unity]. Therefore, it stands in complete opposition to multiplicity within the universe.
Poem
The One Unique – how can He be divided, how partitioned?
The Necessary Truth – how can He be denied?
(Translation of the poem)
He is the Single True One; how could He be split or apportioned? His existence is essential; how could it be negated?
Love does not accept division in truth, and its true nature is unknown even to the common folk. Perhaps it appears strongly at times, weakens at others, with varying conditions of exhilaration and melancholy, and its manifestations reflect the difference in its appearances. It reflects the differences from the poetry of poets and the perspectives of beholders.
Just as pure water takes on the color of the vessel containing it and appears in a different form than its original nature, sometimes it is altered by various substances that adhere to or mix within its course, resulting in a very different state from its initial purity; acquiring a different taste, assuming diverse colors. Yet, fundamentally, it remains one truth. Similarly, love, which is singular in truth, multiplies its varieties and divides into numerous parts as it reflects upon the diverse objects of this world of multiplicity, and changes are observed in its attributes according to the measure of that reflection.
Just as pure water does not find its inherent taste and flavor unless it is cleansed from various additives and regains its clarity, so too divine love is not found in its original form except from its pristine source, nor is that clean pool entered casually. Those who can drink from that pure spring are the most intimate [of the initiates]. They are those who have plunged into the ocean of unity and attained solitude with God, free from the emergence of their ego, and delivered from it. They have vanished in the spiritual presence and nearness of the Most High, annihilated within His attributes of majesty and beauty. Following this annihilation, they exist eternally through His attribute of subsistence. They continue to exist forever through His pure essence.
They are adorned with His perfect attributes. They have become friends and intimate companions of God through His love, and have entered beneath His domes. They have drunk from a beautiful, purified drink like kaffur water [a type of clear water], and found refreshment in the coolness and flavor of the River Tasnim [in Paradise]. They have ascended to the lofty station of the manifest horizon [of understanding] and attained high degrees.
Those outside this group – the righteous and virtuous – are deprived of drinking from that pristine drink, for their degrees are lower. Therefore, they find only *selsabil* mixed with ginger in their own cups.
The pure drink is the love of God’s exalted essence. The drink mixed with various elements is the love of His attributes. This is why the righteous remain at the level of the mixed drink, yet still taste from it. Although their bodies have been cleansed of their human garments and they have shed the garment of their own qualities, they have nonetheless not succeeded in breaking the rules and remain veiled by their own existence. For these determinations are found as sins for their station. As it is said: "Existence itself is a sin against which no other sin can be compared."
Thus, the righteous proceed from the degree of unity to the degrees of the Divine Names. They approach the degree of Oneness only through the degrees of the Names. And they behold the Most Beloved, the Exalted in His Majesty, behind the veil of mysteries appropriate to His grandeur. They have not yet plunged into the ocean of non-existence [of utter annihilation – *fana mahz*] and abandoned their existence entirely. They have not overcome the various anxieties and fears, nor are they secure from sorrow. Just as they have muddied the ocean of God’s essence with many attributes, so too have they found their own paths murky and troubled by the pure mixture of the attribute of justice.
The drink below the mixed drink is suitable for the *‘abid* [devotee] and *zahid* [ascetic], for the love of those who are lower than the people of the mixed drink is even more confused and obscure.
Pure love, specific to God’s essence, is likened to an unadulterated essence – like a cup of milk. Love mixed with attributes is likened to cheese. Love mixed with actions is likened to a hollow, darkened place or a grain of millet.
It has been said that love belongs to the *‘abid* and *zahid* who perform religious acts, for they only seek access through deeds. It is accepted that the weaker and lower form of this kind of love is the love of actions. Those of the world have found nothing but this type of love, and remain at that degree.
That superior and pure love is like water in a tree – considered to be in a weak and lowest degree of adulterated love. For what is hidden there does not remain pure but is in an altered state. Therefore, in all these beautiful forms, different beautiful shapes, valuable garments, delicious foods, delectable fruits, astonishing works of art, strange forms, and things that amaze the human being—all hearts are the beloved of God, the Most High, the One who brings everything into existence from nothingness with wisdom (the Creator and Ordainer).
Here is the translation of the provided text:
"The people of love, upon seeing each other and these beautiful manifestations, are drawn to them; yet, because they are heedless of the True Originator—He who brings forth from nothingness—they remain distant from the profound secrets contained within unity. Consequently, they lack understanding and awareness regarding what they cherish.
A couplet:
The heart is captivated by those whose beauty draws the heart; whether knowing or not, it is devoted to them.
This love is divided into four categories: love for God’s Essence, love for His Attributes, love for His Actions, and love for His derivative manifestations.
A verse:
O Love, O Soul of the World!
O Beginning, O End!
O Sudden Resurrection!
And O Boundless Mercy!
O Envy of Jupiter's Moon!
You are hidden from us as a fairy is.
I have sacrificed my heart, soul and head to you, oh Sultan!
Sometimes you bring joy, sometimes sorrow;
Sometimes light, sometimes flame.
You are the most wondrous of wonders;
The wise are astonished by you.
O Seeker of the Soul’s Lights!
Behold the perilous mountain of the soul.
Become the nightingale of the garden of the soul;
Release your heart from grief.
The world is like Mount Tur;
Every particle is light.
It appears as a veil to the blind.
Observe this with instruction.
Each moment, a call comes forth from the spirit:
"Detach yourself from selfhood!"
Be annihilated and let God remain alone.
Let your presence be filled with His light, O Moon!
If you desire God sincerely,
You will attain the knowledge of love.
Drink sparingly;
Even if your appetite is great."