Man, what thou art is hidden from thyself, Know’st not that morning, mid-day, and the eve Are all within Thee? The ninth heaven art Thou, And from the sphere into the roar of time Didst fall ere-while, Thou art the brush that painted The hues of all the world—the light of life That ranged its glory in the nothingness. Joy! Joy! I triumph now; no more I know Myself as simply me. I burn with love. The centre is within me, and its wonder Lies as a circle everywhere about me. Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me. I am the merchant and the pearl at once. Lo! time and space lay crouching at my feet. Joy! Joy! When I would revel in a rapture, I plunge into myself, and all things know. _Saadi_ (Shaikh-Muslah-ud-Din Saadi) was born at Shiraz, the capital of Persia, A.D. 1176. He thus characterizes his life and his studies: “I have wandered to various regions of the world, and everywhere have I mixed freely with the inhabitants; I have gathered something in each corner; I have gleaned an ear from every harvest.” The divan of Saadi is by his countrymen reckoned to be the true Salt mine of poets. Jami calls him “the nightingale of the groves of Shiraz.” We would call him the moral philosopher of Sufism. His writings do not contain much metaphysics. SAADIS’ GULISTAN (or ROSE GARDEN): MOTTO: The Rose may continue to bloom five or six days; But my _Rose garden_ is fragrant for ever. —Shame on the man * * Who, when the drum soundeth for departure, hath not made up his burden Who, on the morning of his journey, is still indulging in sweet sleep. —They asked Lockman, the wise, from whence he learnt wisdom. He answered: “From the blind; for till they have tried the ground, they plant not the foot.” —The world, O my brother, abideth with no one. —Ask the inhabitants of Hell, they will tell you it is Paradise. —The sons of Adam are limbs of one another, for in their creation they are formed of one substance. When Fortune bringeth affliction to a single member, not one of the rest remaineth without disturbance. —Know that from God is the difference of enemy and friend, for the hearts of both are alike in His keeping. —So long as thou art able, crush not a single heart, for a sigh has power to overturn a world. —Not a word can be said, even in child’s play, from which an intelligent person may not gather instruction; but if a hundred chapters of wisdom were read in the hearing of a fool, to his ears it would sound as nothing but child’s play.