[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Mughals (1526–1857)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal) › [Akbar (1556–1605)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar) › [The Book of Akbar](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama) › 1.40 # The Book of Akbar 1.40 Akbarnāma 1.40 - **Language:** Persian ### [1.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama.1.40) راه کمال ترا حرف و نقط ریگ دشت عالم علم ترا شهر سخن روستا بر درت اندیشهرا شحنهآ غیرت زند لطمهآ حیرت برو، سیلی جهل از قفا یعنی سپاس ایزد بیچون از احاطهآ امکان بیرونست، و ستایش خداوند بیهمال از احصای اکوان افزون (مثنوی) > Letters and dots are the desert sand in Thy perfect path. In the universe of Thy wisdom, the city of speech is but some market-booths. The warders of jealousy at Thy door, smite the understanding, With blows of astonishment in front, and strokes of ignorance from behind. In other words, praise of the incomparable Deity lies outside the field of possibility, and the panegyric of the unequalled God is beyond the field of existence. Verse. Wherever discourse deals with the knowledge of God, Our thoughts' praise becomes dispraise. Behold rashness, how it boils over with daring! Can a drop embrace the ocean? Think not that it is even a single letter of the Book, For the Letter is muslin and the Book moonlight. How long wilt thou be an embroiderer of speech ? Stay thy foot here, with the acknowledgment of humility. So long as there is no link between terrestrials and celestials, and the path of speech between the earthly and the heavenly is closed, what intercourse can there be between the limited and the unlimited, so that an atom of the dust can have any lot in the pure, world-warming Sun ? What goal in the boundless plains of necessity and eternity is possible for a prisoner in the subterraneous vault of accident and modernity ; and what strength can he have to traverse them ? What portion can a bewildered, headless and footless mote have in the beams of the world-lighting Sun ? It can only be tossed about in the wind. > — Henry Beveridge 1897, The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II - [Previous: 1.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama.1.26) - [Next: 1.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama.1.44) - [Up: 1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama.1) ## Translations (1) - [The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.3.1.3) — Henry Beveridge 1897, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama.1.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama.1.40) · Pramāṇa