Note 541 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Díwán, p. 274, l. 10. Cf. the verse (p. 199, penultimate line):—
"When I gained contentment, I did not cease (thereafter) To be a king, regarding riches as poverty."
The ascetic "lives the life of a king" (ibid., p. 187, l. 5). Contented men are the noblest of all (p. 148, l. 2). So the great Persian mystic, Jalálu ’l-Dín Rúmí, says in reference to the perfect Ṣúfí (Díván-i Shams-i Tabríz, No. viii, v. 3 in my edition): Mard-i khudá sháh buvad zír-i dalq, "the man of God is a king 'neath dervish-cloak;" and eminent spiritualists are frequently described as "kings of the (mystic) path." I do not deny, however, that this metaphor may have been originally suggested by the story of Buddha.