Take counsel with the company of the righteous:
note the Divine command given to the Prophet, "Consult them."*
The words their affair is a matter for consultation* * are for this
purpose;
through consultation mistakes and errors occur less often.
Human intellects are luminous like lamps:
twenty lamps are brighter than one.
There may happen to be among them
one lamp aflame with spiritual light,
for the jealousy of God sometimes lowers veils,
mingling the lofty with the low.
He has said, "Travel"***:
seek your fortune in the world and reap its benefits.
In all gatherings seek among minds
the kind of intellect found in the Prophet,
for the heritage of the Prophet is a consciousness
which perceives the unseen things before and after.
Amid the inward eyes, too, always be seeking that inner eye
which this Masnavi has not the power to describe.
Hence the majestic Prophet has forbidden monasticism
and going to the mountains to live as a hermit,
in order that this kind of contact with saints should not be lost;
for to be looked upon by them is a blessing,
an elixir of eternal life
Mashvarat kon bâ goruh-e sâlehân
bar Payambar amr-e "Shâwirhum"* be-dân
Amruhum shûrâ** barâ-ye in bovad
kaz tashâvor sahv o kazh kamtar ravad
In kherad-hâ chon masâbih-e anvarast
bist mesbâh az yeki rawshantarast
Bu keh mesbâhi fotad andar miyân
moshta`el gashteh ze nur-e âsmân
Ghayrat-e Haqq pardeh-'i angikhtast
sofli o `olvi be-ham âmikhtast
Goft "Sîrû"*** mi talab andar jahân
bakht o ruzi-râ hami kon emtehân
Dar majâles mi talab andar `oqul
ânchonân `aqli keh bovad andar Rasul
Zankeh mirâs az Rasul ânast va bas
keh binad ghayb-hâ az pish o pas
Dar basar-hâ mi talab ham ân basar
keh na-tâbad sharh-e ân in mokhtasar
Bahr-e in kasrdast man` ân bâ shokuh
az tarahhob vaz shodan khalvat beh-kuh
Tâ na-gardad fawt in naw`-e elteqâ
k-ân nazar bakhtast o eksir-e baqâ
-- Mathnawi VI:2611-2621
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra