Short Story: Mind is a great mystery
The ways of saints, the
methods adopted by masters and seekers of yore, are very interesting. They are
not always logically rigid, but a beautifully construed methodology of handling
the mind.
This is a Sufi saint's story.
There was a great mystic called Jalaluddin Rumi in the Middle Ages. He had many
followers. He recited an instance of how a person can change himself by
changing his circumstances. There was a Sufi guru who
had several followers and disciples, many of whom were poor Arabs, but very
devoted to their master. One of them came in the early morning to pay homage to
his master. The master asked, "How are you, my dear boy?"
"Master, I am living in
hell."
"What is the trouble with
you?"
"I have one room only,
which is a small area where I have my family, my wife and two children. There
inside I cook my food. I have a camel which brays continuously, and there is a
dog barking all night. We cannot sleep. You can imagine our condition. Don't you
think, Master, that this is veritable hell?"
The master said, "There
is no problem; I can solve this difficulty."
The obedience of disciples to
the master was so amazing, especially in ancient times, that they would not
argue with the guru. Though his suggestions
may look funny, irrational, and sometimes unusual, the devotion and submission
to the guru supersedes
rationality. The guru told
the disciple, "Tonight you tie the dog inside your house when you go to
bed." The man could not understand what kind of solution this was, but
obedience is obedience.
The dog made matters worse. It
went on barking inside the room and howled throughout the night. Nobody slept
even for a minute. The disciple went to the guru the
next morning. The guru said,
"Hello, how are you?"
The man said, "I cannot
say anything. It is worse than hell. The dog did not allow us to sleep."
"There is a solution for
it. You have got a camel? Tie it inside."
He thought, "What is
this? Am I going to be alive?" But the guru is guru, and he did not
say a word against him. He tied the camel inside the room. There was no space
to sit. The camel occupied the entire area, making kicks and jumps, and the dog
was barking also, the fireplace was giving sparks, the children were crying,
the wife was standing only, and he was also sitting.
The next morning he went to
the guru and
said, "I cannot speak, Master. I am dying today. I think it is the last
day for me. I thought it was hell; this is worse than hell."
"I will find a solution
for it, the guru said.
Tie the camel out; put the dog also out."
He slept very well that night,
no noise, no disturbance of any kind. The next morning he went to the guru. The guru asked,
"How are you?"
"Heaven, heaven!" he
said.
"Heaven? Hey! You came to
me in the beginning, saying it is hell. Now how has it become heaven?" he
asked. "Do not complain."
The mind is a great mystery.
It can deceive you every moment and tell you everything is wrong – nothing is
good anywhere, everybody is foolish, the world is a devil's abode and it is
better to be rid of it. It will go on telling all kinds of things; yet, till
the last moment of your breath, the desire to live long will not leave you. Who
generates this feeling of endless longing, if not that which is your real
nature?
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