Useful men, carrying useful work, do not become angry if they are called useless. But the useless who imagine that they are operating in a significant manner become greatly infuriated if this word is used about them.
'I visited', says Kazwini, 'one group of sincere-enough sufis. They practiced the invocations and strummed music on strings. ...
'I donned the patched robe and begged from door to door, as recommended in the classics. I prayed, I fasted and I gave charity.
'I learned the intricate gyrations and litanics, and took part in the Stillness.
I mastered teh ability to containt the inner agitation.
'I learned how to erase my "I", and how to restore it, purged
'Then I met the Proof himself. The Proof said to me:
"What do you seek?"
'I said:
"I seek the Master."
'The Proof said:
"Had you asked for more action, I would have given it to you. But as you desire Truth, I shall conduct you to the Truth."
'He conveyed me to the Master. And the Master taught me what all the outwardness which I had studied really meant.
'When I returned to the world, none would listen, and the outwardness continues. As the Master predicted to me, it will continue until the end of time.'
:: This wonderful sufi story is taken from the book, Thinkers of the East by Idries Shah, which i'm reading currently.
You know what's scary? There was another Qaswini in history that was dubbed "the sufi killer" for his takfeering of various sufi orders. Odd, don't you think?
ReplyDeletewoops, never mind, it was a Bibahani, not a Qaswini... Both families were big time twined together, I often confuse them !
ReplyDeletewoops