In continuation of Mystic

If you have ever been lucky enough to spend time in the company of a Sufi, you would have noticed that he keeps his eyes closed while he sings or dances. To an outsider, it seems that the Sufi has forgotten the outside world and is completely immersed in the act of enjoyment. A Sufi celebrates the entire existence. He lives in a constantly happy and satisfied state. He looks at the world without any desires or expectations and feels happy just for the fact that there is a world. The marvels of the world, the billions and trillions of differences among similarities astonish him and he wonders. He looks at the people who are similar and yet they are not. He looks at the birds and his heart flies out with them. He looks at the insects and hears their crawl on the mud. He understands that everyone is on a journey and this is the journey that never ends. It goes on, it always has.

The world has always been scared of people it doesn’t understand. We crucified Jesus for Christ’s sake! But, to think of it, is it justified to be afraid? We have lived here long enough and deep within our hearts, we all know that the struggle never ends. Something or the other happens and we are sucked up in the daily routine of life, without acknowledging the precious gifts from the world around us. Air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat. A Sufi is any person who has wholly understood and accepted the fact that the world will take care of itself. Nobody is important enough, nothing is ever urgent. You can take time, you can stop, relax, breathe, think and understand your actions and drop the ones that are tiring you, bringing you down. The earth will not stop rotating if you take time out for yourself. What are you doing anyway? Have you any idea?

Many times we go on carrying many things which are useless and we never think why are we carrying them. These things, over the time, become a crushing weight on us. Credit card bills, home loan instalments, telephone bills, so on and so forth.

Needs are very few and a man who understands what is needful will always be happy and blissful. Needs can be fulfilled, desires cannot. A desire is a need gone crazy. The more you try to fulfil it, the more it goes on asking for more.

There is a fable that when Alexander died and he reached at the gates of heaven, he was carrying a lot of weight, his kingdom, gold, diamonds, not in reality, but in idea, in a thought. A thought has as much weight. All his life he was too burdened by being Alexander that the thought didn’t cease even after his body died. The gatekeeper at the heaven saw him and laughed. He said, ‘Why are you carrying so much of a burden?’

Alexander said, ‘What burden?’ He was carrying nothing, everything was in the head and it was the head that was very heavy.

The gatekeeper brought a weighing scale and placed a human eye on one side of the scale. Then, he told Alexander to put all his weight, his greatness, his might, treasure, kingdom, on the other side of the scale. Alexander did so and to his surprise, the scaled didn’t even flinch. He seated himself atop all his possessions and the one eye still remained heavier. The scale didn’t move a fraction.

Alexander asked the gatekeeper, ‘How is it that such a small eye is so heavy?’

The gatekeeper answered, ‘It is the human eye. It represents human desire, the outgoing desire. It will keep asking for more and more as long as it is open.’

Alexander said, ‘But there has to be a way to fulfil its desire!’

The gatekeeper instantly threw a little dust into the eye. It blinked and lost all its weight.

A little dust of understanding has to be thrown into the eye of desire. The desire instantly disappears and only need remains and needs are not that much weighty as desires. Needs are beautiful. Desires are ugly. Desires create monsters and madmen. Needs create simple men who understand the world around them in a better way. When needs are fulfilled, a person knows happiness and when a person knows happiness, he understands that there is no need to even have needs to remain happy. That’s when he becomes a Sufi.

Now go, try and be one.