Sufism, Vol. 2 Sufis: The People Of The Path Chapter 4: Earth and Sky Apart, Question 5

The fifth question:

Question 5

IT IS A LONG, LONG JOURNEY BETWEEN THE PREPARATION AND THE ULTIMATE; BETWEEN THE STATE OF ROBOPATHOLOGY AND ENLIGHTENMENT. MUST ONE SUFFER DURING THE PERIOD OF THE 'JOURNEY' OR IS THERE A POSSIBILITY OF PEACE? PLEASE EXPLAIN.

It depends on you. It depends on what attitude you take about it. Waiting can become great joy if you trust that it is going to happen, if you trust that it is coming closer every moment. If you trust that it has already started happening because you have started moving towards it, then each moment that passes w make you more and more joyous. The home is coming closer.

But you can be very miserable if you take the. attitude -- 'How long do I have to wait? How far is the goal? Why have I to wait so long? Why have others reached? Why are others reaching before me?' Then you can create a thousand and one problems for yourself and you can get miserable. And remember, the law is that the more miserable you get in your waiting, the longer the waiting will be -- because God cannot happen in a miserable mind. The happier the waiting, the closer you are coming. If your waiting can be your total joy, God will happen this very moment -- no time gap is needed. It all depends on your patience.

But when I say patience, I don't mean a negative quality, I mean a joyous patience -- thrilled, expectant. It is going to happen! When it is going to happen is not the point -- it is going to happen.

It all depends on how you interpret. Interpretation is a process that has to be understood very deeply. You can see a rose bush and you can start counting the thorns. If you count the thorns, there are millions. And in that very counting you will become incapable of seeing the rose. Counting the thorns, being hurt by the thorns, your hands will be bloody. You will be angry, you will be frustrated, you will be in despair -- and your eyes will not be capable of seeing the rose. How can you see the rose with so many thorns? Thorns will be floating in your eyes. Your eyes will be covered by thorns; you will not be able to see the rose. Even if you have a glimpse of the rose you will not be able to trust. How can the rose happen? You know only thorns, you know only the pain of the thorns. The rose seems to be an impossibility. Maybe it is a dream, maybe you have imagined it, maybe it is a hallucination or something. But in the very nature of things it cannot happen -- it is so contrary to the experience of thorns. I hen it becomes impossible. By and by you will become oblivious of the rose. Then it no longer exists for you.

But if you look at the rose, if you feel the rose, if you become rosy with the rose, if you allow the fragrance to move into your innermost core, if you feel the wetness of the flower, the dewdrops on it, the sunrays dancing, if you see the utter joy of the flower, the incomparable beauty of it -- in that very vision of the rose the thorns start receding. They may be on the bush but they don't exist for you. They can't exist for you; your eyes are full of the rose. And when your eyes are really full of the rose -- not only your eyes but your heart too -- then you will be surprised to find that the thorns don't matter. Even if there are ten thousand thorns for one rose, only the rose matters, the thorns don't matter. Your whole outlook has changed and you will look at thorns with a new vision. You will see the thorns not as enemies of the rose but as bodyguards of the rose. They are guarding it; they are friends; they protect -- otherwise it will not be possible for the rose to survive. Those thorns are a must.

Once you have started seeing the beauty of life, ugliness starts disappearing. It becomes at the most a shadow. If you start looking at life with joy, sadness starts disappearing. You cannot have both heaven and hell together, you can have only one. It is your choice. And you can have it any moment. If you want hell, you can have it right now. If you want the heaven, you can have that too. It is absolutely your responsibility; it is your choice.

It depends how you interpret.

I would like to tell you a few anecdotes....

Thirty nuns arrived in purgatory. 'Now girls,' said the angel in charge. 'I want every one of you who was ever sexually involved in any kind of relationship on the earth to stand up -- and remember, no fibbing. I have ways of checking up on you.'

Sheepishly twenty-nine of the nuns stood up, but the thirtieth remained seated.

The angel nodded and put in a phone call to the devil. 'Satan,' he said, 'I'm sending down thirty nuns to you -- and I advise you to be particularly careful of one. She's stone deaf!'

Now this is your interpretation. This shows more about the mind of the angel than anything about the woman who has kept silent and has not stood up.

Another scene....

The Pearly Gates. St. Peter interviewing a new arrival. St. Peter: Name?

New Arrival: Melvin.

St. Peter: Did you ever gamble, drink, or smoke when you were on earth?

Melvin: No.

St. Peter: Did you ever steal, lie, cheat, or swear?

Melvin: No.

St. Peter: Were you promiscuous?

Melvin: No.

St. Peter: Tell me what kept you there so long?

This shows the mind of St. Peter, nothing about Melvin.

The third.... 'Rabbi Jacobs, I need fifty dollars to get out of debt,' sobbed Gottlieb. 'I keep praying to God to help, but he has not sent it!'

'Don't lose faith,' said the rabbi. 'Keep praying.'

After Gottlieb left his house, the rabbi felt sorry for him. 'I don't make much money' he thought, 'but that poor man needs it. I will give him twenty-five dollars out of my own pocket.'

A week later, the rabbi stopped Gottlieb and said, 'Here God sent this to you!'

Back in his home, Gottlieb bowed his head, 'Thank you, Lord!' he said, 'But next time you send money, don't send it through Rabbi Jacobs -- that crook kept half of it!'

It all depends on you, on how you look at things. You can see each day surrounded by two nights or you can see each night surrounded by two days. And it really makes a lot of difference. Let your waiting be joyous. You are waiting for God. Let it be a song in your heart. Let it be prayerful. Let it be a celebration. Only celebration is sacred.

Just the other day I was reading a statement of a German philosopher, Martin Heidegger. He says, 'I have not come across anything in the world which can be called sacred.' Now this man must have lived a very poor life, an utterly poor life, if he could not name, could not vouch for, could not be a witness to a single thing that he could call sacred. His life must have been one of utter frustration. He has not known any song, he has not known any joy. He has not seen a smile on a child's face, he has not seen tears. He has not heard the birds singing and he has not seen roses and lotuses flowering, and he has not looked at the stars. He has missed.

The whole of life is sacred.

Once it happened that Buddha asked one of his disciples, 'Can you find anything which is worthless in life? If you can, then bring it.' The disciple thought for many days and Bud&a enquired every day, 'What is happening? Have you not yet found anything worthless?' And after a month or two the disciple came and he said, 'Sorry. I looked all around. I looked very hard. I could not sleep because you had put a question and I had to find the answer. But I could not find anything worthless.'

Then Buddha said, 'Now another task. Find anything which has worth. How many days will you take for it? You took months for the first.' And the disciple laughed. He said, 'No need to take any time.' He just took a straw from the ground and gave it to Buddha. And he said, 'This is enough proof. This has worth.'

Buddha blessed the disciple and he said, 'This is how one should look at life. This is the right attitude -- SAMYAK DRUSHTI, right vision.' And Buddha said, 'I am happy with you -- that you took months and still you could not find anything worthless. You could not find a single instance of something meaningless. And now for the meaningful, for that which has worth, you have not taken even a single second. Yes, this is how it is. The whole life is sacred.'

Buddha has lived a rich life, spiritually rich. Heidegger must have lived in misery.

How can you say that life has nothing sacred in it? Each moment is sacred. But you need the eyes to see that sacredness. God is not missing from existence; only your vision is not yet tuned to it.

You ask: IT IS A LONG, LONG JOURNEY BETWEEN THE PREPARATION AND THE ULTIMATE.... The length of that journey depends on you. It can be long, very long; it may not be so long. It may be very short. The goal depends on you -- how long is not a fixed phenomenon. It cannot be measured. It becomes long if you look through misery, anguish, anxiety, antagonism. If your eyes are full of sadness, you create a long distance. If your eyes are full of joy, it is here, it is now, it is this.

Sufism

VOL. 2, SUFIS: THE PEOPLE OF THE PATH

Chapter-4

Earth and Sky Apart