WORTH READING 24 Feb 2006

Disciple Hood

When the great Sufi mystic, Hasan, was dying, somebody asked "Hasan, who
was
your master?"

He said, "I had thousands of masters. If I just relate their names it
will
take months, years and it is too late. But three masters I will
certainly
tell you about.

One was a thief. Once I got lost in the desert, and when I reached a
village
it was very late, everything was closed. But at last I found one man who
was
trying to make a hole in the wall of a house. I asked him where I could
stay
and he said 'At this time of night it will be difficult, but you can
stay
with me - if you can stay with a thief'.

And the man was so beautiful. I stayed for one month! And each night he
would say to me, 'Now I am going to my work. You rest, you pray.'

When he came back I would ask 'Could you get anything?' He would say,
'Not
tonight. But tomorrow I will try again, God willing.' He was never in a
state of hopelessness, he was always happy. When I was meditating and
meditating for years on end and nothing was happening, many times the
moment
came when I was so desperate, so hopeless, that I thought to stop all
this
nonsense. And suddenly I would remember the thief who would say every
night,
'God willing,
tomorrow it is going to happen.'

And my second master was a dog. I was going to the river, thirsty and a
dog
came. He was also thirsty. He looked into the river, he saw another dog
there -- his own image -- and became afraid. He would bard and run away,
but
his thirst was so much that he would come back. Finally, despite his
fear,
he just jumped into the water, and the image disappeared. And I knew
that a
message had come to me from God: one has to jump in spite of all fears.

And the third master was a small child. I entered a town and a child was
carrying a lit candle. He was going to the mosque to put the candle
there.
'Just joking,' I asked the boy, 'have you lit the candle
yourself?' He said, 'Yes sir.'

And I asked, 'There was a moment when the candle was unlit, and then
there
was a moment when the candle was lit. Can you show me the source from
which
the light came?' And the boy laughed, blew out the candle, and said,
'Now
you have seen the light going. Where has it gone? You will tell me!' My
ego
was shattered; my whole knowledge was shattered. And that moment I felt
my
own stupidity.

Since then I dropped all my knowledge ability. It is true that I had no
master. That does not mean that I was not a disciple -- I accepted the
whole
existence as my master.

My Disciplehood was a greater involvement than yours is. I trusted the
clouds, the trees. I trusted existence as such. I had no master because
I
had millions of masters I learned from every possible source.

To be a disciple is a must on the path. What does it mean to be a
disciple?
It means to be able to learn, to be available to learn, to be vulnerable
to
existence. With a master you start learning to learn.

The master is a swimming pool where you can learn how to swim. Once you
have
learned, all the oceans are yours."

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