The Perfect Master, Vol 1 Talks on Sufi Stories

He was still trembling.

"And I asked the skull, and she answers! She says, 'Yes.' She can talk."

The king said, "You must be joking."

He said, "No! I bet!"

The king said, "Okay, I will come."

And the whole court followed, and the king went there, and of course the skull was there, and the man went close to the skull and said, "Hello!" And she didn't reply. He said, "HELLO!" loudly, and the skull remained silent. He said, "What has happened to you?" But no answer.

And the king said, "I knew it before. Either you are a madman or you have some deceptions in your mind. Cut this man's head!"

The head was cut and thrown there, and the king returned. When the king returned, the skull said to the head "Hello!"

He said, "You fool! Why didn't you speak THAT time?"

And the skull asked, "What brought you here?"

And the head said, "Too much talking."

"Young man," said the judge, "your wife says you have twelve children and you don't support them. How can a man who doesn't support his family want to have so many children?"

"Your Honour," said Armstrong, "when I get that feel in', I feel I could support the whole world."
But from where does that feeling come? It comes from somewhere in your innermost core, but it is dark and you have never groped for it, from where it comes. The only thing that a man has to do to get out of the misery that is created by the unconscious and the problems that are created by the unconscious is one, the only one key: become more conscious.

What do I mean when I say become more conscious? De-automatize your habits. Remember this: de-automatize your habits. You are walking, it is an automatic habit; you need not be aware of it. But bring awareness to yourself. Walk fully conscious.

Buddha says: When you stand up, stand up consciously; when you sit down, sit down consciously. When you say some-thing, say it very consciously. When you listen to something, listen consciously. When you are eating, eat consciously.
It happened once:

Buddha was not yet enlightened, was coming closer and closer and closer. Maybe ninety-nine percent of his being was almost light; only one percent remained dark. He was just on the verge of enlightenment. It was just a few days before he became enlightened that this incident happened.

They were moving -- he had five disciples with him. A fly came and sat on his forehead. Just out of unconscious habit, he waved his hand, the FLY went away, but he stopped himself in the middle of the road with the five disciples watching what happened. Now, there was a FLY, but he took his hands again, very consciously, slowly, waved at the FLY -- which was not there!

The disciples were puzzled, they said, "What are you doing? The FLY is gone! When you first waved your hand, the FLY went away. What are you doing now?"

Buddha said, "I did it unconsciously. It is automatic. It was robot like. Now I am doing as I should have done. The FLY is not there -- that is not the point -- but now I am doing as I should have done. Consciously I move my hand, slowly, with full awareness, attentiveness. My mind is nowhere else. My total mind is focussed on this simple act -- the hand is moving, and then I wave, with great compassion for the fly.

"The first time, I was walking, I was looking around, and the FLY came. And the robot part of my body worked, but I was not in it."

This is a necessity of life, otherwise you will not be able to do many things. So whatsoever you have learnt is always transferred to the robot. Then the robot does it and you are free to learn something else. This is perfectly okay in ordinary life, but, slowly slowly, the robot becomes bigger and bigger. And your tiny consciousness remains tiny.

The work that one has to do upon oneself consists in taking back from the robot, de-automatizing processes. And you will be surprised: if you de-automatize any process, great awareness is released.

Just walk consciously for half an hour, and you will be surprised how quiet, how peaceful and serene you look and you feel. Just sitting in your chair, watch your in-going, out-going breath, silently -- the breath goes in, and you know, you watch, it is going in. Each step of the breath: it has touched your nostrils, the inner side of the nose, it is moving, it has touched your throat, it has moved, it has gone deep into your lungs; you can feel the belly coming up. And then you feel for a moment it has stopped. No movement. And then the return journey: the belly falls back, the air is going out; again you feel the same route. It leaves your nostrils... and again a moment's gap. And then again new fresh air moves in.

If you simply watch such a simple process, you will be surprised: one hour's watching of breath will bring you so much silence and so much alertness, as you have never felt in your life. And that makes a difference. THAT is the difference that makes the difference, that transforms your whole life, slowly slowly. Then you can change everything: eating, walking, breathing -- even making love can become a very very conscious, alert phenomenon.

And then from everywhere, consciousness goes on pouring in. And, slowly slowly, the balance changes: you become more conscious than you are unconscious. Then you start leaning towards God, farther and farther away you start moving from the animals. When a man is really conscious, all desires disappear just as dewdrops disappear when in the morning the sun rises.

Desires have not to be dropped, they have also to be used to grow in consciousness.

Now this famous Sufi story -- it is one of the greatest gems:

The dervish lives like a beggar, but only from the outside. If you can look into him, if you have eyes to see, if you have a little alertness, you will find him luminous, you will find in him all the grandeur of God, all the splendor of existence. He is the richest man there is.

Swami Ram used to call himself an emperor. When he went to America, people cult not understand. In the East we know; in the East this has become now a definite conclusion. Thousands of years of experience have proved it again and again, that only people like Buddha are real emperors. And the so-called emperors are just beggars somehow hiding their inner emptiness.

The kings, the presidents, and the prime ministers are nothing but people suffering from inferiority complexes. Hence creating much noise around themselves to show others that "We are not nothing. We are somebodies!" A man who tries to prove that he is somebody is simply showing that deep down he is afraid of his nobodiness. If he becomes the president of a country, of course he can prove -- at least to the fools he can prove that he is somebody. And looking in the eyes of those fools, he himself can believe, "When so many people believe that I am somebody, I must be somebody. How can so many people be wrong?" He deceives others and is deceived in return. It is a self-deception. The East knows it.

The East has known real emperors. And it has known a long long series of beggars too. You will be surprised: the East has never been interested in writing the history of emperors, prime ministers and all those kinds of neurotic people. The East's interest has been in Buddhas, Ramas, Krishnas.

The West is very much puzzled why we have not been interested in history. We have been writing real history -- because the real history consists of the evolution of human consciousness. The real history has nothing to do with money, the real history has nothing to do with power-politics. The real history has only to do with one thing: that is who comes in the world with light, religious light, bliss, consciousness; takes humanity a step further into growth.

But when Swami Ram went to America, people were naturally puzzled. He was a beggar, and he called himself an emperor! People started asking him, "Why do you call yourself an emperor? You don't have anything."

And he laughed, and he said, "That's why -- because I don't have anything, because I don't NEED! I am an emperor, because all that I need I have. And your emperors are not emperors, because they will never have all that they need. Their desires wily go on multiplying themselves. They will live the life of a beggar, and they will die the life of a beggar."

Look into the hearts of the rich people -- they have to be pitied. They are poorer than the poor. It sometimes happens that in a poor person's heart you may find a jewel, luminous, but rarely in a rich man's heart, because to become rich he has to sell his soul. To become a prime minister or a president he has to destroy his self, he has to compromise. He has to adjust to the demands of the stupid humanity, the majority. He can lead people only if he follows them -- so your great leaders are nothing but great followers of the masses and the mob.
IT IS RELATED THAT A DERVISH ONCE STOPPED A KING IN THE STREET.
And why in the street? Because the king is always and always moving. He is always searching for more; he is always in the street, he is always on a journey, because there are many things yet to be attained.
When Alexander came to India, Diogenes asked him -- a very rare man, Diogenes.... Naked he lived, like Mahavir, an utterly blissful man. He asked Alexander, "Where are you going?"

Alexander said, "I am going to conquer the whole world!"

And Diogenes asked, "Then what? Then what will you do?"

Alexander was a little puzzled because nobody had asked this: "Then what?" He shrugged his shoulders, and then said, "Then I will rest."

And Diogenes started laughing -- that mad laughter. Only enlightened people can do that. Embarrassed, Alexander said, "Why are you laughing?"

He said, "I am laughing because I am resting right now!"

He was Lying down on the bank of a river, naked, it was early morn g. Fresh air, and the sun was rising and the birds were singing, and it was all beatitude. And he said, "You fool! I am resting, and you will rest when you have conquered the whole world, then what is the point? If I can rest without conquering the world, why can't you? Come on! Lie down by the side of me! And this bank is so big, it can take both of us. There is no problem, no competition."

Alexander was hypnotized by this man. He said, "You are right. Nobody has dared to say such things to me. I see the point, but right now I cannot stop because I am in the middle of my journey, I am on the road. I have to conquer and finish things, then I will come."

Diogenes said, "You can go. But remember: this road is endless. You will never be able to come back."

It is NEVER completed. Who has ever been able to complete it? Death comes before! And it happened exactly like that. Alexander could not come back. He died. He never came back to his country; he died in the middle. And the moment he was dying, only Diogenes was in his mind. In that moment, just think how poor he must have looked to himself, and how rich Diogenes was -- how beggarly he was. Begged and begged and begged... and to no point! And was dying.

It was because of the memory of Diogenes that he told his generals, "When you take my body to the cemetery, let my hands hang out in the procession -- out of the casket."

"Why?" the generals asked, "because we have never heard of any tradition like that."

He said, "So that everybody can see that Diogenes was right -- I am dying empty-handed. Let them see my hands! My whole life was empty and I am dying empty-handed, nothing in my hands."
Every king is in the street.
IT IS RELATED THAT A DERVISH ONCE STOPPED A KING IN THE STREET. THE KING SAID, "HOW DARE YOU, A MAN OF NO ACCOUNT INTERRUPT THE PROGRESS OF YOUR SOVEREIGN?"
IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE who is the man of account and who his the man of no account. It takes great insight to see it. Those who appear on the surface men of account are not. They are just pretenders. And those who don't appear at all as men of account are. But appearances won't help.
THE DERVISH ANSWERED, "CAN YOU BE A SOVEREIGN IF YOU CANNOT EVEN FILL MY KASHKUL, THE BEGGING BOWL?"
Now the Sufi Master is creating a situation. Great must have been his compassion. He is creating a situation, and a rare situation. He says, "You and a sovereign? And you think yourself a man of account? If you are, then do this simple thing. I have got this begging bowl, this KASHKUL, can you fill it?"

The king must have laughed: "This man is mad. Such a small begging bowl I cannot fill?"

The king knows only money and money and money. He understands only one language -- the language of money. Now, certainly, this man is cheating. He can see only some device: "The begging bowl is a trick. It cannot be filled and he will empty my whole treasure. And he has caught me -- he has provoked me and now he is cheating."

Have you ever prayed without demanding anything? directly, indirectly?

The woman was young but was very much worried... in fact she had come to the mystic only to be blessed. She wanted a husband, and it was getting late. Must have been homely, ordinary; must have been poor or something. But now the mystic says, "Ask not for yourself, only then will the prayers be fulfilled." So what is the point in praying? But then she found a way.

She went into the temple and prayed to God, "God, give my mother a beautiful son-in-law."
Directly or indirectly, all your prayers are demands. And a demand poisons the prayer and kills it, cuts its wings. Then it cam lot reach to God. Only prayers which have no demands are weightless enough to fly into that plenitude.
" THE TRUTH IS THAT THE BOWL IS THE DESIRES OF MAN, AND THE GOLD WHAT MAN IS GIVEN. THERE IS NO END TO MAN'S CAPACITY TO DEVOUR WITHOUT BEING IN ANY WAY CHANGED...."
And man goes on devouring. You can go on giving. The more you give, the more demand comes, but the frustration continues. The gap between the man and his desire remains constant. It is one of the constants in the world, unchanging.

The difference between you and the horizon remains constant. You can go on and on, and whether you go on foot or you rush in a plane makes no difference -- the horizon remains there, ALWAYS there, never here. The closer you come to the horizon, the more it goes on receding. You never come close.

It is not that man is not given anything. Just think of this beauty! of this benediction of existence, of this silence, of this joy, this celebration! Have you ever thanked God for a rose flower? If not, then WHEN are you going to thank him? Have you ever thanked God for the dewdrops slipping so quietly from the grass leaves in the early sun, so pearl-like? And sometimes when the rays penetrate them, a small rainbow arises around them. Have you not looked at this beauty? at this poetry? at this constant celebration of existence? When are you going to thank God? For what are you waiting? Have you forgotten to thank? Have you forgotten to bow down in gratitude?

Those who know, they always thank and praise, even in moments when you will not think that praise is possible.

Let me remind you of Zusya, the same mad mystic who would run and jump and dance into the synagogue, so madly, so wildly, that everybody else who was in the synagogue would escape, because he would turn tables upside down. And whosoever would come in between him and his dance would be thrown. His dance was of such abandon that he would forget everybody! He would forget himself -- only God existed in those moments.
Zusya's son died, his only Son and he had loved the son tremendously. And do you know what? He danced! He danced all the way to the cemetery. He was dancing and tears of joy were flowing from his eyes. And he was saying to God, "Look! You had given me such a beautiful and such a pure soul, and I am returning the beautiful and the pure soul AS beautiful as it was. It has not been contaminated at all. Can't you see?! I am returning your gift back to you. I am happy that for these few days you have given this gift to me. I am immensely grateful. It must be time that the child has to go back home."
If you see, then all and everything becomes a cause to celebrate. If you can't see, then everything is a cause for a complaint.
"THE TRUTH IS THAT THE BOWL IS THE DESIRES OF MAN, AND THE GOLD WHAT MAN IS GIVEN. THERE IS NO END TO MAN'S CAPACITY TO DEVOUR, WITHOUT BEING IN ANY WAY CHANGED."
And things go on showering on you, and you never change, you remain at most the same! You devour everything, but nothing transforms you.
"SEE, THE BOWL HAS EATEN NEARLY ALL YOUR WEALTH, BUT IT IS STILL A CARVED SEA-COCONUT, AND HAS NOT PARTAKEN OF THE NATURE OF GOLD IN ANY RESPECT."
Remember this. If you start feeling grateful, you will be transformed. You will start changing your being from baser metal into gold -- this is what alchemy is all about, and this is what sannyas is all about. Sannyas is the purest alchemy, the new alchemy, the science of transforming the baser into the higher. And the bridge is gratitude.
Feel grateful! Search for causes to be grateful, and you will find INFINITE causes. In the morning the sun rises and there is enough cause, MORE than enough, to dance and sing. God has risen in the sun. And by the evening when the sun is setting, sing and dance! Soon the night is coming with its beautiful darkness and all those stars. Soon the mystery will surround you, the mystery of darkness and the coolness of darkness and the silence of darkness and its infinite music.

Just go on looking for reasons to celebrate, and you WILL become religious. And, slowly slowly, each gratitude felt deeply transforms you. Desires never transform, only gratitude transforms -- and they are diametrically opposite. Desire means: "Give me more! I am complaining. I am demanding." Gratitude says: "You have given me so much that I never deserved in the first place. I am grateful, I am thanking."

See the point. Desire says: "Give me more!" Gratitude says: "You have given already so much! Nothing more is needed. It is enough for me to live with it for eternity." Desire takes you into the future. Gratitude makes you still, in the present. Gratitude is meditation. It is being silently here now... and the whole opens up. And thousands of lotuses bloom in your being.

That fragrance transforms you. That fragrance will fill your begging bowl. You will become an emperor. You will not be a beggar any more.

This is what I would like to give to you here. But if you desire, it cannot be given. If you don't desire, it can be given. If you ask for it, you will miss. If you don't ask for it and you celebrate, you have got it already!
"IF YOU CARE," CONTINUED THE DERVISH, "TO STEP INTO THIS BOWL, IT WILL DEVOUR YOU TOO. HOW CAN A KING, THEN, HOLD HIMSELF AS BEING OF ANY ACCOUNT?"
YES, THAT"S WHAT HAPPENS REALLY. This more, this constant desire for more, this obsession for more, devours ALL that you go on collecting, and finally devours you too. That's what death is: devoured by your own desiring, eaten up by your own hungry mind. That's what death is. Sooner or later, you will step in the bowl. That bowl is your grave.