Giving is Superior than Receiving

A young disciple, one day, was taking a walk with his spiritual leader (Saint) who was extra ordinarily friendly, kind and nice to his followers.

As they were walking on a small track in the lush green fields around, they saw a coat along with a pair of old shoes lying  in the path, which they supposed belonged to a peasant who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work.The disciple turned to the Saint, asking "Shall I play a trick to the peasant? I will hide his shoes, and we will conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find his shoes."

"My young buddy," answered the Saint, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of someone else. But I know you belong to a rich family, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure and satisfaction by means of the poor man. Put some coins into each shoe of the peasant, and then we will hide ourselves to watch how the discovery affects him." The disciple agreed to obey the suggestions and did so, and they both hide themselves behind the bushes close by.

The poor peasant soon finished his work, and came across the field to the track where he had left his coat and shoes. While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes; but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found some glittering coins. Expressions of amazement and surprise could be seen upon his face.  He gazed upon the coins, turned them round, and looked at them again and again. He then looked around on all sides to find, who could place them in his shoes, but could not find anybody nearby.

He put the money into his pocket, and put on the other shoe; but his amusement was multiplied on finding some more coins in the other shoe.

His feelings overpowered him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and expressed aloud a passionate thanks to Allah Almighty. He spoke about his sick and feeble wife, and his children without bread, whom the timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing.

The Disciple stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the Saint, "are you not much more pleased and satisfied than if you had played your intended trick?"

The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. I feel now the truth of those words, which I never understood before:

"Giving hand is much more superior and blessed than the one receiving."

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 Disciple hood 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."