EMPTINESS OF THE WAY

      One moonlit night Sheikh Bayazid,
 attracted by the sight of such refulgent
 brilliance, clear as day, across the
sleeping city took his way and thence
into the desert, where he saw unnumbered
stars adoring heaven's floor.
     He walked a little and become aware
that not a sound disturbed the desert air,
that no one moved in that immensity save him.
His heart grew numb and gradually pure terror
touched him. "O great God," he cried, "Your
dazzling palace beckons far and wide- where
are the courtiers who should throng this court?"
A voice said: "Wanderer, you are distraught;
be calm. Our glorious King cannot admit all
comers to His court; it is not fit that every rascal
who sleeps out the night should be allowed to
glimpse its radiant light. Most are turned back,
and few perceive the throne; among a hundred
thousand there is one."

ATTAR

THE POMEGRANATE

Once when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate,
I heard a seed saying, "Someday I shall become a tree,
and the wind will sing in my branches, and the sun will
dance on my leaves, and I shall be strong and beautiful
through all the season."
     Then another spoke and said, "When I was young as
you, I too held such views; but now what I can weigh
and measure things, I see that my hopes were vain."
  And a third seed spoke also, "I see in us that promises
so great a future."
  And a forth said, "But what a mockery our life would
be, without a great future!"
  Said a fifth, "Why dispute what we shall be, when we
know not even what we are."
  But a sixth replied, "Whatever we are, we shall continue
to be."
   And a seventh said, "I have such a clear idea how
everything will be, but I cannot put it into words."
  Then a eighth spoke-and a ninth- and a tenth- and the many-
until all were speaking, and I could distinguish nothing for
 the many voices.
   And so I moved that very day into the  heart of a quince,
where the seeds are few and almost silent.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

IT CUTS THE PLOW REINS

            What does the Purity do?
            It cuts the plow reins.

It frees you from working and dinning
                 In the mud

      It frees you from living behind
                 A big ox
       That is always breaking wind.

      What can Purity do, my dear?

           It can lift your heart
       On a rising, bucking Sun
     That makes the soul hunger
   To reach the roof of Creation

It offers what the whole world wants-
      Real Knowledge and Power.

    It offers what the wise crave-
  The priceless treasure of Freedom.

  Pure Divine Love is no meek priest
                  Or tight banker.
      It will smash all your windows
And only then throw in the holy gifts.

      It will allow you to befriend
      Life and light and sanity-

     And not even mind waking
               To another day.

It reveals the excitement of the Present
        And the beauty of Precision.
It confers vitality and a sublime clarity

     Until finally all the heart can do
                   Is burst open
       With great love and laughter!

                   O Purity,
O dear Truth and Friend within me,
    Why didn't you tell me sooner
           You could do all this-

          Cut the reins of illusion,

                   So we can all
                    Just go wild
                   Loving God
            And everyone all day!


HAFIZ

SOMEONE SHOULD START LAUGHING

          I have a thousand brilliant lies
                   for the question:
                    How are you?

          I have a thousand brilliant lies
                    for the question:
                     What is God?
   
        If you think that the Truth can be known
                        From words,

         If you think that the Sun and the Ocean

             Can pass through that tiny opening
                    Called the mouth,

               O someone should start laughing!

            Someone should start wildly Laughing-
                                 Now!


HAFIZ

THE BEST INVESTMENT

The grey haired man at the door was weary from his travel but thankful to
be home. A captive for many years, he had only recently been freed. As he
knocked, he wondered if his wife and son were still living there. Would they
recognize and welcome him?
          The young man who opened the door was polite but not inclined to let
the stranger enter. "Who are you?" asked the old man.
"I am Rabia ar Ray," the younger man answered politely, "And who, might I ask,
 are you?"Hearing voices, his mother came to the door in time to hear this last
question. With tearful eyes she gasped, "He is your father, Farukh. Let him come in!"
     The next morning, Farukh, sleeping in his own bed for the first time in years, woke early
to perform the required cleaning before morning prayers. "We should wake Rabia," he said
to his wife, "so he can walk to the mosque-the masjid- with me."
 "Rabia is already at the masjid," she replied. "He always goes before the time of the morning
prayer."
   Farukh left the house and headed towards the mosque, amazed and pleased, to see hundreds
of people also headed to prayer before dawn. Mashaa Allah-wonderful are the ways of God!
so many people attending the masjid early in the morning! The mosque, in fact, was crowded
that Farukh was forced to stand up against the back wall. He could hear an inspiring talk, but
couldn't see who the speaker might be.
    After the prayer, as everyone left the masjid, Farukh looked, but still could not see his son.
He went back home alone. Rabia entered a while later while his father was discussing the family's
finances with his mother.
     "I left you with quite a sum of money. I hope that you've had enough money for your needs,"
He said to her.
    "The money has taken good care of our home and the two of us," she replied. I have invested
all of the rest," she smiled and reached for the Rabia's hand.
   "I see evidence of everything but the investment," Farukh said, looking around the room.
"These are the same furnishings as when I left. What has been the return?" he asked. "How
much has the money increased?"
  Mother looked at son. "I'm certain the increase is 100,000 fold. I hired the best scholar
to tutor our son." She smiled at Rabia. "100,000 is the number of people who have come to the
mosque these many months to hear him talk. A wise scholar now, he is the one that you heard
speaking in the masjid today."His eyes bright, Farukh replied, "Al hamdu lil Allah, all thanks to
God, this is the best investment anyone could make."


REF: Ayat Jamilah

THE PEARL

Said one oyster to a neighboring oyster, "I have a very
great pain within me. It is heavy and round and I am in
distress."
  And the other oyster replied with haughty complacence,
"Praise be to the heavens and to the sea, I have no pain
within me. I am well and whole both within and without."
  At that moment a crab was passing by and heard the two
oysters, and he said to the one who was well and whole
both within and without, "Yes, you are well and whole;
but the pain your neighbor bears is a pearl of exceeding
beauty."


KAHLIL GIBRAN

THE HEAD AND THE LUTE

Late one evening under a full moon, Bayazid Bustani,
a religious teacher, walked by a drunkard sprawled
along the roadside. As Bayazid neared, the drunkard
became quite feisty, bellowing the most hateful and filthy
curses at him.
        Bayazid did not respond, but curiously, his silence
seemed to stir the drunkard further. Rising, he pulled out
 his lute, and angrily smashed it on Bayazid's head. The
lute shattered into a hundred pieces, yet Bayazid did not
fight back. He simply continued walking home, dabbing
his bloody wounds from time to time.
         The next morning Bayazid sent his servant- with money
and a heaping tray of desert-back down that same road to find
the drunkard. He also instructed his servant to deliver the
following message: "Last night my head was responsible
for breaking your lute. I apologize. Please purchase a new one
with these dirhams. I also found your tongue to be quite unpleasant
and bitter, Please eat all of these deserts to sweeten it!"
       Ashamed of his behavior, the drunkard dusted himself off,
came straightaway to Bayazid to beg his forgiveness, and gave
up drinking for good.


Ref: Ayat Jamlah

SAYINGS OF NASIR-I-KHUSRAW

-Make a shield from knowledge,
  for there is no stronger shield against calamities.
  Who so ever own the shield of knowledge
  will not suffer from the blow of Time.


-Among the wise, a person without virtue
                         does not fit well:
It's like a string of pearls where in the centre
                          a stone is placed.



-If you would light up a lamp within your heart
  make knowledge and action your wick and oil.


- If you wish to dwell in the meadow of mercy and blessing,
   graze on knowledge and action today.
   Moisten the seed of action with knowledge,
   for the seed will not grow without moisture.


- The world is like a house along the way,
   where people pass through quickly, rank on rank.
   Brother and father and mother have all passed through.
   How long then will you linger on this journey?


- The world is a deep ocean,
   its water is time;
   your body is like a shell,
   your soul the pearl.
   If you wish to have the value of a pearl,
   Raise up the pearl of your soul by learning.

MANIFOLD INCREASE

The sparse rain that comes but once or twice a year
to much of the desert means the difference between
bounty and famine. In the year 640 CE, the rain did
not come to Arabia at all; the crops failed and the
people faced starvation. Tribes of Bedouins flocked
to Medina seeking help. Every one's survival depended
on the timely arrival of food carried by caravan over the
wide expanse of sand to the city.
              The sound of galloping horse was welcome noise
to the townspeople who knew it signaled that caravan was
in vicinity. And indeed a scout rode in to announce the
approach of Uthman ibn Affan's caravan of 1000 camels
loaded with food.
                With food no scarce, the owner of the caravan
could name any price for the goods carried. The other
merchants hurried to meet with Uthman, hoping to buy at
least part of the cargo. Even if they paid three times what
Uthman had paid, they could still get rich by reselling at
higher prices to desperately hungry people.
             The merchants were disappointed, but not too
surprised, when Uthman refused to sell, saying that he had
received a better offer. Since he was the most successful
merchant in the area, they had expected him to drive a
hard bargain.
              The next strategy the merchants tried was to join
together in order to match or better the offer Uthman had
received. But no matter what they suggested, even five times
the price he had paid for the food,Uthman still maintained
that he had received a better offer. The merchants puzzled
over this: who was better able to buy than they, and what
was this price they could not match?
              One of them asked, "Who has made you this offer,
and what exactly is it?"
Uthman smiled. "It is Allah, who promises me many times
 the value of my goods if I give them away for His sake."
              The merchant bowed their heads in shame, remembering
 that the Qur'an states: "Those who spend their wealth in the way
 of God are like a grain of corn. It grows seven ears and and
each ear has a hundred grains."
              The next morning Uthman's caravan was unloaded in the
middle of the market. His agent called out to the public:

                               Come one, come all,
                               this food is free;
                               a gift from Allah
                               to those in need.

Ref;Ayat Jamilah

ALL IN THE FAMILY: A TALE FROM PAKISTAN

Once upon a time, all the parts of the body started complaining
about the stomach. "It's not fair," they said, "we work all day to
give the stomach food, while he does nothing but sit there and
enjoy it."
     "Well, what can we do about it?" asked the mouth, who was
 good at saying aloud what others were thinking.
"We can refuse to obey his orders for food," thought the brain,
who was good at coming up with solutions. The next day the body
parts began their strike.

              The brain refuse to think about where to look for food.
the feet refused to move toward any food. The hand refused to
 pick up anything that might be considered food. And the ears
became deaf to the stomach's rumbling request for something
to eat.
   All that day and the next, the body parts refused to help the
stomach.  At first the stomach rested patiently-only an occasional
growl of hunger. Soon though, the lack of food began to hurt:
the stomach groaned.
              "Oh, dear,"  said the ears. "The stomach sounds like
it is really suffering. But it deserve the pain for not helping to
gather  food." And so the ears ignored the stomach.
             The next morning, the stomach twisted in knots from
lack of food, the feet didn't care about that, but noticed its own
 toes cramping. The hands began to lose strength and twitch.
The eyes began to weep. The ears rang with weakness, and
even the nose started to run.
          "Oh my brothers and sisters, my partners in work, I am
worried about you," moaned the stomach. "From the food that
has come to me I have been feeding you all. I have digested the
food and converted it to nutrition for each of you. By means of
veins, the food was divided among all of you according to your
needs. But alas, now I have no food to send to you and I see that
you are all suffering."
             The the body parts saw the result of their selfishness,
and they felt very ashamed. "Please forgive us," pleaded the mouth.
 "We will not repeat such bad behavior ever again. We see that
God has given each of us something different to do, and that we
work together, we will all benefit."

                               And so the brain thought again
                                  of how to get to the food,
                              and the feet walked to where it was,
                                 and the eyes showed the hands
                                    where to pick up the food,
                              and the mouth chewed the food,
                                   and sent it to the stomach
                                      which digested the food
                                         which fed them all.

Ref: Ayat Jamilah :

THE CANDLE OF THE INTELLECT

Kindle the candle of intellect in your heart
and hasten with it to the world of brightness;
If you want to light a candle in your heart,
make knowledge and goodness its wick and oil.
In the path of hereafter, one should not walk
on foot but with the soul and the intellect,
and for provisions you must fill the table cloth
of your heart with obedience and knowledge.
Oh son, your mind is the garden of intellect,
turn it not a furnace with fumes of wine;
Your heart is the blessed mine of knowledge,
why have you planted a perverse hardness in it?
Let your heart become soft because a shirt of
dusky soft silk does not befit a heart of stone;
cast away ignorance from your mind because
celebration does not befit a house of lament.
Comprehend well the wise poetry of the (wise man),
for it is elevated and powerful like Mount Qaran,
and with the needle of reflection, prick his
excellent words in your subtle heart and soul.

                                               NASIR-I-KHUSRAW

THE DONKEY AND THE LAPDOG

The donkey figures he will find
Love and admiration faster
If he tries to kiss his master;-
This goes through his inmost mind:

"That lapdog, there, because he's trick
Is living like a little sister
With the missus, with the mister.
I get beaten with a stick!

"What does he do, the pampered pup?
He lifts his paw, they kiss his puss.
If that's the way to have a fuss
Made over you, I'll practice up."

When Mister seems affable enough
The donkey comes up clop, clop, clop
And pastes his lord a tender bop
Right to the jaw with a dirty hoof.

The ornament the love affair,
The donkey adds a gracious touch
To his muscular approach
By carolling a tender air.

"Pah, what a kiss! Ouch, what a wail!"
The master snorts. "Ho, varlet, bring
The stick." The donkey starts to sing
A different tune. Thus ends the tale.


Never let us force our talent
Or we'll lose the magic touch.
A sodden oaf, however much
He strives, cannot become a gallant.

Only God's favourites are able
To take the gifts of life with grace.
That's a fact we'd better face
Or be the donkey of the fable.

Ref: Selected fables

THE POT OF CLAY AND THE POT OF IRON

Said the iron pot
To the pot of clay,
"Why not travel
With me away?"

Said the pot of clay,
"That's fine for you!
Your iron skin
Will see you through.

"But as of me,
It's a different matter.
It takes so little
To make me shatter.

"You'd be bringing me home
In little chips-
I'll hug the hearth,
You take the trips."

"But I'll cover you
With a heavy wrap.
Whatever threatens,
I'll take the rap,"

Said Metal ware
to Earth ware,
And lured him out
On the thoroughfare.

Going clinkety-clonk,
Like a three-legged colt
Knocking together
At every jolt,

They'd only journeyed
A little way
When disaster loomed
For the pot of clay,

And before he could ask
The iron pot
To temper the pace
Of this terrible trot,

With a smash and a crash
He met his fate
Against the flank
Of his traveling mate.

So seek out friends
With similar hides
If you don't want to shatter
Against their sides.

Ref: Selected Fables

THE TWO POUCHES

"Lets all the creatures gather round,"
Once Jupiter declared,
"And stand before our mighty throne
To have their looks compared.
Don't be afraid," he said, "if you
Believe that you were slighted
When you were made, let's hear it now
And we will have it righted.
Now you're a likely malcontent,
Sir monkey, have your say.
Look over all these animals
Are you as fine as they?"

"Who me? Why not? I've got four feet,"
The monkey answered smugly,
"A portrait of me, I am sure,
Would not be rated ugly!
But take a look at Brother Bear!
He hasn't one true feature!
Now why should any artist want
To paint that fuzzy creature?"

T'was thought the bear would make a claim
For a more gracious form,
But no! he boasted that his looks
Were well above the norm.
But he pronounced the elephant
A gross amorphous figure,
With ears that ought to be pared down,
And a tail that should be bigger.
The elephant's remarks were not
Outstanding sagacious
For he maligned poor Madame Whale
As being Too capacious.
Dame Ant, a self-styled giantess,
Discredited the mite.
The parley ended, each convinced
That he alone was right.


T'is we that bear the palm of folly;
Lynx-eyed, we find the holes
In all pretensions but our own
To which we're blind as moles.
The Lord makes men like pedlars, hung
With pouches fore and aft:
In front we air each others' faults
And stuff our own abaft.

Ref: Selected Fables

QUOTES FOR SPRING -1

 -The day the lord created hope was probably
   the same day He created spring.
                                              Bern Williams

 -Spring is when you feel like whistling even with
   a shoe full of slush.
                                               Doug Larson

 -If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap
   in the autumn.
                                                 Irish Proverb

  -The beauteous eyes of the spring's fair night with
    comfort downward gazing.
                                                  Heinrich Heine

 -An optimist is the human personification of spring.
                                              Susan J. Bissonette

  -Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's Party!"
                                               Robin Williams

  -Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that
    knows poems.
                                                Rainer Maria Rike

 -If we had no winter, the spring would not be so
   so pleasant: If we did not sometimes taste of
   adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
                                              Anne Bradstreet

THE BEE HIVE

There was once a man who wanted
to destroy a hive near his house, and
his wife prevented him. Then, one day
when she was stung by the bee, he
 reproached her for not having let him
take action when he wanted to.
     Saadi goes on to say that 'If the
watchman shows kindness, people remain
awake through fear.'
Patience with the evil only increases their
evil, he emphasises.

 Ref: The Commanding self by Idries shah

THE SLAVE WHO WAS GIVEN A SPLENDID ROBE

A slave who was given, from his sovereign's hand,
A splendid robe- and feeling very grand
He put it on to wander through the town.
By chance, as he paraded up and down,
Some mud splashed in his face, and with his sleeve
He quickly wiped it off: who should perceive
His action but a sneaking sycophant-
The king was told and hanged the miscreant.
From this unhappy story you can see
How king treat those who have no dignity.'

                                                       ATTAR

THE SMALL FAVOUR

The soldiers pushed the youth through the crowded streets to the
Square of Execution. People filled doors and windows and jostled
for places on the roof tops.

'What's happening?' asked poor dervish.

'They've caught that young rascal at last,' someone answered.
'Now he'll pay for it.'

The dervish struggled through the crowds, and gasped in horror
when he saw who it was they were forcing on to the execution block.
That same youth, only the day before, had passed by where he had
been begging. He had thrown into the dervish's cupped hand the smallest
of copper coins, a dang. But it had been enough to save the old man
from starvation.

Now the youth was about to meet his death. What could he, the dervish,
possibly do for him now, as the executioner's sword rose into the air?

Suddenly the old man gave a yell:

'The Sultan is dead! We have lost our beloved ruler: Alas! Alas!' He wept
and wrung his hands in distress.

Cries of consternation went up on every side. People sobbed, beating their
heads and breasts.The soldeirs ran to the palace. The crowd followed-everyone,
that is, except the youth.They forgot about him and he slipped from their midst
and made off.

The soldiers burst into the palace and into the throne room. There, on the throne,
very much alive, sat the puzzled sultan.

They soon caught the old man and dragged him before the throne.

'What did you mean by this?' demanded the sultan. 'Am I not a good and upright ruler?
What possessed you then to desire my death and cause all this distress?'

'Great and powerful king,' replied the dervish, 'it was, I admit, a false word that I uttered,
but not only are you not dead, to our obvious delight, but a helpless one escaped death
as well.'

When the sultan heard the full story, he was amused and delighted with the cleverness
of the dervish. He gave him gift and said no more.

As for the youth, stumbling his way out of the city, he was hailed by someone who asked:

'How did you escaped death?'

'Through an old man's courage-oh, and a dang!' he replied.

                                                                                                 SAA'DI

A MERCHANT WHO SOLD HIS FAVOURITE SLAVE

There was a merchant once who had a slave
As sweet as sugar-how did he behave?
He sold that girl beyond comparison-
And O, how he regretted what he'd done!
He offered her new master heaps of gold
And would have paid her price a thousandfold;
His heart-in flames, his poor head in a whirl,
He begged her owner to resell the girl.
But he was adamant and would not sell;
The merchant paced the street, his mind in hell,
And groaned: "I cannot bear this searing pain-
But anyone who gives his love for gain,
Who stitches tight the eyes of common-sense
Deserves as much for his improvidence-
To think that on that fatal market-day
I tricked myself and gave the best away."

Your breaths are jewels, each atom is a guide
To lead you to the Truth, and glorified
From head to foot with His great wealth you stand;
O, if you could entirely understand
Your absence from Him, then you would not wait
Inured by patience to your wretched fate-
God nourished you in love and holy pride,
But ignorance detains you from His side.

                                                             ATTAR

A STORY ABOUT ADAM

A novice asked his master to explain
Why Adam was forbidden to remain
In his first undivided happiness.
The master said: "When he, whose name we bless,
Awoke in paradise a voice declared:
'The man whose mind and vision are ensnared
By heaven's grace must forfeit that same grace,
For only then can he direct his face
To his true Lord'. "The lover's life and soul
Are firmly focused on a single goal;
The saints in paradise teach that start
Of drawing near is to renounce the heart.'

                                                        ATTAR

ELEPHANT IN THE DARK

Some Hindus have an elephant to show.
No one here has ever seen an elephant.
They bring it at night to a dark room.

One by one, we go in the dark and come out
saying how we experience the animal.

One of us happens to touch the trunk.
"A water pipe kind of creature."

Another the ear. "A very strong, always moving
back and forth, fan-animal."

Another, the leg. "I find it still,
like a column on a temple."

Another touches the curved back.
"A leathery throne."

Another, the cleverest, feels the tusk.
"A rounded sword made of porcelain."
He's proud of his description.

Each of us touches one place
and understands the whole in that way.

The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark are
how the senses explore the reality of the elephant.

If each of us held a candle there,
and if we went in together,
we could see it.

                                   RUMI

SOLOMON'S CROOKED CROWN

Solomon was busy judging others,
when it was his personal thoughts
that were disrupting the community.

His crown slid crooked on his head.
He put it straight, but the crown went
awry again. Eight times this happened.

Finally he began to talk to his headpiece.
"Why do you keep tilting over my eyes?"

"I have to. When your power loses compassion,
I have to show what such a condition looks like."

Immediately Solomon recognized the truth.
He knelt and asked forgiveness.
The crown centered itself on his crown.

When something goes wrong, accuse yourself first.
Even the wisdom of Plato or Solomon
can wobble and go blind.

Listen when your crown reminds you
of what makes you cold toward others,
as you pamper the greedy energy inside.

                                             RUMI