A Bit of Everything
Do you know
what a pot-pourri is? This is a French word;
it means something like a bouquet. Today we have a
pot-pourri for you: stories of different kinds, from
here and there. There is a Jewish tale, and a Taoist
one from China. Then a Muslim one, and finally one from Sri
Ramakrishna. Many names, many forms, many countries, many
languages, but all point to one truth. That is what we are
to grasp.
It
was New Year's night, and the Rabbi was walking
to his home when he met a shadowy figure. He was stunned
to see that it was a man of the city who had recently
died! "What are you doing here?" the Rabbi
asked, "you are supposed to be dead."
"Rabbi, you know,"
replied the ghost, that this is the night when souls
reincarnate on earth. I am such a soul."
"And why were you
sent back again?"
"I led a perfectly
blameless life here on earth," the dead man told him.
"And yet,"
remarked the Rabbi, "you were forced to be born here again?"
"Yes," said the
other, "when I passed on I thought about everything I had
done and I found it so good; I had done everything just right.
My heart swelled with pride, and just then I died. So I was sent
back to pay for that."
The figure disappeared
and the Rabbi, pondering, went on to his home. Shortly
after, a son was born to his wife. The child became
Rabbi Wolf, who was an extremely humble man.
T'ien
Ken, wandering on the south of Mount Yin, came
to the Liao river. He met there a nameless man and
decided to ask him a question. "How would you
carry on the governing of the world," he wondered.
"Go away,"
said the nameless one, "you are rude; why do you
put to me a question for which I am not prepared? I
would just play the part of the Maker of all things.
When tired, I would climb on the bird called light and fly
beyond the six directions, and wander in the land of nowhere.
What method do you have, for governing the world,
that you trouble me with this question?"
T'ien Ken, however,
probing deeper, asked the same question again. And
the nameless man (a Taoist sage) said, "Let your
mind find its enjoyment in pure simplicity; blend yourself
with the original space in idle indifference; allow all things
to take their natural course; admit no personal or selfish motive;
do this and the world will be governed."
Shaikh
Abdul of Gilan in Persia, was worried about
the people of his faith. The Muslims around him were
worldly and sensual, or else satisfied with formal
rituals; there was no true spirit of God in them. So
he felt that he was called to preach to them. Then he had a vision.
He seemed to be walking
along a Baghdad street where a sick and wasted man
was lying on the roadside. The man saluted him with
"salaam aleikhum", the customary greeting between
Muslims. The Shaikh returned it, and then the man asked
him to help him sit up. As the Shaikh did this, the figure
began to grow miraculously huge in size! It frightened the
Shaikh out of his wits, but the man told him in gentle tones
not to be afraid.
"I am the religion
of your grandfather. I became diseased and miserable,
but God has revived me through your help."
This vision occurred
on the night before Shaikh Abdul was to appear in the
mosque in public and make a speech. It was a prophesy
of what was to come in his life. Later on, people recognized
the great contribution he had made to Islam, and gave
him the name Mohy-ud-Din, "reviver of the faith."
A man wanted
to dig a well to water his farm. After digging for
some time in a place recommended by water-diviners,
he found no water and got disgusted. He had dug only
about fifteen feet. Along came another man who laughed
at him for digging there, and pointed to another place. The
farmer went over to that spot and dug and dug, for about
twenty feet. Still no water, and very tired, he finally
took the advice of an old neighbor who assured him
there was water at yet another place. After he had
given up that one too, his wife came out and said,
"Where are your brains? Does anyone sink a well
that way? Stay in one place and go deeper and deeper there!"
Next day, rested, the farmer spent all day on one hole
and found abundant water.
Reverence for all faiths
does not mean following one, one day, and another another
day, moving from place to place. Dive deep into your
own religion and you will discover the water where
all of them are One.
Taoist Tales, Raymond Van Over
Futuh Al Ghaib, Ashraf
Tales & Parables of Sri Ramakrishna
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