The wisdom of Sufism is unbounded.

Sufi Masters have been using short stories to

teach people important life lessons. In just a few paragraphs, the Sufis are able
to convey messages that others can hardly do in hundreds of pages.

Here are some of my favorite Sufi stories:

The Fruit of Heaven

There was once a woman who had heard of the Fruit of Heaven. She coveted it.

She asked a certain dervish, whom we shall call Sabar: �How can I find this fruit,
so that I may attain to immediate knowledge?�

�You would best be advised to study with me�, said the dervish. �But if you will
not do so, you will have to travel resolutely and at times restlessly throughout
the world.�

She left him and sought another, Arif the Wise One, and then found Hakim, the Sage,
then Majzup the Mad, then Alim the Scientist, and many more��

She passed thirty years in her search. Finally she came to a garden. There stood
the Tree of Heaven, and from its branches hung the bright Fruit of Heaven. Standing
beside the Tree was Sabar, the First Dervish.

�Why did you no tell me when we first met that you were the Custodian of the Fruit
of Heaven?� she asked him.

�Because you would not then have believed me. Besides, the Tree produces fruit only
once in thirty years and thirty days�.
Change the World

Bayazid, a Sufi mystic, has written in his autobiography, �When I was young I
thought and I said to God, and in all my prayers this was the base: �Give me energy
so that I can change the whole world.� Everybody looked wrong to me. I was a
revolutionary and I wanted to change the face of the earth.

�When I became a little more mature I started praying: �This seems to be too much.
Life is going out of my hands�almost half of my life is gone and I have not changed
a single person, and the whole world is too much.� So I said to God, �My family
will be enough. Let me change my family.�

�And when I became old,� says Bayazid, �I realized that even the family is too
much, and who am I to change them? Then I realized that if I can change myself that
will be enough, more than enough. I prayed to God, �Now I have come to the right
point. At least allow me to do this: I would like to change myself.�

�God replied, �Now there is no time left. This you should have asked in the
beginning. Then there was a possibility.��
The Sun and the Cave

One day the sun and a cave struck up a conversation. The sun had trouble
understanding what �dark� and �dank� meant and the cave didn�t quite get the hang
of �light and clear� so they decided to change places. The cave went up to the sun
and said, �Ah, I see, this is beyond wonderful. Now come down and see where I have
been living.� The sun went down to the cave and said, �Gee, I don�t see any
difference.�
The Dream

A visitor came to a Chishti pir. This visitor wanted to demonstrate his own
knowledge of the Qur�an and intended to overpower the Chishti pir in a debate. When
he entered, the Chishti pir took the initiative however and mentioned Yusuf and the
dreams he has had according to the Qur�an. He then suddenly turned to his visitor
and asked him if he could tell him about a dream, so that the visitor may give his
interpretation thereof. After receiving permission the Sufi told that he has had a
dream and both of them were in it. The Chishti pir then went on by describing the
following dream event: �I saw your hand immersed in a jar of honey, while my hand
was immersed in the latrine�.

The visitor hastened to interpret: �It is quite obvious! You are immersed in wrong
pursuits whereas I am leading a righteous life�.

�But�, the Sufi said, �there is more to the dream�. The visitor asked him to
continue. The Chishti pir then went on by telling this: �You were licking my hand
and I was licking yours�.
Identification is Misery

Junaid was going through the market-place of the town with his disciples. And it
was his way to take any situation and use it. A man was dragging his cow by a rope,
and Junaid said �Wait� to the man, and told his disciples �Surround this man and
the cow. I am going to teach you something.�

The man stopped � Junaid was a famous mystic � and he was also interested in what
he was going to teach these disciples and how he was going to use him and the cow.
And Junaid asked his disciples �I ask you one thing: who is bound to whom? Is the
cow bound to this man or is this man bound to this cow?� Of course, the disciples
said �The cow is bound to the man. The man is the master, he is holding the rope,
the cow has to follow him wherever he goes. He is the master and the cow is the
slave.�

And Junaid said �Now, see.� He took out his scissors and cut the rope � and the cow
escaped.

The man ran after the cow, and Junaid said �Now look what is happening! Now you see
who is the master; the cow is not interested at all in this man � in fact, she is
escaping.� And the man was very angry, he said �What kind of experiment is this?�
But Junaid said to his disciples �And this is the case with your mind.

All the nonsense that you are carrying inside is not interested in you. You are
interested in it, you are keeping it together somehow � you are becoming mad in
keeping it together somehow. But you are interested IN it. The moment you lose
interest, the moment you understand the futility of it, it will start disappearing;
like the cow it will escape.�
The Path Towards God is Inwards

A man has purchased a cow, and he was not accustomed to dealing with cows. So he
was trying to drag the cow along holding the cow�s horns, and the cow was very
resistant � obviously, this man was new. She wanted to go to her home, she wanted
to go to her old owner.

A Sufi mystic was watching. He said to the man, �It seems you are very new; you
don�t know how to deal with cows. This is not the right way.�

The man said, �What should I do, because I am not that strong. The cow is stronger;
she is dragging me with her.�

The mystic gave him some beautiful green grass, and told him, �Leave her horns. You
take this grass and just move ahead of her. Keep the grass very close, but don�t
allow her to eat it. As she moves towards the grass, you go on moving towards your
home.� And it worked.
The cow came because the grass was so close and so green and so fresh. She forgot
all about the owner; the immediate problem was how to get this grass. And it is so
close, just hanging in front of your eyes. But the man went on moving slowly, the
distance between the cow and the grass remained the same. And she entered into the
house of the new owner, and he closed the door.

Religions have been hanging carrots in front of you. Those hopes are never
fulfilled, they are hopeless, those promises are empty.
There is No Goal

There is a story told by Sufis about a man who read that certain dervishes, on the
orders of their Master, never touched meat and did not smoke. Since this tends to
fit in with certain well-established beliefs, especially in the West, this man made
his way to the ZAWIA � assembly place � of the illuminated ones, to sit at their
feet. They were all over ninety years old.

Sure enough, there they were, not a spot of nicotine or shred of animal protein
among them, and our hero gasped with delight as he sat drinking in the unpolluted
air and tasting the bean-curd soup which they provided. He hoped that he would at
least live to a hundred.

Suddenly one of them whispered, �Here comes the great Master!� And all stood up as
the venerable sage came in. He smiled benignly and went into the house, heading for
his quarters. He did not look a day over fifty.

�How old is he, and what does he eat?� asked the enraptured visitor.
�He is one hundred and fifty years old, and I don�t suppose any of us will reach
that venerable age and station,� wheezed one of the ancients. �But, of course, he
is allowed twenty cigars and three steaks a day, since he is now beyond being
affected by frivolities and temptations!�
A Heap of Skulls

There is a story about Bayazid, a Sufi mystic. He was passing through a cemetery
and he came upon a heap of skulls. Out of curiosity he took one skull. He had
always been of the thought that all skulls are almost the same, but they were not
the same. There were a few skulls whose ears were joined together; there was a
passage. There were a few skulls whose ears were not joined together; there was a
barrier between the two. There were a few skulls both of whose ears were joined to
the heart but not joined together; there was a passage running to the heart.

He was very surprised. He prayed and asked God, �What is the matter? What are you
trying to reveal to me?� And it is said that he heard a voice. God said, �There are
three types of people: one, who hear through one ear; it never reaches anywhere �
in fact they don�t hear, just the sound vibrates and disappears. There is another
type, who hear, but only momentarily � they hear through one ear, and through the
other ear it is lost into the world again. There are a few souls, of course, who
hear through the ears and it reaches to the heart.�

And God said, �Bayazid, I have brought you to this heap of skulls just to help you
remember it when you are talking to people. Talk only to those who take whatsoever
you say to their hearts � otherwise don�t waste your energy, and don�t waste your
time. Your life is precious: you have a message to deliver.�

One day I also understood � not by going to a cemetery and coming across a heap,
but by looking into alive people. There are three types; Bayazid is right. The
story may be true or not; that is irrelevant. I looked into thousands of people,
and I found that only a very few are there who will take the seed to the heart, who
will become soil to it, who will absorb it. And others are just curiosity-mongers,
just entertaining themselves. Maybe the entertainment is religious, but it is
meaningless.

So here I don�t exist for the masses. Let it be known once and forever: I am not
interested in the crowd, I am interested only in individuals. And you have to show
your mettle.
The Banquet

A poor man dressed in rags came to the palace to attend the banquet. Out of
courtesy he was admitted but, because of his tattered clothing, he was seated at
the very end of the banquet table. By the time the platters arrived at his seat,
there was no food left on them.

So he left the banquet, returning several hours later dressed in robes and jewels
he had borrowed from a wealthy friend. This time he was brought immediately to the
head of the table and, with great ceremony, food was brought to his seat first.

�Oh, what delicious food I see being served upon my plate.� He rubbed one spoonful
into his clothes for every one he ate.

A nobleman beside him, grimacing at the mess, inquired, �Sir, why are you rubbing
food into your fine clothes?�

�Oh,� he replied with a chuckle, �Pardon me if my robes now look the worst. But it
was these clothes that brought me all this food. It�s only fair that they be fed
first!�
We Are Already God

Rabiya, a great Sufi mystic, was passing�. It was the street she used to pass every
day on her way to the marketplace, because in the marketplace she would go every
day and shout the truth that she had attained. And for many days she had been
watching a mystic, a well-known mystic, Hassan, sitting before the door of the
mosque and praying to God, �God, open the door! Please open the door! Let me in!�

Rabiya could not tolerate it that day. Hassan was crying, tears were rolling down,
and he was shouting again and again, �Open the door! Let me in! Why don�t you
listen? Why don�t you hear my prayers?�

Every day she had laughed, whenever she had heard Hassan she had laughed, but it
was too much today. Tears�and Hassan was really crying, weeping, crying his heart
out. She went, she shook Hassan, and said, �Stop all this nonsense! The door is
open � in fact you are already in!�

Hassan looked at Rabiya, and that moment became a moment of revelation. Looking
into the eyes of Rabiya, he bowed down, touched her feet, and said, �You came in
time; otherwise I would have called my whole life! For years I have been doing this
� where have you been before? And I know you pass this street every day. You must
have seen me crying, praying.�

Rabiya said, �Yes, but truth can only be said at a certain moment, in a certain
space, in a certain context. I was waiting for the right, ripe moment. Today it has
arrived; hence I came close to you. Yesterday if I had told you, you would have
felt irritated; you may have even become angry. You may have reacted
antagonistically; you may have told me, �You have disturbed my prayer!� � and it is
not right to disturb anybody�s prayer.�

Even the king is not allowed to disturb the prayer of a beggar. Even if a criminal,
a murderer, is praying in Mohammedan countries, the police have to wait till he
finishes his prayer, only then can he be caught. Prayer should not be disturbed.
Rabiya said, �I had wanted to tell you this, that �Hassan, don�t be a fool, the
door is open � in fact, you are already in!� But I had to wait for the right
moment.

Sources:
Unknown
Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing, by Osho
Unknown
Unknown
The Sun Rises in the Evening, by Osho
God is Dead, Now Zen is the Only Living Truth, by Osho
Be Still and Know, by Osho
The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol. 4, by Osho
Unknown
The Dhammapada, Vol 1, by Osho�