|
Main Index
|
| |
| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 11 | Previous Next | |
|
|
|
| |
to him, whispered in his ear, "Mansoor, keep it inside you. Please keep it inside you! Contain it! I know it is very difficult to contain it -- it is so vast, almost uncontainable. It expresses itself. I know you are not uttering it, it is being uttered by some unknown force, by God himself, but still I say to you, hold your tongue!"
And Mansoor promised, "I will hold my tongue." He understood the point, but again and again he would forget. Again and again he would come into that same state of inner light, joy, bliss, and again the shout -- the lion's roar, as Buddha used to call it -- would come out of him in spite of himself.
He would come and apologize to Junnaid, his master, but the master would say, "Mansoor, something has to be done; otherwise you are going to get into trouble unnecessarily. You could be of great help to humanity, but this way you will be unnecessarily in trouble. And not only you, you will stop my work too. It happened to me too, but I had to contain it and you have to contain it too."
But Mansoor was not capable of it. Junnaid sent him to Kaaba for a three-year pilgrimage. "Maybe on this three-year-long journey, being with many mystics, he may cool down. The experience is so new; by and by he will become accustomed to it." But he could not become accustomed to it; when he came back he was again in the same state. He was caught by the king, by the people... because it was a Mohammedan country and it was one of the greatest crimes, the greatest sins, to call oneself God, to declare oneself God. He was killed.
For centuries it has been discussed among Sufis who was greater, Junnaid or Mansoor. Ordinarily one would say Mansoor: he was really a great martyr: he suffered and suffered laughingly. He died with laughter. Even Jesus had gone a little forsaken. When the last nail was put in his hands he looked at the sky and said, "God, have you forsaken me? Have you forgotten me? Why is all this happening to me?" There must have been a little doubt, just a shadow of doubt. He understood immediately, he apologized. He said, "No, forgive me. Let thy will be done." But for a moment he had wavered. Mansoor never wavered.
And
|
|
|
|
| |