| |
should not be so. That is why when Gurdjieff wrote ALL AND EVERYTHING, a one thousand page book, he left nine hundred pages uncut. There was a note to the reader in the first edition of the book: "Please go through the one hundred page introduction and if you think that you want to read more, only then cut the other pages. Otherwise return the book and get your money back. Don't open the other pages!"
Another note was also there in the first edition: "If you cannot read the one hundred open pages first, before opening the other pages, then you are not a seeker and you will not be profited by the book. Don't become curious. Start with the first hundred pages; don't open the other pages. Read the introduction first. Only then will you find the book of any help."
Mind is so curious. It is so curious that it first wants to read the unopened pages before reading the open pages. It becomes very arduous to go through the first hundred pages. I he mind is constantly thinking about those unopened pages4 you go through the initial pages just in order to reach the uncut pages. This is the attitude of the thinker. He is curious, hopping from one thing to the next.
A seeker is not like that. I will tell you a story about Bayazid, a Sufi saint -- when he was at his guru's school. For twenty years Bayazid continued going to his guru for instruction. Twenty years continuously! One day, his teacher said, "In the hall where you are coming from, there is a window. In that window, there are some books. Bring me such and such a book."
Bayazid said, "I don't know where the window is."
His teacher said, "But you have been coming through that hall continuously for twenty years, every day. You don't know the window?"
He said, "I was coming to see you. It was unnecessary to look here and there. So I did not know that the window was there. But I will go and seek it, and search for the book."
The guru said, "The book is not needed. I only asked you to see whether you are a seeker or a thinker. Now I know that you are a seeker."
After twenty years the teacher was still trying to find out whether or not Bayazid was a seeker! Bayazid said,
|
|
|