| |
TO DECEIVE -- AND TOLD HIM TO WRAP HIM IN A SHROUD. `WHEN THE PRESIDENT PASSES BY,' SAID THE LAWYER, `HE WILL PERHAPS ASSUME THAT THIS IS A CORPSE, AND HE MAY THROW SOME MONEY TOWARDS MY BURIAL -- AND I WILL GIVE YOU A SHARE OF IT.'
THIS WAS DONE. A GOLD PIECE FROM THE HAND OF THE PRESIDENT FELL UPON THE SHROUD. THE LAWYER SEIZED IT OUT OF FEAR THAT THE UNDERTAKER WOULD GET IT FIRST.
THEN HE SPOKE TO THE BENEFACTOR: `YOU DENIED ME YOUR BOUNTY -- NOTE HOW I HAVE GAINED IT!'
He's saying, `I have deceived you. Where is your higher consciousness? Mister President of the World, where is your higher consciousness? Finally, I have won over you. I am victorious. You couldn't judge whether I was dead or alive!'
`NOTHING CAN YOU HAVE FROM ME,' REPLIED THE GENEROUS MAN, `UNTIL YOU DIE.'
The generous man used it -- not that the lawyer deceived him -- now he used the situation to give him a subtle message: `NOTHING CAN YOU HAVE FROM ME, UNTIL YOU DIE. Of course, this is not real death, so you have not received real gold -- just a piece of the unreal gold of the world. False is your death, and the gold I have given is also false. But keep the message in your heart: Nothing can you have from me until you die.'
This is the whole message of the Sufi path: Die!
Die as you are so that you can become that which you really are. Die to the ego so that the Divine can be born in you. Die to the past so that you become open to the future. Die to the known so the unknown can penetrate in you. Die to the mind so the heart can start throbbing again, so that you can rediscover your own heart which you have lost completely.
You don't know what heart is! The throbbing that you hear is not the real heart; it is just the body part of the heart. There is a soul part to it, hidden behind it. These heartbeats are from the body part of the heart. In these beats, or between these beats, in the gaps, is the real beat of the real heart -- the soul part. This is the matter part. You have completely lost contact with the divine part of your heart. You live a loveless life, a heartless life. You are like hard rocks. Even rocks are not so hard. They
|
|
|