Self Seeing

In one of his pilgrimages to Mecca there was such a shortage of water that people were dying of thirst. Bayazid came across a place where people were gathered around a well, so thirsty that they were fighting among one another. In the middle of all this commotion he saw a wretched dog that was clearly dying of thirst. The dog looked at Bayazid and somehow conveyed to him that Bayazid’s real mission should be getting water for the dog. He came up with a plan and began announcing, “Does anyone want to buy the merit of a hajj pilgrimage in exchange for some water?” Not receiving any response from people, he began to increase his part of the bargain, raising his hajj journeys to five, six, seven and finally to seventy in exchange for some water. At last, someone said that he was willing, giving Bayazid the water in exchange for the merits of seventy hajj journeys. It is at this point in the story that Bayazid’s ego gets him into trouble. Right after the transaction took place, he began to feel proud of his action and pleased with himself for doing such a noble act of selflessness. Full of himself and proud of his action, Bayazid put the bowl of water in front of the dog, but the dog did not accept the water and turned away. Now a man of Bayazid’s caliber looks for the divine message even from a dog, and Bayazid felt sorely ashamed of himself for his pride. At this point, he heard a message from God, “How long are you going to say I have done this and I have done that? Don’t you see that even a dog does not accept your charitable act?” At once, Bayazid repented of his act of self-seeing.

Adapted from Aflaki 1983, vol. II, p. 671

In one of his pilgrimages to Mecca there was such a shortage of water that people were dying of thirst. Bayazid came across a place where people were gathered around a well, so thirsty that they were fighting among one another. In the middle of all this commotion he saw a wretched dogthat was clearly dying of thirst. The dog looked at Bayazid and somehow conveyed to him that Bayazid’s real mission should be getting water for the dog. He came up with a plan and began announcing, “Does anyone want to buy the merit of a hajj pilgrimage in exchange for some water?” Not receiving any response from people, he began to increase his part of the bargain, raising his hajj journeys to five, six, seven and finally to seventy in exchange for some water. At last, someone said that he was willing, giving Bayazid the water in exchange for the merits of seventy hajj journeys. It is at this point in the story that Bayazid’s ego gets him into trouble. Right after the transaction took place, he began to feel proud of his action and pleased with himself for doing such a noble act of selflessness. Full of himself and proud of his action, Bayazid put the bowl of water in front of the dog, but the dog did not accept the water and turned away. Now a man of Bayazid’s caliber looks for the divine message even from a dog, and Bayazid felt sorely ashamed of himself for his pride. At this point, he heard a message from God, “How long are you going to say I have done this and I have done that? Don’t you see that even a dog does not accept your charitable act?” At once, Bayazid repented of his act of self-seeing.

Adapted from Aflaki 1983, vol. II, p. 671

The one you feed

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life…He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil—he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride,competition, superiority, and ego.

The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.” They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”

The Elder simply replied, “The one you feed.”

A Story With A Moral…Being Happy.

On a certain occasion, during an elegant welcoming reception for the new Director of a company, some of the wives of the other directors, who wanted to get acquainted with the new spouse, asked her with some hesitation: “Does your husband make you happy?”

The husband, who at the moment was not at her side, but was sufficiently near to hear the question, paid attention to the conversation, sitting up slightly, feeling secure, even filling his chest lightly in pride, knowing that his spouse would answer affirmatively, since she had always been there for him during their marriage. Nevertheless, to both his and the others’ surprise, she replied simply:

“No, no he doesn’t make me happy…”

The room became uncomfortably silent, as if everyone were listening to the spouse’s response. The husband was petrified. He couldn’t believe what his wife was saying, especially at such an important occasion for him. To the amazement of her husband and of everyone, she simply placed enigmatically on her head an elegant black silk scarf and continued:

“No, he doesn’t make me happy… I AM HAPPY. The fact that I am happy or not doesn’t depend on him, but on me. I am the only person upon which my happiness depends. I make the choice to be happy in each situation and in each moment of my life. If my happiness were to depend on other people, on other things or circumstances on the face of this earth, I would be in serious trouble! Over my life I have learned a couple of things: I decide to be happy and the rest is a matter of ‘experiences or circumstances;’ like helping, and understanding, accepting, listening, consoling; and with my spouse, I have lived and practiced this many times.”

Moral: Happiness will always be found in forgiveness and in loving yourself and others. To truly love is difficult, it is to forgive unconditionally, to live, to take the “experiences or circumstances” as they are, facing them together and being happy with conviction. There are those who say:

• I cannot be happy because I am sick.
• Because I have no money.
• Because it’s too cold.
• because they insulted me.
• Because someone stopped loving me.
• Because someone didn’t appreciate me.

But what you don’t know is that you can be happy even though you are sick, whether it is too hot, whether you have money or not, Whether someone has insulted you, Or someone didn’t love you, or hasn’t valued you.

Being Happy is an attitude about life and each one of us must decide!

Being Happy, depends on you!

Do Not Ever Let Go

Hafiz Sa’di Shirazi (RA) writes regarding his childhood, “The days of childhood were so wonderful.  I still remember this incident from my childhood, when I was with my father and he took me to the ‘Eid fair.  My father had told me to hold on to him and never let go of him.  There were people in large numbers gathered and it was extremely crowded.  It was difficult to see anything due to the crowd.  Suddenly  I realized that I became separated from my father and as a result I began to cry loudly and profusely.  My father was also worried and eventually found me.  He held me by my ear and and scolded me, “O insolent child! Did I not tell you to hold on to me and never let go of me?! You did not care and that is why you got lost.”

This incident of my childhood became a beacon of guidance for me throughout my entire life and taught me a very valuable lesson:

Those who let go of their elders becomes lost forever in the carnival of this world.”