Nasreddin scheduled the lecture for two o'clock in the afternoon, and there was a real stir around it: a thousand tickets for seats in the hall were completely sold out, and more than six hundred people remained outside to follow the conversation on the broadcast.
At exactly two o'clock, Nasreddin's assistant came in and said that due to unforeseen circumstances, the start of the conversation was postponed. Some stood up indignantly, demanded their money back and left. But even so, there were still a lot of people inside and outside the hall.
At four o'clock in the afternoon the Sufi teacher was not yet there, and people began to gradually leave the hall and get their money back: after all, the working day was nearing the end, it was time to return home. When six o'clock arrived, of the original 1,700 spectators, less than a hundred remained.
And then, staggering, Nasreddin finally entered. It seemed that he was drunk as a whole, and he immediately sat down next to a beautiful girl sitting in the first row and began to be nice to her.
People began to rise from their seats, surprised and indignant: how is it that they waited four hours in a row, and now this person behaves like this? There was a disapproving whisper, but the Sufi teacher did not attach any importance to it: in a loud voice he spoke about how sexy this girl was and invited her to go with him to France.
After cursing at the people who were complaining, Nasreddin tried to get up and fell to the floor. The indignant spectators decided to leave immediately, they said that all this was nothing more than charlatanism, that they would contact the newspapers, which would write about this humiliating spectacle.
There were nine people left in the hall. And as soon as the group of outraged people left the room, Nasreddin stood up. He was sober, his eyes radiated light, an aura of authority and wisdom emanated from him.
“You, sitting here, are those who are destined to hear me,” he said. —You have passed the two most difficult tests on the spiritual path: patience while waiting for the moment of truth and the courage to accept what is happening without judgment or evaluation. I will teach you.
And Nasruddin shared with them some of the Sufi techniques.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru