When the great Sufi mystic Hassan was dying, he was asked:
- Hassan, who was your Master?
He replied:
- I have had thousands of Masters. If you just list their names, it will take months, years, and time is so short. But, perhaps, I will tell you about the three Masters.
One was a thief. One day I got lost in the desert and when I got to the village it was very late and everything was closed. Finally I met a man who was trying to make a hole in the wall of a house. I asked him where I could stay and he said, “It will be difficult at this time of night, but you can stay with me if you can stay with the thief.” This man was wonderful - I stayed for a month. Every night he told me: “I'm going to work. You rest, pray.” When he returned, I asked: “Did you get anything?” And he answered: “Today - no.” He was never in despair, he was always happy. When I meditated for years and nothing happened, many times there came a moment when I was so desperate, without hope, that I thought of giving up all this nonsense. And suddenly I remembered the thief who said every night: “God is merciful, tomorrow this must happen.”
My second Master was a dog. I walked up to the river, dying of thirst, and a dog came up there. She was also thirsty. She looked into the river and saw another dog there - it was her reflection - and she got scared. She barked and ran away, but the thirst was so strong that she returned. Finally, despite her fear, she simply jumped into the water and the reflection disappeared. And I know that this message came to me from God: one day you have to jump in rage against all fears.
And my third Master was a child. I entered the city, and a child carried a burning lamp. He went to the mosque and carried a candle there. Jokingly, I asked the boy:
- Do you have a lamp within you?
- Yes, sir.
— There is a moment when the candle does not burn, and then a moment when it does. Can you show me the source where the fire comes from?
The boy laughed, blew out the candle and said:
“Now you see that the fire is gone.” Where did he go? Answer me.
My ego was shocked, my complete knowledge was shocked. At that moment I lost my stupidity. After that I discarded all my unnecessary knowledge.
It's true - I didn't have a Master. But this does not mean that I was not a student.
I have accepted all of Existence as my Master. My apprenticeship was greater than yours. I trusted the clouds, the trees... I trusted Existence as such.
I didn't have a Master because I had millions of Masters - I learned from all possible sources.
To be a disciple is an obligation on the Path. What does it mean to be a disciple? It means to be ready to learn, to be in a state of learning, to be open to Existence.
With the Master you begin to learn, learn... slowly, slowly you get in tune, and gradually you see a point where on the same Path you get in tune with the whole World. Master is a paddling pool where you can learn to swim.
When you are trained, the whole ocean is yours!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru