Selflessness & service

"थिस Photo", originally uploaded by z doc.

Once a villager went to a Sheikh Sahib (Sufi) and asked him to give ma'rfa (knowledge of God)।
Sheikh asked, "In order to know Allah, you need to have some love within your heart. So first of all, tell me if you ever loved anyone"The villager replied: "No"Sheikh: "Have you ever loved any one.. even a little bit.. to your parents.. or household..?"Villager: "nope.. never I did"Sheikh: "O.K., Can you tell me if you care for someone.. even a bit of it?"Villager: "Yes, I do.. it is my buffalo "Sheikh: "It's O.K. but your time has not come. So, you go back to your village and serve your buffalo. You come back only if you think you have served it enough."

The villager departed and he served the buffalo for few months. Then he came again and knocked at the Sheikh's door. Sheikh's voice came outside, "who?". The villager replied, " It is the OWNER of buffalo". Again the voice of Sheikh came outside, "You go back and serve your buffalo. Your time has not come"

The villager departed again and he served the buffalo for many months. Then he came again and knocked at the Sheikh's door. Sheikh's voice came outside: "who?". The villager replied: " It is the SERVANT of buffalo"Again the voice of Sheikh came outside, "You go back and serve your buffalo. Your time has not come"

The villager departed and he served the buffalo for many years. He came again after many years and knocked at the Sheikh's door. He had gotten old and weak. Sheikh's weak voice came outside, "who?". The villager replied, "It is the BUFFALO has come"Sheikh's voice came outside, "Your time has come! , Come inside!"Villager: "Saain (Master)!, How do I enter. The small door does not allow me to enter with my big HORNS!". Sheikh himself came outside and embraced the villager.

The villager had served the buffalo so much that now he was thinking himself also a buffalo!

Baba Bulleh Shah, a Sufi poet (Tomb: Qasur, Pakistan) said:"Rememberib Ranjha day and nightI've become Ranjha myself.Call me Dhido Ranjha,No more I be addressed as Heer"[In the punjabi ancient folk story, "Heer" was a woman who was in love with a man "Ranjha". The Sufi poet resembles himself to Heer and says that just as Heer fell in love with Ranjha, similarly the poet has fallen in love to his Beloved God] (read more at www.apnaorg.com/poetry/bulleheng/)

The sheikh asked the villager,: "You served your buffalo so much that it become such dear to you that you fell in her love. She became the dearest thing to you in the whole of the world. It became the most beautiful thing for you, you've ever seen in the world! " The sheikh continued after a gasp "Now, tell me who made that buffalo?"

Villager replied: "God!".

Sheikh again continued: "The buffalo is so much beautiful and dear to you.. How much dear and loveable it's CREATOR would be.."
In this way the sheikh moved the villager's heart from the buffalo [CREATION - Ishq-e-majazi/worldy love] to God [CREATOR - Ishq-e-Haqeeqi/Real Love]. The villager fell in Love to God.

Gamble everything for love,

if you are a true human being.
~ Rumi

Related Post:
Once in a blue moon (he became a loser for the love)