A sufi and a dog story

Photo source: Don't go-Stay there by Arun Kumar Sinha

"Bayazid Bistami"

Bayazid encountered a dog and started to pull his robe away from it, so that it should not defile him.

The dog in a human voice, said :
'If I had been dry, there would have been no purpose in avoiding me. If I had been wet, you could have washed your robe. But the hate which you have towards me can never be cleansed.'

Bayazid said :
'O enlightened dog, come and stay with me for a while.'

The dog answered :
'That is impossible, because the world uses me as an epithet, and you are regarded by the world as a paragon.'

Bayazid exclaimed :
'Alas! I am not fit to live with one whom the whole world regards as inferior: how can I therefore approach the Truth which all regard as the Highest of all?'

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Upon being asked: 'What is being a sufi?' Bayazid said :
'Giving up comforts and trying to carry out efforts. That is the practice of the Sufi.'

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Text Source of this Post:
THE WAY OF THE SUFI by Idries Shah , Arakana Penguin Books