 The Naqshbandi Order of Sufism came to existence in the fourteenth century and spread its message so widely that it became one of the most prominent Sufi Orders of that time. The Sufi saints of the Naqshbandi Order followed the path of story telling for disseminating their message to the common men, as this was the easiest way to teach the people about Sufism. In fact, there is a wonderful story involved in the foundation of the Naqshbandi Order. According to the story, once three dervishes went on the Longest Journey. After completing their journey, when they returned to their place, the people asked them about what helped them most in completing their journey. They also asked them about what helped them in enduring the privations and also in accomplishing the return.
While answering to the queries, the first dervish said that it was the cats and mice that helped him most. He said that while observing them in the ordinary world, he got the lesson of giving equal importance to stillness and activity. The second dervish said that it was food that helped him most, because it enabled him to endure and to be understanding. The third dervish also gave his answer and said that he got most of the help from the exercises. According to him, the exercises taught him to be active and unified. The ignorant people, who were hearing the answers of the dervishes soon started to copy the advice, blindly. However, though they remained unsuccessful, they at least took themselves out of the way of the dervishes, in reality if not in appearance. The half-ignorant people among the listeners said that they won't imitate strictly, rather they would try to combine all those principles. They also remained unsuccessful and the only success that they got was that, they also took themselves out of the way of the dervishes, after leaving them in peace, because they thought that they now possessed all the teachings. After most of the people left the place, the three dervishes said to those, who were still present there that, they would show them how the secrets and the most ordinary of things in this life may make it possible to achieve the Longest Journey, if correctly combined. It was exactly in this manner that the Naqshbandi Order or the "Order of the Masters" came into being. It was also the manner in which the externalists and the inner people still behave. Apart from this, there are also some other thought provoking stories that the Sufi saints of the Naqshbandi Order depicted to their disciples. Some of those stories are given below: Three Visits to a Sage: This story is about the founder of the Naqshbandi Order, El-Shah Bahaudin Naqshband. One day, he was visited by a group of seekers, who found him in his courtyard. He was surrounded by his disciples and they seemed obviously to be revels. The new group came near to Bahaudin and said to the other that it was not the right way to behave, whatever be the pretext. They also tried to complain with the master. To this, the other disciples said that they were looking it to be excellent and they liked that kind of teaching. They added that they also wished to take part in it. However, some of the others said that in fact, they were partly perplexed and wished to know more about the puzzle. The rest of the people said to one another that there might be some wisdom in this, but they did not know whether they should ask about it or not. Bahaudin then sent all of them away and the people started to spread their opinions of the occasion, in conversation and in writing. Even some of the people, who did not attend the event directly, got affected by it, and their speech and works also reflected their beliefs about the incidence. After a few months, some of the members of the same party again passed that way and while passing, they called upon the teacher. They saw the teacher and his disciples sitting decorously, deep in contemplation, within the courtyard. Seeing this, some of them commented that it was better, and the teacher had evidently learned from their protests. Some of the others said that it was excellent as the teacher was undoubtedly only testing them, last time. Some others said that it was too sombre, as they could have found long faces anywhere. Apart from these, there were some other opinions also. After hearing all the comments, the sage sent all these visitors away this time also. After yet another long gap, only a few members of the same group returned to the teacher and sought his interpretation of what they had experienced. They went at the gateway, and looked into the courtyard. They saw that the teacher was sitting there, alone, and he was neither revelling nor in meditation. They did not see any of his disciples, anywhere. Seeing them, the teacher said that they might at last hear the whole story, as he had been able to dismiss his pupils, since the task is done. The teacher said that when the people first came, that his class was too serious and he was in process of applying the corrective. He added that the second time when the people came, they had been too indulgent, as he was applying the corrective. He again said that when a man is working, he does not always explain himself to casual visitors, no matter however interested the visitors may think themselves to be. He also said that when an action is in progress, the correct operation of that action is what counts the most. He further said that the external evaluation becomes a secondary concern, under such circumstances. One Way of Teaching: This story is also connected to the life of El-Shah Bahaudin Naqshband. One day, he was sitting with some of his disciples when a number of followers came into the meeting-hall. El-Shah asked the newcomers, one by one, to say why he was there. The first of the followers said that El-Shah was the greatest man on earth. In reply, El-Shah said that the man thinks so, as he gave him a potion, when he was ill. The second person said that he was there, as his spiritual life had opened up since he had been allowed to visit El-Shah. To this, El-Shah replied that the man was uncertain and ill at ease, and none would listen to him. It was El-Shah, who sat with him, and the person is calling the resultant peacefulness, as his spiritual life. The third person said to El-Shah that he came there as, El-Shah understood him, and all he asks is that he would allow him to hear his discourses, for the good of his soul. El-Shah said that this person needed attention and the man wished to have notice paid to him, no matter even if it was in the form of criticism. El-Shah added that the person called this as the "good of his soul". Then, the fourth man said that he went there after going from one to another and practicing what they had taught. The person added that he did not truly felt the illumination of contact with El-Shah, until he gave him a wazifa (exercise). Hearing this, El-Shah said that the exercise that he gave to the man was a concocted one, and it was not related to his "spiritual" life at all. El-Shah added that he had to demonstrate the man's illusion of spirituality before he could arrive at the part of this man that is really spiritual, not sentimental. Why I Did That: This is another story related to El-Shah Bahaudin Naqshband's life. One day, when Bahaudin was sitting in his room, a man came to him and sought his help for solving his problems and also guidance on the path of the teaching. Hearing this, Bahaudin suggested him to give up spiritual studies, and also told him to leave his court at once. The man was shocked to hear those suggestions of Bahaudin and started to remonstrate with Bahaudin. At this, Bahaudin told the man that he should have a demonstration. Right at the moment, when Bahaudin was saying this, a bird flew into the room and it was darting hither and thither, not knowing where to go for escaping from the room. Bahaudin did not do anything to the bird and waited until it settled near the only open window of the chamber. Then suddenly Bahaudin clapped his hands and being alarmed with the sound, the bird flew straight through the opening of the window, to freedom. Once the bird went out, Bahaudin asked the man if he agreed with him that the sound must have been something shocking to the bird, even an insult. Indirect Teaching: One day, El-Shah Bahaudin Naqshband was sitting with his disciples in his chamber and a man came to him, with the intention to attend the assembly. The man sat in his assembly for some days and after that, the chief disciple of Bahaudin signalled him to approach the Sheikh and talk to him. The man told Bahaudin that he had come from Sheikh Ridwan and he hoped that Bahaudin would give him something. Bahaudin then asked the man from whom had he come and in reply, the man said the same thing that he had come from Sheikh Ridwan. Then, Bahaudin again asked the man to repeat what he had said and the man once again told the same thing. Bahaudin continued asking the same question again and again for more than an hour, until the man became convinced that Bahaudin Naqshband was deaf and also probably stupid. After more than an hour, Bahaudin told the man that he could not hear even a single word what he said. Hearing this, the man got up and started walking, while saying that may God forgive Bahaudin. To this, Bahaudin immediately answered and said that may God forgive the man and also Sheikh Ridwan. The Air of Qasr-El-Arifin: This story has been taken from the life of El-Shah Bahaudin Naqshband. One day, the King of Bokhara sent one of his representatives to Bahaudin asking him to advice the King on a certain matter. The King wrote in the message that an ambassador was coming to Bokhara very soon and the King wanted Bahaudin to be with him, for consultations. The King also requested Bahaudin to go to him as soon as he gets the message. However, Bahaudin refused the King's offer and said that he could not go, as he was dependent upon the air of Qasr-El-Arifin, at that moment. He also told that he had no intention of bringing the air with him, in storage jars. The King first got puzzled with Bahaudin's reply and soon he got annoyed. The King decided to remonstrate with Bahaudin for his lack of civility, in spite of his great importance as a sage. However, the visit of the ambassador was cancelled in the meantime and so the King did not have the requirement to deal with Bahaudin after that. After a few months, one day the King was sitting at court when an assassin jumped at him. Just at the same moment, Bahaudin Naqshband also had entered the throne-room and he soon jumped upon the man and disarmed him. To this, the King said Bahaudin in gratefulness that though Bahaudin did not have courtesy, he was indebted with Bahaudin, the Hadrat-El-Shah. Bahaudin replied to the King that the courtesy of those, who know is to be available when someone needs them. It is not to sit waiting for ambassadors, who are not going to arrive. Liability: This is a nice story told by the Sufi saints of the Naqshbandi Order and the story teach the lessons about liability. In this story, one night a thief went to a man's house with the intention of robbing and while trying to climb through the window of the house, fell because the window-frame broke. He hit the ground and also broke his leg in the accident. After the accident, the thief went to the court for suing the owner of the house and the house-owner said that the thief should sue the carpenter who put the window in. Hearing this, the carpenter said that it happened because the builder did not make the window-aperture properly. The builder told that he committed the fault, because a beautiful woman was passing by, while he was working at the window. Now, the court called the women and hearing the accusation, the woman said that she was wearing a beautiful gown at that time and that made her look gorgeous. Otherwise, nobody usually looks at her. She also said that it was actually the fault of the gown that was cunningly dyed in variegated stripes. The judge then said that the investigation was over and the man, who did the dyeing, was the original culprit. He also said that the man should be held responsible for the harm done to the leg of the thief. The most interesting part of the story is that, when the people found the dyer, he turned out to be the husband of the woman, who was the thief himself. Falsity: This story was depicted by one of the Sufi saints of the Naqshbandi Order and the story deals with the falsity of a man. One day, a man went to a Sufi master and told about a certain teacher, who was prescribing exercises to his followers in a false manner. The man said that the teacher was obviously a fraud, as he asks his disciples to "think of nothing". He added that it was easy enough to say that, because it impresses some people, though it was impossible to think of nothing. Hearing this, the Sufi master asked the man about why he came to meet him for this matter. The man replied that he wanted to point out the absurdity of this man and he also wanted to discuss mysticism with the Sufi master. The master then asked the man whether he came to gain support for his decision that the teacher was an impostor. In reply, the man said that gaining support was not his intention, as he already knew that the man was a fraud. The master again asked him whether he came to show the people sitting there that he knows more than the ordinary, gullible man. The man once again replied in the negative and said that he actually wanted to get his guidance. Hearing this, the Sufi master told that the intention was very good and added that the best guidance he could give the man was to "think of nothing". To this, the man immediately went out of the master's chamber, after being convinced that this master was also a fraud. However, a stranger was present there at that moment; however, he missed the beginning of the conversation. The stranger entered into the assembly just at the moment, when the Sufi master told the man that the best guidance he could give the man was to "think of nothing". The stranger was quite impressed with the speech and said himself that to think of nothing was a sublime conception. The stranger came back after the day's session was over and he heard nothing in the whole assembly that could contradict the idea of thinking of nothing. On the next day, one of the disciples of the master asked the Sufi saint about which of the men had been correct. The master replied that neither of the men was correct. He said that both the men had to learn that their greed is a veil, a barrier and their answer is not in one word, one visit or in one easy solution. The Sufi master also said that the pupil can absorb, little by little, that which gradually accumulates into an understanding of truth, only by continuous contact with a teaching. He also said that only the seeker become a finder, only through this way. |
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