Nasrudin’s turban
Nasrudin appeared at court wearing a magnificent turban and asking for money for charity.
‘You come here asking for money, yet you are wearing an extremely expensive turban on your head. How much did that extraordinary thing cost?’ asked the sultan.
‘Five hundred gold coins,’ replied the wise Sufi.
The minister muttered: ‘That’s impossible. No turban could cost such a fortune.’
Nasrudin insisted:
‘I did not come here only to beg, I also came to do business. I paid all that money for the turban because I knew that, in all the world, only a sultan would be capable of buying it for six hundred gold coins, so that I could give the surplus to the poor.’
The sultan was flattered and paid what Nasrudin asked. On the way out, the wise man said to the minister:
‘You may know the value of a turban, but I know how far a man’s vanity can take him.’
Just like marriage
Nadia spent the whole autumn sowing and preparing his garden. In the spring, the flowers opened, and Nadia noticed a few dandelions that he had not planted.
Nadia pulled them up. But the seeds had already spread, and others grew. He tried to find a poison that would kill only dandelions. An expert told him that any poison would end up killing all the other flowers too. In despair, Nadia sought help from a gardener.
‘It’s just like marriage,’ said the gardener. ‘Along with the good things, there are always a few inconveniences.’
‘What should I do, then?
‘Nothing. They may not be the flowers you intended to have, but they are still part of the garden.’
Accepting compassion
‘How can we purify the world?’ asked a disciple.
Ibn al-Husayn replied:
‘There was once a sheik in Damascus called Abu Musa al-Qumasi. Everyone respected him because of his wisdom, but no one knew for certain that he was a good man.
One evening, the house where the sheik and his wife lived collapsed, apparently because of some fault in the construction. The neighbours began desperately digging amongst the rubble. At one point, they managed to find the sheik’s wife.
She said: “Don’t bother about me. Save my husband first, he was sitting more or less over there.”
The neighbours shifted the rubble in the place she had indicated and found the sheik. He said: “Don’t worry about me. Save my wife first, she was lying more or less over there.”
When people act as that couple did, they are purifying the whole world.
Can someone define VANITYfor me please? Not so much the dictionary definition, all formal with little experiential understanding,but something with a juicy definition, a Felt one -with an example or 2.
As a child, it meant being -over-concrened’ with what you look like; recently, it seems equated with egoism and what-people-think-of-you..(?).
Do I have a block with it cos I don;t see my own clealry enough.mmm
But help, please….
thanks… (I say, anticipating:)
Julian
tara, i also love the story you shared! =)
Tom,
I guess we both share the same understanding of the story we just focused on different aspects of it. And yes vanity is a weakness, but I think this was a rhetorical question; right?:)
Jack,
Thank you! For sharing that little bit of history. It is really interesting, and it just reaffirms the meaning of the story. It’s all about perspective!
Maria,
I completelely agree with you, but is vanity not a weakness ???
yes he is wise because he understands human nature, the mind, it may be our nature to have a certain amount of vanity within, but this is definately a weakness within us all, is it not ???
Maria,
Years ago when I worked in the turf grass industry, I was told that the dandelion was not native to North America (it comes from Europe and Asia), but was sent here by Queen Elizabeth I of England. It was meant to be a present to brighten the days of the colonists, as a green for salads, an ingredient in medicines, and to make wine. Only later when Americans decided to grow turf grass lawns did dandelions become weeds. They were once tall plants, but adapted to being mown and now grow low to the ground in most places.
As you observe, it is funny how our perspective determines what we make of our lives. Similarily, our view of things changes them too.
Accepting things as they are and adapting to them rather than bending them to our will, or mind set, is probably the most difficult thing we do in this life.
The story about Dandelions speaks beautifully about acceptance, how different qualities often come intricately mingled in one other, and how it is wise and noble to accept the differences without being overtly critical or selective…
The story about the garden tells me a lot about how at times we personally try to manipulate or undo the very things we fell for initially. Then we look back with sorrow at the disagreeable change we ourselves sought. I seem to behave as that man quite often, the story showed me a mirror, gladly so…
The message in the third story is nice and simple “Actions speak louder than words” It’s what you do that defines you, what you are is a more elusive concept, you can be many different things to many different people and for the most part we often spend our lives trying to define ourselves. Who am I? That’s the question that drives our life. We could just accept we are, and let this precise moment of our existence define us, and so every time we act, we redefine ourselves by our actions.
The story about the garden to me also speaks of people’s perception. This story reminds me of something from my own life’s experience. I have been living in the US for 27 years, but I was born in Cuba. I remember when I was little we went to this tourist place “El Valle de Vinales” and there was a beautiful meadow full of small yellow flowers next to a small convent like place called “La Ermita”, I found it so beautiful, I was about 8 years old and I still remember it. I never knew the name of these small yellow flowers. When I came to this country I saw the same yellow flowers in some parks and gardens and I learned they are called dandelions, and that they were not really flowers, but weed and therefore undesirable. Who knew?! In a marriage and I have been married for 25 years, and yes to same man, sometimes you get roses and sometimes you get dandelions, but the roses may turn out to be more harmful, (after all they do have thorns) than the dandelions, the secret is to appreciate both, and if the dandelions need to be weeded out do it, together, but sometimes you can just let them be and appreciate them for what they bring and not for what they are.
Tom
I disagree with your assessment of the situation in the story been an example of how people exploit other’s weaknesses. Nasrudin was a wise man. He had observed and learned about the nature of people. We are not just talking about people in power, but just people. We all possess vanity to a certain degree; it’s the vanity that feeds our ego. The Sultan had a choice. Nasrudin took a gamble based on his knowledge of people’s nature. He was not certain of the outcome but based on his experience about people he predicted the sultan’s reaction, took a gamble and won. Isn’t that what we all do? We access the situations of our lives based on our previous experiences and tried to manipulate the outcome to fit our purpose.
I’ve always wondered reading your books whether there was any Sufi influence going on in the background. After seeing this I am definitely going to sign up for your Warrior of the Light Newsletter.
We are waves whose stillness is non-being.
We are alive because of this, that we have no rest.
Abu-Talib Kalim
Rob
Paulo,
As usual, as a Christian, it’s so good to see you portray Muslims in a light other tham as mad bombers and terrorists. Just as all westerners (and non-Muslims) are not good people, so are not all Muslims; but too often in the West we see only the negative shown about the Muslim “world/faith.” It is good to see that there is beauty and goodness in all people and faiths as you regularly show.
Gods blessings on you for your contributions to the growth of knowledge, awareness, and the spirit of peace in this world.
Nadia had a wise gardener. But sometimes, although we may not know it, it is the weeds which make a garden beautiful… and it is the inconveniences that teach us about love.
There was a man who was walking in the countryside one day, when he came upon a wild, untended piece of land. It enchanted him! He thought he must have discovered a secret garden. It did not have any feature which was particularly remarkable, but for some reason he found it enticingly beautiful and decided to make his home there. So for some years the man lived in his garden and gradually he made many changes to make it even more attractive. He pulled up the weeds and planted expensive flowers; he cut back the branches that strayed out of place and tied things with canes to make them grow straight; he kept the grass cut short and laid a path of stones so that it would be easy for him to walk through his land. Then one morning he woke up and looked at his garden and found himself feeling very confused. “Why have I spent so many years tending this garden?” He asked himself, “All the time and the money I have spent to make it look it look beautiful! But what has the garden ever given me but thorns in my skin and mud beneath my finger nails, a bad back and stiff knees. And it is such an ordinary garden, there is nothing very special about it at all!” With this the man broke down and wept for he felt old and tired and angry and believed all his energy to have been wasted.
The trees, which had been watching things all along, whispered among themselves “this man has forgotten the land he fell in love with, and he has forgotten himself! God created perfection and this man though himself to be better than god! Now he is learning a lesson!
I love these three stories !!!
Especially the first one, its a way of using the evils of the world to do good. Is that morally right though ??? should you exploit others weaknesses to help others. I know he was rich and they were poor, there just seems to be one small hole in his plan, what if the minister tells the sultan !! That wise man would not be so wise without his head…