Sufism, Vol. 1 The Perfect Master Chapter 2: There is Communion, Question 2

The second question:

Question 2

EVERY TIME I SIT DOWN TO WRITE YOU A QUESTION, THE ANSWER ALWAYS COMES BEFORE I AM FINISHED WRITING. YET THIS DESIRE TO WRITE TO YOU AND BE ANSWERED REMAINS. WHAT IS THIS DESIRE? P.S. I KNOW THE ANSWER.

ANAHATA, NO ANSWER IS GOING TO HELP -- that s why the desire remains. A question arises, and if you silently wait it is bound to happen that the answer will arise. In fact, the answer is there, that's why the question has arisen. The answer is there before the question has arisen in you.

The answer is hiding in the question itself. If you go deeply into the question you will find the answer. The question is nothing but a hard shell around the answer. You will always find the answer if you wait long enough. And if you wait silently. But still, no answer is going to help -- that's why the desire to ask remains.

One has to go beyond questions AND beyond answers -- because coach answer will create new questions in its own turn. So if one question is answered, the answer will create ten questions in its turn... and so on and so forth. And you can go on and on. And you can go on chasing and chasing, and you will never arrive.

When all questions disappear -- and not only questions but all answers too -- then the desire to ask will disappear. Never before it.

I am reminded by your postscript of a very famous Sufi story:

A Sufi mystic was going to Mecca on HAJ -- for his pilgrimage. He came into a town, a small town, and even before he reached the town the message had reached that a great mystic was coming into the town, so the whole town gathered. The mystic was a very silent one, and the townspeople asked him, implored him to deliver a discourse to them. "We have been waiting for months, and now that you have come we can't let you go unless we have heard something from you."

The Master was reluctant. He said, "But I have nothing to say." But they wouldn't listen. They persisted. The Master said, "And that which I know cannot be said!" But they wouldn't listen. The more reluctant the Master was, the more interested they became, naturally.

And they said, "We will sit here, we will fast and we will not eat till you give us a message -- because rarely has such an enlightened person passed through this village. We cam lot allow you to go."

So the Master agreed. They went to the mosque. The whole town gathered, with great expectation about what the Master was going to say. And they knew it perfectly well, that never before had he spoken in any other village. He had been traveling, coming from a thousand miles, and everybody had been asking him, but he kept silent. They were very happy -- it was a privilege! that the Master had agreed to speak to them.

The Master came. He faced the audience and asked one question: "Do you know what I am going to say to you?"

They all said, "Of course, how can we know? We don 't know . " They all said, "We don't know what you are going to say."

The Master said, "Then I cannot speak to such ignorant people who don't even know what I am going to speak about!"

The people were very much puzzled and the Master went away. Their desire became more aflame. They thought their answer was not right. "Yes, the Master is right: how can he speak to such ignorant people?" They rushed, brought the Master back and they said, "You ask again. Our answer was wrong, but you come -- give us one more chance."

The Master came and he said, "Do you know what I am going to speak about?"

They said, "Yes!We all know what you are going to speak about."

And the Master said, "Then finished! If you already know, then what is the need for me to tell you? Such an enlightened town!"

Now the people were even more puzzled. And the Master left them again. They talked around amongst themselves; the whole town was agog with only one thing: "What to do? And tomorrow morning he is going to leave! Some way has to be found."

They talked and they discussed and they found a way and they went in the middle of the night and they woke up the Master and they said, "We have come -- our answer was wrong, we are sorry. You ask again!"

The Master went back to the mosque and again he asked, "Do you know what I am going to say to you?" And half of the people said, "Yes," and half of the people said, "No." That was the only way. Now how can he escape?

And the Master said, "Ha, ha, ha! So those who know should tell those who don't know. How am I needed? Just tell the people, talk between yourselves. I am absolutely unnecessary.

In fact, if you go deep into your own questions you need not ask anybody. All asking is unnecessary, because whatsoever answer I give to you is really there inside you. I only make it apparent. I help it to surface in you. I have no ready-made answer for you. I have no catechism. It is not that my answer is fixed for ever.

You ask the question. I look into your question.

I try to do what you should have done yourself, and then find the answer there, and I make it clear to you. The work of a Master is to make your OWN answers clear to you. He brings rarity, he does not give you any answers. A Master is not a scholar, he is not a professor. He does not give you answers. He simply brings clarity, vision, capacity to see.

So if you are here... as Anahata IS here, and he has been listening to me, and the clarity is growing, and the transparency is growing. So whenever a question arises in him, suddenly the answer is there. This is beautiful. This is how it should be -- to everybody. Then I will be spared the trouble.

But remember: it is not a question of questions being answered. Something more is needed. Only that 'something more' will be the manna that will satisfy you, fulfill you, quench your thirst. That transmission -- that transmission of energy from a Master to the disciple, like the flame jumping from the lit candle to the unlit candle. It is not a question of answer or question. It is not verbal, it is not intellectual. It is existential.

It is needed that a flame jumps from me to you, so you also become aflame, afire, so that your inner being is no more in darkness. In darkness all kinds of questions arise. If you become a little more intelligent, clear, alert, aware, you will find the answers.

But each answer will bring many more questions. It is an infinite process, AD NAUSEA. You can go on and on.... That is not going to transform you. That's why, Anahata, the desire to ask still remains.

Sufism

VOL. 1, SUFIS: THE PERFECT MASTER

Chapter-2

There is Communion