Today, we bring to you a special story from the life of the mystic and the saint, Kabir Das.
Buddha was to give an extremely special talk one day. Thousands of people from miles around had come. When Buddha arrived, he was holding a flower. Time passed but Buddha said nothing. He just kept looking at the flower. The crowd was growing unrestless. Mahakashyapa could no longer restrain himself and laughed. Buddha called him and handed him the flower. What no one in the audience, including Mahakashyapa, understood was that with this flower, Buddha just handed him the key to all his teachings.
The key to the teachings of all the enlightened masters – Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, Mahavira – cannot be delivered via the medium of words. Nothing can be said about it. The more you talk about it, the more difficult it becomes to comprehend. It’s primarily because the master and you live in such different dimensions, the way you see things is so different that whatever the master says will not be understood to its fullest capacity. His words will feel alien and bizarre.
Let this be made more clear with the help of an example. Three slightly deaf women were walking down a windy road when one of them said, “Windy, isn’t it?” The second one responded, “Wednesday? No, it’s Thursday.” To which the third one said, “Thirsty? Yes, please hand me some water from that bottle of yours.”
This is exactly what happens when a master tries to communicate with a non-master. We have the physical ears to hear him but what we are missing are spiritual ears to actually comprehend his words. A master can only communicate with a master and that too without any words. They sit in each other’s presence and all that is to be said and heard is done in complete silence.
This brings us to the story of Mohammedan saint, Farid and Sufi Mystic, Kabir.
It is said that once Farid was passing by Varanasi where Kabir lived. Farid’s followers requested him to meet with Kabir for to witness them communicate would be a beautiful blessing for followers of both. The same thing happened with Kabir. Once his followers got to know that Farid was passing through Varanasi, they requested Kabir to invite him over.
Both of their disciples said, “It would be a great opportunity to hear you two enlightened masters talk.” In response both of them smiled.
When they finally met, they gently embraced and sat next to each other in complete silence. No words were exchanged. The disciples were growing restless but no word was spoken between the two.
On Farid’s last day in Varanasi, Kabir came to see him off. They embraced again, laughed and parted ways.
And that is the charm of a true enlightened master.
