At the conclusion of the previous post in this series, Hazrat Inayat Khan speaks of a profound change that one can experience, and he now illustrates it with the following story.

The following story will illustrate the manner of this change. 

A great king of Persia, named Jamshed, had a certain wrestler named Rustam. He was the greatest of all wrestlers in the kingdom, and he became so proud of his strength and power and bravery that the king thought he would humble him in some way. But he could not find anyone who could be trained so as to be capable of matching Rustam: he was the only one of his kind in the whole land. Then it happened that Rustam went to Arabia and during his absence a son was born to him, who was given the name of Kushtam. The child’s mother died soon after, and this was the opportunity the king sought. He took the child into his palace, and no one knew he was Rustam’s son. In the course of time the youth became a great fighter, so strong and powerful that no one in the land could match him. And then, after many years, Rustam returned. Jamshed did not tell the youth that Rustam was his father; he only said that a powerful wrestler had come from Arabia, and that he must fight him. 

Now it was the custom for every wrestler to wear a dagger with which to kill a vanquished opponent if he refused to surrender. Everybody went to see the wrestling match in the arena. The king felt sure that Kushtam, the son, would conquer his father, and indeed, with great energy and strength, the young man brought Rustam down. But Rustam, being so proud of his great power throughout his life, did not wish to surrender, so he must be killed. Kushtam unsheathed his dagger, whereupon Rustam said, ‘It does not matter, some day when my son grows up he will vanquish you.’ The youth asked, ‘Who is your son?’ Rustam then said, ‘But who are you?’ and then the secrets came out that this youth was his own son. There was no end to Kushtam’s sorrow. He made obeisance at his father’s feet, saying, ‘Father, I would rather be the one to be killed than be your conqueror.’ His father replied, ‘Do not let it grieve you, for now I am happy to know that at least I have not been vanquished by anyone but my own son, who is my own self.’

This was the cause of great tragedy to the son, and the same tragedy and the same attitude come into the life of everyman from the time that he begins to discover his heavenly Father on earth. He cannot subscribe to the command ‘love thine enemy’ unless he first recognizes in him his Father in heaven. He may recognize his own father in a friend, but when he recognizes him also in the enemy, then he can love him too. This is the lesson. We flee from God as Cain did, till we discover that He is actually here. Just think what a change there would be in the attitude of a man if once he realized his heavenly Father, the only one to whom reverence is due, in his fellow men!

The life of a Sufi in the East is the life of a true disciple of Christ. People may recognize the teachings of Christ in scripture, in a church, or in a chapel, yet to the Sufi none of this is Christ. The only true disciple of Christ is the one who sees God as Father, as Mother, in all his Fellow men. Thus in India, Arabia, and Persia they call a faqir, a sage, a dervish, Bawa or Baba, that is ‘father’, and a lady ‘mother’, seeing both aspects of God in all things. Certainly, there are degrees; these are called Fana-fi-Shaikh, Fana-fi-Rasul, and Fana-fi-Allah; but they recognize their teacher in everyone. This is the first step. 

One day I was walking in a city and met a dervish with a wonderful personality. He was dressed in a patched robe, but his speech, his voice, his thought, his movement, his atmosphere, were all most winning. At that time I was very young in the pursuit of philosophy. Youth is a time when pride has full play. So as we were walking along, and he called me ‘Murshid’, I was very glad. He addressed me as Murshid every time he spoke to me! Presently we met another person, who seemed to be without any education, without any knowledge of philosophy or religion or anything out of the way, but he called him ‘Murshid’ too. My pride was hurt, especially when next he came across a policeman whom he also called ‘Murshid.’ So then I asked my teacher what could be the meaning of all this, and he said, ‘Your dervish showed you the first step towards recognizing God: to recognize all beings as your teacher. A foolish person can teach you, a wise person, a learned person, a student, a pious or wicked person, even a little child; everyone can teach you something. Therefore have this attitude towards everybody, then it may be said that you recognize God.’

There is a Hindu saying, ‘When the chela is ready, the guru appears’, which means that when you are ready to discern it, you will find your teacher beside you. 

We can even learn love from doves and faithfulness from dogs. 

To be continued…