An old fakir was a true namaazi. He offered daily namaaz five times at a particular mosque. His discipline and regularity in offering namaaz was so popular that no one else would occupy his place. If by chance he was late, then people would leave that space and wait for him as they knew that since past over twenty five years or so this fakir had never missed his daily namaaz. In fact, the place where he would sit to offer namaaz had developed the deep marks of his head, his elbow, his knees on the floor.
It was the last namaaz of the twenty fifth year and as the fakir offered his prayers, there was a lightening in the mosque, a thunder and a loud divine voice was heard by all.
“Aye Fakir, for the last twenty five years that you have been offering your namaaz — KNOW THAT ALLAH HAS DISAPPROVED ALL YOUR PRAYERS.”
Everyone in that mosque was shocked, sad, disappointed….Twenty five years worth of namaaz….all those prayers…..and Allah disapproves…Ohh what a misfortune ?!!
To their utter surprise, this old fakir, this mad fella started jumping, kissing the floor, hugging the fellow namaazies…in utter joy, tears of gratefulness started rolling down his face.
People felt that this old man had gone insane, though anybody in his place would. The entire effort, his lifetime’s hard work was ruthlessly disapproved by Allah….his fellow namaazies’ started consoling him, comforting him.
But the fakir laughed and said, “my dear friends, today I am overjoyed. I am so thankful to my almighty.” and he said, “ I don’t care whether my offerings were accepted or not, and approved by him, I am happy that at least HE KNOWS. He knew that I have been offering namaaz for last twenty five years, and that is enough for me. I am happy for that.”
उसे मंज़ूर हो या ना हो, ख़बर तो है, ख़बर तो है की मैं पच्चीस साल से यहाँ नमाज़ पढ़ रहा हूँ , मेरे लिए यही काफी है।”
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Kabir says don’t seek God somewhere else; he is just beside you. Don’t look for him far away. That will be the way — sure way — to miss him. He is very close by. In fact to say he is close is not right, because ”closeness” also shows distance. He is just within you — he is YOU! You have never departed from him, you cannot depart from him; he is your nature. Right this moment he is inside you.
Once you relax you will know. Tense, you become an ego; relaxed, the ego disappears. Tense, you become cut off; relaxed again, you are no longer frozen — melting, you dissolve into the ocean. Right now, these are the two possibilities: either you can be an iceberg, frozen, floating in the ocean,
feeling that you are separate; or you can melt and become one with the ocean. That’s all. When you think you ARE, you become frozen, blocked, your energy stops moving — you demark yourself, you create a definition for yourself. That very definition becomes your barrier.
God has already happened. You are carrying him from the very beginning; you have never lost track of him. You may have forgotten, you may have become completely oblivious, you may not be able to remember who you are, but still you are God.
Osho: Ecstasy — The Forgotten Language : Chapter 1: Now or never (excerpts)
दिल है कदमों में तेरे, सर झुका हो या ना हो,
बंदगी तो अपनी फ़ितरत है, ख़ुदा हो या ना हो।
Dil hai kadamo me tere, sar jhuka ho ya na ho,
bandagi to apani fitrat hai, Khuda ho ya na ho.
My heart is at your feet, my head may not be there,
devotion is my trait, whether God is there or not there.