A miserable man.

There is a Sufi story….

A man was very miserable, and he was a mystic, just praying the whole day. Finally, he said to God, ” I have never asked you anything. I thought you yourself must understand, but it seems you are not looking at me. I have to make it clear to you, that it seems I am the most miserable man in the whole world, but I don’t want you to take all my misery. All I want is to please let me change my misery with anybody else – I am ready. Can’t you even do that?”

That night he slept, and had a dream that God called the whole town and told everybody to collect all their miseries into a bag and carry it to the mosque.

The mystic was surprised. He thought, ” Perhaps he has heard my prayer.”

He immediately took all his miseries in his bag and rushed toward the mosque. And he was surprised, because the whole city was running towards the mosque, and all were carrying bags far bigger than he had. His bag was the smallest!

He said, ”My God. Now I am in trouble. I never knew that these people were hiding so many miseries. Their bags are touching the ground; they are just dragging them.” And he had just a small bag hanging over his arm. He said, ”This is going to be just absolutely foolish. These are my miseries, and now I have to change with any of these…!!!” And he looked around – everybody had a bigger bag. Naturally, that’s why they were lagging behind and others had reached the mosque.

Finally, when everybody reached the mosque, the voice of God said, ”Hang your bags around the mosque. I will put the light off, and then you can choose any one that you want. Everybody is free to choose– the misery of your own choice.”

And before the lights went out the mystic rushed to his own bag. But he was surprised that he was not the only one who was rushing towards his own bag, everybody was rushing towards their own bag.

He said, ”This is strange.”

He asked his neighbors, ”Why are you rushing? Why are you in such a hurry?”

They said, ”Whatever we have in our bags, at least we know. And we have lived with these miseries our whole life, so we are well acquainted. In fact, now we have lived so long that they don’t matter much. We have become accustomed…. Choosing somebody else’s bag, one does not know what is in it. At least one thing is certain, that you would have to begin to be acquainted with new miseries that nobody wants.”

Everybody, without exception, was holding their own bag, so that somebody would not come in the darkness and snatch it. But nobody was ready, everybody was with their own bag. So God said, ”It seems there is no need to put the light off – you can go home. You have chosen.”

And they were immensely happy. everybody was happy that he had got his own bag back. He thanked God, ”You are compassionate and merciful that you allowed me to keep my own troubles.”

There grows a kind of friendship with your own troubles. Somebody else’s headache… one does not know what kind of headache. People cling to their troubles. And by renouncing the world, nothing is gained– only a few more troubles.

I don’t want anybody to renounce the world. I want everybody to revolutionize the world by revolutionizing oneself.

And the only revolution is not to be attached to your mind. Whatever it says, just be a witness. Don’t get caught in its net. This is the simple art of being without any troubles. And a consciousness which is without any troubles knows the greatest joy that life has kept in the very center of your being. It starts overflowing you. Its fragrance is indescribable; its sweetness one can only experience but cannot explain.

ALL TROUBLES EXIST BECAUSE YOU ARE MINDFUL OF THEM; IF YOU ARE MINDLESS OF THEM, HOW CAN THEY HOLD YOU?

The mystic woke up smiling. He said, ”This has been a great dream and it has revealed a truth, that you see the other faces but you don’t know what they are carrying inside… what suffering, what anguish.”

So it happens, by the time of death, everybody wishes to be changed to the unknown part of himself that he has repressed. If he had known both he would have died not asking to be a man or a woman, but asking something more– something higher, something concerning consciousness, meditation.

He would have asked, ”In ignorance I have lived long; now give me light. Now let me live in light and consciousness.”

Osho: The Sword and the Lotus : CHAPTER 22. THE SWORD AND THE LOTUS Q 1 (Excerpts)
Osho: Turning in: CHAPTER 3. GO ON UNCONCERNED (Excerpts)

भीड़ तन्हाइयों का मेला है
आदमी आदमी अकेला है ……………….सबा अकबराबादी

bhiiḌ tanhā.iyoñ kā melā hai
aadmī aadmī akelā hai ………………….SABA AKBARABADI

Crowd is a carnival of loneliness.
every individual is alone.

Give me some sunshine, give me some rain…is an incredible track from the film “3 idiots” (2009) Singers: Suraj Jagan & Sharman Joshi Lyricist: Swanand Kirkire Music Composer: Shantanu Moitra …talks about getting another chance as we have lived our lives in misery and now hoping for a better life for few moments.

(257) Give Me Some Sunshine – 3 Idiots | Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman J | Suraj Jagan | Shantanu Moitra – YouTube