There was an old man, a woodcutter. He was very old, yet he still had to go to the forest to cut wood and bring it back. He could only manage one meal a day, and that too in his old age. Whenever the woodcutter went to the forest, he would always find a Sufi mystic sitting under the same tree. He would touch his feet every day, and the mystic would laugh.
Finally, one day, he could no longer contain his curiosity. He said, "I touch your feet twice a day, when going to the forest and when returning. And it's strange that you always laugh. Why? I'm a poor man, illiterate, but I can understand that I'm showing you respect, and you're laughing. This doesn't seem appropriate."
The fakir said, "I laugh because you're foolish. Just beyond where you chop wood, there's a copper mine. And with the same amount of hard work you put in for just one meal a day, you could mine enough copper to eat two meals a day for seven days. You could rest for six days, and work for one day. I laughed because it's strange that man comes this way all his life, but never ventures a little further. He's always confined to the same trees. And beyond those same trees..."
The next day, the man went a little further and was astonished. He was very happy. He returned, touched the guru's feet, and said, "I'm sorry I didn't understand your laughter."
Now he started coming only once a week. But the guru started laughing again. He asked, "What's the matter now? Why are you laughing again?" The Guru said, "You seem very clingy. A little further on from that mine is a silver mine. Can't you imagine? Can't you see that there is so much more ahead?" He said, "I never thought about it. But you are strange too. If you know, why didn't you tell me earlier?" The Guru said, "Some things a person must discover for himself; that develops the intellect. I had to tell you because my time is running out. I can't wait any longer for you to discover them yourself. Go a little further today and find the silver mine."
He found a silver mine. Now he only had to come once a month. But he was stuck there. The guru said, "I've never seen a man like this. Don't you know there's gold?" He asked, "Where?" "A little further. And it seems you won't move unless you're forced," the guru said.
That day he went a little further and found a huge gold mine. He said, "Oh my God! In my entire life, I could carry so much gold that I could almost become a king! And that fakir is so strange! He knows everything and never says anything." But that day he thought, "Now I should try it myself. Maybe there's more."
And indeed, there was a diamond mine. He said, "Oh my God! So many diamonds! And that fakir knows everything? And thinks I'm a fool! Now I think he's the one who's the fool. He knows everything and sits under a tree, doing nothing, begging for food from people. And he thinks I'm a fool!"
He returned. He boldly displayed the diamonds, and the fakir laughed. He said, "Good. But don't get stuck here." He asked, "But what could be beyond this?" The fakir said, "Beyond this? I am here; otherwise, why am I sitting here? I have something more valuable than diamonds. When you get tired of your diamonds, come and sit with me. I am in my last days, and I want to give you something more valuable than diamonds. But you had to go through all these steps; otherwise, you wouldn't have understood that this poor beggar, dependent on others for food, could have something more valuable than a diamond mine within him."
The woodcutter dropped the diamonds there and said, "I am finished. If that is the case, I will not leave you."
The fakir said, "You can sit here. There is plenty of space under this tree. It is beautiful and dense. My people bring enough food for both of us."
The woodcutter was ignorant, neither a thinker, nor a philosopher, nor religious. He never thought much, never dreamed. If he were taken to a psychoanalyst, the psychoanalyst would refuse because he wouldn't cooperate. If he were asked, "Tell me about your dreams," he would say, "I don't have any." And then the psychoanalyst would be unable to do anything. Without dreams, he couldn't help anyone.
He sat down beside the saint. As the night deepened, peace spread all around. He too became calm, and suddenly he began to feel the vibrations of that mysterious man. He couldn't see anything, but his heart was dancing. He couldn't speak, but his whole being was in joy for the first time. He had never known anything but sorrow, poverty, and suffering.
Before morning came, he didn't even get a chance to say thank you when the saint passed away. But he had left behind another saint. When the old saint's followers arrived, they couldn't believe it. The old saint was gone, but a new man sat beside him, exuding the same aura.
Those followers had tasted the old saint's joy and peace. So they brought him food from a distant city. Just sitting with him for a few moments was enough. That alone gave them the energy to celebrate life twenty-four hours a day. They couldn't believe the saint had played such a trick on them. He left, but left a representative.
They offered the food to the woodcutter, and the woodcutter became a saint. No one announced his successor, nothing was said, but he proved himself to be a far greater saint, because he was ignorant, and suddenly the silence transformed his ignorance into innocence.
Read more : - Wisdom Wins
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