Real Wealth

Real Wealth

This is a Sufi Story. There was a Fakir who would sit under a tree and meditate. Every day, he used to watch a woodcutter come there, cut some wood and take it with him. One day he said to him, "Brother, you cut and collect wood all day long, and still it's not enough to earn two meals a day. Why don't you go a little further... There is a sandalwood forest ahead. If you cut wood one day, it will earn you enough for seven days."

The poor woodcutter could not believe it because he thought no one else knew the forest as well as he did. He had spent his whole life chopping wood in the forest. Whereas this mystic kept sitting under the tree, what did he know? At first, he wasn't willing to accept, but then he came to the conclusion that what's the harm in checking? Who knows, he might be right! Then again, why would he even lie? He seemed like a calm and quiet man, happy in his own world. He had never even said anything before. So he decided to go and check for himself. 

So he went ahead. When he returned, he bowed down and fell at the feet of the fakir saying, "Please forgive me! I had a huge doubt in my mind, as I thought who could know this forest better than me. But I did know how to recognize sandalwood. My father was also a woodcutter; his father was also a wood cutter. But we just kept cutting this firewood, we did not even know about sandalwood, what exactly sandalwood is? Even if we got sandalwood, we would have cut it and sold it in the market just like any other log of wood. You revealed its identity to me, its smell, how to recognise it. How unfortunate am I! I wish I had known earlier." The fakir said, "Don't worry, now you have found out."

The woodcutter then began to spend his days with great pleasure. He would come to the forest and cut wood one day, and then he did not need to come for seven-eight, or even ten days. One day, the mystic said to him, "My brother, I used to think you would get some sense. You kept chopping wood here all your life, you never went further ahead. And even now, you never wonder that there could be something more valuable beyond this sandalwood..?"

The woodcutter said, "I didn't even think about it. Is there anything beyond sandalwood?"

He said, "Go ahead from sandalwood, there is a silver mine there. Leave this wood cutting. If you bring this silver once, it will last for two to four months."

Now he trusted the fakir. So he ran at once. No doubts arose in his mind. And he got hold of silver! Life was luxurious now. Now he wouldn't be seen for four to six months. He would come for one day, and then would disappear again. But man's mind is so foolish that even then he didn't realise that there could be something else beyond this.

Again one day the mystic said to him, "Will you ever wake up or not? Or will I have to awaken you again? There is a gold mine ahead, fool! Do you not have any questions, curiosity, anything from your side that I should look further? Now for six months, you are lying quiet, there is no work at home, you are at leisure. And you never thought let's look ahead in the forest..?"

The woodcutter said, "I am too slow, I did not even think about it! I believed silver was the last thing, what could be there beyond this! Being poor, I've never seen gold, only heard about it." The fakir replied, "There is a gold mine further on." And thus the story goes on. And then, there is a diamond mine further. This story went on for many years. And one day the mystic remarked, "you are so ignorant, now you have stopped on diamonds?" Now that woodcutter had also become wealthy, he had palaces of his own. He said arrogantly, "Leave it now, don't bother me. Now what can be there after diamonds?"

The mystic said, "Beyond diamonds, _I am_ there. Did you never wonder, that this man is sitting here, he knows of the diamond mine, and is still not piling up diamonds.. he must have found something more precious.. he must have gone beyond diamonds.. this question never arose in your mind?"

The man started crying. He slammed his head at the mystic's feet and said, "How stupid am I! I never had this question! It's only when you say, that I think further. For in my lifetime, I could not imagine that you have more riches than diamonds. Please show me the way to get the real wealth that you have!"

The mystic said, "That wealth is meditation. Now you have a lot of money, now you do not need any more money. Now dig into your inner mine, which is above all."

*This question is for all of us too - we must go forward and keep moving forward... until all the experiences have quietened. As long as even the experience of God continues, it implies duality still exists - the seer and the scene are present. When even that experience is gone, then the state of _samadhi_ is attained. Then there is no scene, no seer, nothing at all remains. There is a silence, and in that void, the lamp of understanding burns. That is the ultimate state, that is _samadhi_.*

*In meditation, we first reach the state of self-satisfaction, then by coming in close contact with the soul, we get the first real experience of peace.