A Wonderful Friend...

What if? ... What if you became best-friends with someone who is always a delight to be with; one who suffers from none of your own problems or limitations; one who brings loving-kindness and calm to every situation; one who understands every situation and flawlessly responds to the needs of the moment?

Would you keep the presence of such a marvelous friend to yourself, or would you introduce your wondrous friend to everyone whom you meet?

Can you imagine the joy of introducing your wonderful friend to all of your other friends? Can you imagine the joy of introducing such an impeccable friend to the people you work with? and to the clerk at the store? and to someone who is having a bad day?

Oh what a joy it would be to see how this adorable friend would amaze your companions, bringing light and peace to every situation, bringing calm to the tormented, and providing answers to the puzzled!

The good news is, as the mystical poet Kabir said, "There is a Secret One inside us"... that wondrous friend is already within each of us, waiting to be embraced, waiting to be shown to the world, waiting for the opportunity to shine into the lives of each and every person that we meet.

The bad news (for the ego) is that we have been given only one heart, and that one heart can either radiate the troubled nature of one's own ego, or it can radiate the glorious essence of our Wonderful Friend.

Thus, we must deliberately choose which essence we shall offer to those whom we meet... will it be the essence of our own self-centered ego, or will it be the essence of our Wonderful Friend? It can only be one or the other.

Which will it be? Which will you offer to those whom you encounter?

The whole aim of the Sufi is, by thought of God, to cover his imperfect self even from his own eyes, and that moment when God is before him and not his own self, is the moment of perfect bliss to him. ... there is only one virtue and one sin for a soul on the path: virtue when he is conscious of God and sin when he is not.

                   from  The Sufi Message, Volume VIII, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Go sweep out the chamber of your heart. 
Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Beloved. 
When you depart, He will enter. 
In you, void of yourself, will He display His beauties.

                               from Rose Garden of Mystery, by Mahmud Shabistari
 

Love came and emptied me of self,
every pore and vein made into a container to be filled by the Beloved.
Of me, only a name remains,
the rest is You my Friend, my Beloved.

            from Nobody, Son of Nobody by Abu Saeed Abil Kheir

Who will you show to the world? Will it be your own self-centered ego or your Beloved Friend?

Oh dear seeker, in the peaceful, calm depths of your own heart there is a wondrous Friend waiting to greet the world....

Wishing you love, harmony and beauty,
     wahiduddin

posted May 09, 2006