The Jewel is always here. It is the key to life. The answer. I am thankful for that Jewel. I am thankful that I know there is a Jewel. I am thankful for Baba, who embodied the Jewel. I am thankful I could see the Jewel in Baba—in everything he did, said, and didn’t do or say. I am thankful for everyone who recognizes the Jewel, who longs for the Jewel, who knows that somehow we will all long for and find and merge with that Jewel.
Baba used to tell the story of the great Guru Nizamuddin and his great disciple Amir Khusro. When we hear it we tend to pay little attention to the third man in the story, the man that went to Nizamuddin for help in getting a dowry for his daughter. Nizamuddin said to him, “I have nothing but what people bring to me. Stay here, and whatever people bring you can have.” Now this poor man could not see what Nizamuddin did have: the prize beyond all worldly objects. As the story goes, the two men sat for three days and no one came. No one brought anything. For three days this poor man sat with a great being and got nothing. Finally, he said that it was better at home because there at least he could get food.
How sad to have missed the opportunity. But this man did not have the eyes to see. He did not have the subtlety of intellect to actually fathom what he was in the presence of. As the man departed, Nizamuddin felt for him and gave him his only possession, a pair of sandals. The man left completely unaware of the treasure that had been given to him. The sandals of a Great Being hold and transmit that Great Being’s energy.
Because Great Beings intuit the whole of any lila, Nizamuddin knew that Amir Khusro was on his way to him. The poor starving man and Khusro then met on the road. The man asked for some water. While obliging the man’s request, Amir Khusro noticed the sandals and felt the energy in them.
“Where did you get these?” he asked.
The man replied, “Nizamuddin. I stayed with him for three days hoping he could help me afford my daughter’s dowry, and no one came, so his sandals were all he had to give me.”
“I have eight camels laden with treasure,” said Amir Khusro. “I will give you seven of them, taking only the one that holds my food and water.”
The man was delighted, and left with the camels. Amir Khusro sat down under a tree and placed the sandals on his head. Immediately, he went into samādhi for a very long time. When he opened his eyes, he continued his journey to Nizamuddin’s retreat. When Amir Khusro arrived, Nizamuddin looked at his own sandals in his visitor’s hand and asked, “How much?”
Amir Khusro answered, “Seven camels laden with all my worldly wealth.”
All Nizamuddin said was, “You got them cheap.”
Amir Khusro remained a faithful disciple of Nizamuddin for the rest of his life, and both are revered as Great Beings.
Too many of us, I fear, are the man who sat for three days without seeing anything. I am thankful that I saw the Jewel within Baba and continue to cherish it. My wish for all of us is that we know there is a Jewel to long for, and that a Great Being like Muktananda reveals it to us.
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