In search of a guide
I will tell you one Sufi story: A
man is going in search of truth. As he comes out of his city, he finds an old
man sitting under a tree. The young man does not know where to go in search of
truth. He has heard that one has to go somewhere in search of truth, one has to
go on a pilgrimage — but where? Roads go to all sides. Which road is the road?
Seeing the old man sitting under the
tree, he thought: perhaps this man is old enough; he must know which road leads
to truth. And he asked the man. He said, “Yes I know the road. Follow the right
and go on until you come to a certain tree” — he described the tree in detail,
its leaves, its fruit — “and you will find under it a very old man… just to
give you an example, something like me but thirty years older. This is the man
who is going to be your guide.”
The man was very happy. He thanked
the old man and rushed towards the way he had shown him. For thirty years he
was wandering and wandering, and the tree never came and the old man never
came. He was getting tired, and he himself was getting old, and he said, “What
nonsense!”
Finally he decided, “It is better to
go back home… enough is enough! Thirty years I have wasted in searching truth,
and I have not even met the old man who is going to be my guide. And God knows,
when the guide meets me, what kind of guidance it will be and how long it will
take. It seems to be too complicated; it is better to go home. I was running a
good business. I destroyed the business and unnecessarily got into trouble
hearing this word `truth’ again and again.”
He came back. Again he passed the
tree — and he was shocked! This was the tree the old man had described. And he
looked under the tree and the old man was there — the same old man, thirty
years older and exactly the same as the description in every way. He said, “My
God! Then why did you waste my thirty years?”
He said, “I wasted your thirty years
— or you wasted my thirty years? At that time you were not ripe enough to be
guided, because I gave all the guidance and you didn’t even look at the tree —
and I was describing it in minute detail. I was describing your guide in minute
detail, and you did not look at me, to see that I am describing myself. You
were in such a hurry; you were too young. But nothing is wasted. I was,
waiting, knowing that one day you will come back, one day you will recognize
this tree, one day you will recognize this old man, that I am your guide!”
The young man said, “This seems to
be a strange business.”
The story is immensely significant.
You have a little trust. Don’t be worried, go to the right… This time not under
a tree, this time on a beautiful chair, you will find an old man — someone
looking similar to me.
Osho – “Beyond Psychology”
