The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

A Sufi wisdom story from the book My Love You My Children by Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.

Precious children, my love you. My love you, my grandchildren, granddaughters and grandsons. I will tell you a story.

God created man in a beautiful way. Then God asked him, "What do you want?"
Man replied, "I want to live in peace. I want to worship You, O God. I want to serve You. Then I will have peace. This is what I want. Please give it to me!"
"All right," said God. "What do you need?"
"I need to be a king. Then I can worship You in peace."
"All right, you can be a king."
After some time God asked, "How are you now? Are you peaceful now?"
"No, I am not peaceful," man complained. "O God, I need to be rich. Then I can live in peace."
So God gave him all the riches of the world, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, O God, I am not."
"What do you want?"
"I want a beautiful woman to live with. Then I can have peace.''
So God gave him a woman who was as beautiful as the coolness of the moon. Then after some time God asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, O God, I am not. I want a beautiful palace that looks like heaven. Then I can be in peace."
"All right," said God, and He gave him a palace as beautiful as heaven. After some time God asked, "Are you peaceful? Are you peaceful now?"
"O God, if only You would give me a spacious flower garden, then I could live in peace. I need a flower garden that is like heaven."
So God gave him a gorgeous flower garden, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No I am not," complained the man. "There are bees and insects here that bite me and sting me, and the smell of this place has given me allergies and headaches. I do not have any peace."
"You are not peaceful now?"
"No, God. I want some nice cool breezes. If I have some cool, fragrant breezes, I can live in peace."
"All right," said God, and He gave man some fragrant, cooling breezes. After some time God asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"O God, I am not peaceful. Even though the breezes cool me, I am not peaceful."
"Well, what do you want?"
"O God, give me a few children. I can live in peace if I have children."
"All right, have some children," said God. After some time God asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"Then what do you want?"
"I want to be a world leader. Then I will have peace.
So God made him a world leader, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"O God, no. If only I could perform miracles, I might find some peace in that. I think that is what I need."
"Then perform miracles. You can perform four hundred trillion, ten thousand miracles. You can do anything you think of." After some time God asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, O God. Peace still has not come.
"Then what do you want?"
"If only I could be a gnani, a wise man, I could have peace. Then I could give peace to everyone.
So God made him a gnani, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, I am not."
"Then what do you want?"
"If I could travel on a ship to distant lands, if I could see all the countries in the world, I might find peace."
"All right," said God, and He gave man a ship. After some time, He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, I am not peaceful. I am alone here."
"Then what do you want?"
"If I could stay in prayer, I could attain peace."
"All right, then pray," said God, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"Actually, I am not peaceful. I sit here and pray, but I cannot concentrate. My mind goes everywhere. I am not peaceful."
"So what do you want? What kind of peace do you want?"
"Maybe if I could have five or six women to serve me and fold my prayer things and treat me respectfully and other things like that, then I would be peaceful."
"All right, you can have a dozen women." So God gave him twelve women, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, peace has not come yet."
"What would you like?"
"Maybe I could dress myself in precious gems. Perhaps the brilliance of the gems would dispel my darkness, and I could live in light and become peaceful."
So God gave him all the gems in the world, and after some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No. The light from the gems is so bright that it is hurting my eyes. I am not peaceful."
"Then what would you like?"
"If I did not have hunger, I could worship You."
"All right," said God, and He took away man's hunger. After some time He asked, "Are you peaceful now?"
"No, God. I am too skinny. I cannot see well, and I can hardly walk."
"Then what do you want? What do you want?"
"O God," man wailed. "I do not understand anything. You gave me so much, but I do not understand anything. I do not know why I am not peaceful. Please explain to me why I am not peaceful."
Then God explained, "Until My qualities come to you, you will never be peaceful. Until My wisdom comes to you, you will never be peaceful. Nothing else will give you peace.

My children, God has given man everything he asked for. He gave the world, He gave wealth, He gave every thing, but does man have any peace? No. Man has lived for such a long time, but has he reached peace? Has he reached peace through miracles? Has he reached peace through prayer? Is he peaceful if he does not get hungry? Have his possessions given him peace? Has he reached peace by ruling others? Has peace come through women? Why is man not peaceful? Why have all these things not made him peaceful?

Precious jeweled lights of my eyes, we will never reach peace through any of these things. God gives us everything we ask for, He gives us what we intend, He gives us whatever we want. But these things never give us peace, and we even start to find fault with God.

We must think about what will make us peaceful. What is the treasure of peace? What will give us peace? If we think about this and understand, then we will find peace in our lives. We cannot find it through gold or earth or women or children, through ruling others, through politics, through ships, through oceans, through the sun or the moon. We can never, never reach peace through these things.

God will give us everything, precious jeweled lights of my eyes, but what will give us peace? Does a king have peace? Does a president have peace? Do rich men have peace? Do the rulers of the world have peace? Do bankers have peace? Do parents have peace? Do married people have peace? Do those who have gardens have peace? Do those who have swimming pools have peace? No. We will never find peace through these things. We will be fools in the end, idiots. We will only end up as foolish men.

Think. What is peace? What will give us peace? Peace is the qualities of God, the actions of God, the behavior of God, the good conduct of God, the goodness of God, the love of God, the compassion of God, the justice of God, the conscience of God, the equality of God, the peacefulness of God, the patience of God, the inner patience of God, the contentment of God, trust in God, praise for God, and surrender to God. Pure wisdom and these qualities will give man peace. Nothing else will.

Therefore, precious jeweled lights of my eyes, when we truly understand this point, we will have peace. When we have built this state within, we will have peace. Other wise, we will never be peaceful. My love you, my children. We have to think about these things. To find freedom for our souls, we first have to know what will make us peaceful. Then we can attain the grace of God, paradise, and the kingdom of God. We can become princes and princesses of God, living lives of total freedom, without birth or death. Nothing else will give us peace.

Each of us must think from our hearts. We must open our hearts, think about this, and observe it with awareness. Then we will know that only this state can give us peace. We can never reach peace through anything else.

My love you, my children. This is enough for today. Let us think about it.

If we can understand this, it will be more than enough for eternity. God is all we need. May He give us the grace to build peace within us. Amin. Amin. May the peace of God and His beneficence be upon all of you!

M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen