Upakhyan (Anecdote)
After finishing the journey of Haj once Abdulla bin Mubarak was sleeping in Kaba. In his dreams he saw two angels in conversation. One asked the other, "How many people came for Haj this year, and of them, prayers of how many were accepted?" The other angel replied, "About four million people attended but prayers of none were accepted. This year only one prayer has been accepted and that too of one who did not attend Haj."
The first angel was very surprised. He asked, "Who is that lucky person who never came but whose prayers were accepted?"
The second angel replied, "He is Ali bin Moofik, a cobbler from Damascus."
The very next day Abdulla bin Mubarak set out on a journey to Damascus to meet this great man and located Moofik cobbler's residence. He asked Moofik, "Did you go to Haj?"
Tears filled Moofik's eyes and shaking his head he replied, "I was not lucky enough to attend Haj this year. All my life I saved money and collected about 700 Dirham for this journey. But one day I saw several poor people in my neighborhood who, out of desperate hunger, were eating items that could not be eaten. Their misery touched my heart and whatever I had saved for Haj I distributed to those destitute people."
Helping the poor and the needy is the only true pilgrimage.
Hrudaysparshi Katha [Story, that touches our heart]
The Joy of Beauty
It was a beautiful winter evening and the sun was gently descending towards the horizon. I was on a boat that was traversing waters of river Ganga. The whole sky was filled with expansive calmness and resplendent array of colours. The surface of water was still like a sheet bereft of even a single bubble. All the transitioning colours of the sunset were reflecting perfectly on the water. Miles and miles of sandy banks of the river appeared to be in a state of trance, mesmerized by the beauty ofthe evening as well.
Suddenly a large fish leaped up from the water and dived back in. Within a moment the act of appearance and disappearance was over. And within that moment a splurge of colours of the evening sky fell upon the water and it felt as if a colourful scene was enacted in the opera of life and then calm descended back upon everything. I do not know from which mysterious world did the dancing fish appear from and return, mixing her tunes with the music played by the fast fading sunlight. I felt as if I had received a message of love from some unknown land. The scene touched my heart and filled me with the joy of witnessing the all-encompassing, absolute beauty.
But the next moment I heard my boatman exclaim, "Sir, did you see that huge fish? If only I could catch it! It would have served as food for several days!" I was suddenly shaken up from my dream-world. For the boat man, the fish was nothing but an item to be consumed as food. Through his self-centered eye of desire he failed to witness the resplendent beauty that had unfolded in the event. It never could anyway.
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