Finding master

It is reported: one of the Sufis, Junaid, came to an old fakir, and he asked him, "I have heard that you know. Show me the path."

The old man said, "You have heard that I know. You don't know. Look at me and feel."

The man said, "I cannot feel anything. Just do one thing: show me the path where I can find my Master."

So the old man said, "You go first to Mecca. Have the pilgrimage and search such and such a man. He will be sitting under a tree. His eyes will be such: they will be throwing light, and you will feel a certain perfume like musk around him. Go and seek."

And Junaid traveled and traveled for twenty years. Wherever he heard a Master is, he will go. But neither the tree was there, nor the perfume, the musk, nor those eyes the old man has described. The personality was not there. And he had a ready-made formula, so he will judge immediately," This is not my Master," and he will move ahead.

After twenty years he reached under a tree. The Master was there. The musk was floating in the air, just like a haze around the man. The eyes were fiery, a red light was falling. This is the man He fell into his feet and said, "Master, I have been searching for you for twenty years."

The Master said, "I am also waiting for you twenty years. Look again." He looked. THIS WAS THE SAME MAN TWENTY YEARS BEFORE WHO HAS SHOWN HIM THE WAY TO FIND THE MASTER. Junaid started weeping.

He said, "What? You played a joke upon me? Twenty years wasted Why couldn't you say that you are my Master?"

The old man said, "That would not have helped; that was of not much use – because unless you have eyes to see... These twenty years helped you to see me; I am the same man. But twenty

years before you had told me that "I don't feel anything." I am the same, but now you have become capable to feel. You have changed. These twenty years rubbed you hard. All the dust has fallen; your mind is clear. This fragrance of musk was there that time also, but you were not capable to smelling it. Your nose was closed; your eyes were not functioning; your heart was not really beating. So, contact was not possible."

You don't know nobody can say where the trust will happen. I don't say trust the Master, I simply say find a person where trust happens – that person is your Master. And you cannot do anything about it. You will have to wander. The thing is certain to happen, but the seeking is necessary because seeking prepares you. Not that the seeking leads you to the Master, seeking prepares you so that you can see. He may be just near you.

You can go anywhere. Then space doesn't make any difference. You remain in contact. Not only space, but time also doesn't make any difference. A Master may be dead, you remain in contact. He may have dropped his physical body, you remain in contact. If a trust happens, then time and space both are transcended.

Trust is the miracle. You can be in closeness with Mohammed or Jesus or Buddha right now if trust is there. But it is difficult! It is difficult because you don't know how. You cannot trust a living person, how can you trust a dead. If trust happens, then you are close to Buddha right now. And for persons who have faith, Buddha is alive. No Master ever dies for those who can trust. He goes on helping; he is always there. But for you, even Buddha is there physically, standing behind you or in front of you, just sitting by your side, you are not close to him. There may be vast space between you. Love, trust, faith, they destroy space, time, both.