Man and his Bull 

Once a traveller was returning home carrying a gunny bag of goods on hisbull.On his way he came across a jungle. The bull was crooked and ill mannered.While clearing a forest stream he stumbled upon throwing the cargo and ranaway.

The traveller started chasing the bull leaving behind the cargo in the forest. Apasserby asked him where is he going empty handed. The traveller repliedthat his bull threw away his cargo and he is out to bring it back. The strangersaid, you seem to be free from reasoning. You are chasing the bull leavingthe cargo in the forest. What would you do if a thief steals your cargo whileyou are away chasing the bull? It would be better to take care of the cargo,your wealth, than be a fool to chase the bull.

So the traveller gave up chasing the bull and sat beside the cargo keepingvigil.Meanwhile someone found the strayed bull and went away with it. Thetraveller was left alone in the forest with his cargo. Yet another person findingthe traveller and his cargo asked him what is he doing in the forest? Thetraveller narrated his story. After listening he said, O you madman, leavingyour bull you are sitting here keeping the cargo in the forest.

Without the bull the cargo cannot be moved. I doubt your bull is lost if youdon't find it fast. Consider this: in the evening, robbers would take away thecargo after attacking you. When night falls, the beast would devour you. So itis better if you find out your lost bull and carry the cargo back home.

The traveller, on hearing this went in search of the bull leaving behind thecargo in the forest. He could not find his bull and on his return lamented onnot finding hiscargo as well.

Both the persons were right in their counseling. Basically the traveller wasstupid and dull. Had he tamed and disciplined his bull he would have reachedhome safely. He did not bring the bull under his control when the bull leapedon the stream. Again he did not hold on the cargo from falling.

If he has kept his bull well prepared for the journey into the forest, he wouldnot have lost his wealth for nothing. His crude way resulted in losing the bullas well as the cargo.

Now friends contemplate the wisdom of this story. The bull is your lower selfwhose deeds are evidently corporeal. The cargo is your soul, the essence,and the epitome of God. The traveller is your diffident nature.

Keep your lower self completely adorned with good conduct. When you

 

become conversant with the nature of your lower self, exert yourself to carrythe cargo carefully. The lower self will neither leap jump in the jungle nor willyour cargo get ruined.

When the nafs (lower self) leap jumps/strays do not punish it else it woulddevise ways to keep you fretful. If you want to discipline the nafs, the lowerself, disregard its diverse ways, so that you may preserve the soul, in a noblemanner.

Whoever is in possession of the Essence is the king and those who aredivested of it are mere beggars. Thus a man would be mischievous throughthe wickedness of the nafs, the lower self, again he would be virtuous throughits restraint. Body is the phenomenon and the witness for manifestation of thenafs, the lower self.

The attributes of phenomenal manifestations of the lower self are: greed, lust,allurement and niggardliness. Seemingly negligent is its nature. By its intrinsicnature the body is attracted towards the digression and to refute its demandsis the biggest form of worship.

The forest is the mundane world of the lower self. in whose fodder the lowerself is ensnared. Precisely the other name of the world is remissness,negligence, in whose nature the well-wisher of the mankind has said.

Tark-e-duniya raas kull-e-taayatin. Hubb-e- duniya raas kull-e-qatiyatin.

Abandonment of the world is the summit of act of devotion/submission. Loveof the world is the aggregate of faults/sins.

Either you be tyrannous on the nafs or keep the lower self by cajoling andcoaxing so that it remain pleased and delighted. Wayward and restive and foeis the nature of nafs, which conspires new hypocrisy every instant. Suffice notif we maintain friendship with the nafs. Close at hand are the calamities anddisasters which the nafs designs. The root of attachment to the nafs is greedand it is the basis and do not be seized by the greed.

Cut off, strike off the foundation of greed, which the lower self nurtures anddestroy and pull down the roots of revolt and hostility of the nafs. To begreedy except towards the Omnipotent is delusion. Love towards worldlyaffairs is nothing but delusion and cannot attain lucidity. Turning down thenafs is the perpetual act of devotion. Beholding the personality of the lord is tohappen day and night.

Do not consider this anecdote as prosody; keep in mind the meaning of thestoryQadre alam knows this much, that nafs alone can become the mirror of God.