The head of the Naqshbandi Order, the one who actually started it, was very famous in his time as a man of great knowledge who could transmit his learning to others. One day he was walking through the bazaar, and he was carrying a large pole, and people began to gather around him because of who he was, following him through the bazaar. He took this pole and began to upset all of the carts in the bazaar, began to knock everything over in the bazaar, and a whole shout went out among the people, “What’s going on? What’s going on?”
And one of the viziers from the king was there, and he told his men to grab him so he would stop doing this, and then it was reported to the king what he had done. And the king said, “Bring him to me, because he has to explain himself before me.”
In three days the meeting was set up, and Naqshband said, “I will come, but only on the condition that all of the king’s advisors, all of the generals from his army, and all of the important people in the country are also there at the same time.”
So the time came for him to present himself, and the king said to him, “Naqshband, we know of your great learning but we can’t understand your actions. Explain yourself before your king and his subjects.”
And he said to them, “I caused a disturbance today that you all saw, and you all reacted to this disturbance, and you were all aghast at this disturbance, and you were astounded, and you all made a big deal out of this disturbance. Yet, while this disturbance was going on, in the minds of all the people who were there, there were also many disturbances going on. They were thinking about disturbing things but they’ve learned, through custom, to keep these things inside and not to let them out. So you didn’t act out the disturbances that were in your mind but you had them. Yet, when I did the same kind of things externally, you all took exception. You should know that the disturbances that are going on inside of yourself have as much effect as external circumstances. So, if you are disturbed internally, even though you don’t let people know what you’re thinking and what you’re doing, and you keep these things hidden, there is an effect that this has on the community and on yourself. So, not only do you have to work on your external disturbances, you have to work on your internal disturbances. And if you don’t get rid of your internal disturbances, you’re causing as much havoc as the madman that I was running through the market upsetting the carts.”
Astonishingly, the king didn’t understand this knowledge, had never heard about it, and never understood this explanation, and he thanked Naqshband for doing this and they declared a three day holiday at this time every year to understand that internal disturbances have the same cause and effect that external disturbances have.
We are accustomed to reacting to what we see; we don’t react to what we don’t see. We think that we can hide our true intentions, and our true feelings, as long as we don’t act them out…
