Story of a Dervish

Once there was a king who went outside his kingdom in pursuit of happiness until he reached at the top of a hilly forest. He learnt that a Dervish stays there who eats wild fruits, drinks water from springs, walks barefoot and sleeps on cushion less floors still he was happier than happiness itself. The king inquired the Dervish to unravel the secret of such profound happiness. Hearing this, the Dervish told that he would reveal the secrets of happiness in front of all his courtiers. The king immediately ordered his men to prepare for descend from the hill back to his kingdom.

The next day in front of the court, the Dervish asked the king to pick one of the applications of the pleaders as part of his daily routine work. The King obliged and chose one of those from a large pot that was filled with many such applications. It read, “Oh dear majesty, I am a poor man barely able to meet my both ends. I have a large family to support, however I am miserably struggling to earn my daily living“. The king ordered to see this poor lad to acknowledge his condition. After hearing his complete story the king wanted to reward him. He asked the poor chap to start running from dawn to dusk, and the portion of land on which he traverses will be his reward. However the king put a condition. He drew a line at the starting point and told the poor guy to end his run at the same point failing which he would lose the reward. The poor guy was overwhelmed with joy, he decided to divide his time in two halves. He thought in the first half he would run relentlessly forward to cover as much area he could and in the next half he would return with the same pace to reach the starting point. Unfortunately he was a little carried away with his emotions and he stretched his first half of the run in the greed to acquire some more land thinking that he would further accelerate in his return journey. This fascination did not work for him and he started to pant for breath and even his mouth started to bleed. At this stage he had two options, either to return home empty handed punishing himself for the greed that overtook his emotions or to give up the race. He didn’t practice any of these choices rather kept running ruthlessly without bothering his physical condition which kept on deteriorating. Eventually he reached the finish line but fell with a thud on the ground. He was bleeding profusely, took a deep breath and succumbed to his injuries. His lust for the extra wealth brought nothing to himself or to his family.

After this episode, the Dervish inquired the king whether he got any solution to the mysteries of happiness. The king nodded in affirmation that he discovered the secrets of happiness.

Shauq ko Aazim-e safar rakhiye

Bekhabar rah ke bhi sabkee khabar rakhiyee

chāhe nazre? ho āsmāno? par

paa?v lekin zamīn par rakhiye

baat hai kyā ye kaun parkhegā

aap lahje ko pur-asar rakhiye

Jaane kab kooch karna ho

Lehaaza apna samaan muqtasar rakhiye