Bayazid Bastami Sufi Story: There was a Sufi saint, Bayazid, and he always used to say: ‘God knows whatsoever my need is, so I have never prayed – because that is foolish! What to say to Him? He already knows. If I say something which He knows, it is foolish. If I try to find something which He does not know, that too is foolish. How can you find such a thing? So I have simply never bothered. Whatsoever my need is, He always gives.’

But at that time, he was very very poor, hungry, rejected by the town he was passing through. Nobody was ready to give him a shelter for the night. The night was dark and he was sitting under a tree; outside the town, it was dangerous. And one disciple said, ‘But what about this situation? If He knows that His lover, Bayazid, is in such a trouble – that the town has rejected him, he is hungry and without food, sitting under a tree, wild animals all around, he cannot sleep even – what type of God are you talking about who knows everything that you need?’

Bayazid Bastami Sufi Story – Whatever You have Is Your Present Need

Bayazid laughed and he said, ‘He knows that this is what I need at this moment. This is my need! Otherwise, how? – why should it be there? God knows when you need poverty,’ said Bayazid, ‘and God knows when you need riches. And God knows when you have to go on a fast, and God knows when you have to participate in a feast. He knows! And this is my need right now.’ You cannot ask. If you ask, it will not be given to you. In the very asking, you prove yourself not yet capable of receiving it. Prayer should be silent. Silence is prayer. When words come in, desires follow suddenly – because words are the vehicles of Desire.

In silence, how can you desire? Have you tried it? In silence, can you desire something? How can you desire in silence? Language will be needed. All languages belong to the realm of desire. Hence the insistence of all those who know on becoming silent, because only when there is no word in your mind will desire cease completely; otherwise, with every word, desire is lurking behind.

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