The boy with the candle

1001 Tales told by the Master

“We arise out of the cosmic consciousness; we fall back into the cosmic consciousness,” says Osho. From our series 1001 Tales, compiled by Shanti.

candle

There is a beautiful story about Junaid, a Sufi mystic.

He was passing through a small village. It was evening and a small boy was carrying a small candle.

He was going to the mosque to put the candle there. The mosque was dark and it was a dark night and the night was descending.

Junaid just laughingly, jokingly, asked the small child, “Have you yourself lighted this candle?”

And the boy said, “Yes, sir.”

And Junaid said, “Then tell me one thing. From where has this flame come? From where? And you say you yourself have lighted the candle, so you must have seen from where this flame has come.”

The boy must have been a genius.

He laughed and blew the candle out and he said, “Right now it has gone. Where? You have seen it! Where has it gone?”

The coming and going is not from somewhere to somewhere. We arise out of the cosmic consciousness; we fall back into the cosmic consciousness. We arise again; we fall back again.

Quoted from Osho, The First Principle – Talks on Zen, Ch 6

ShantiSeries compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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