16. A DARVESH IS BORN

One Saturday morning
when he woke up
he felt so light
he could easily fly like a bird in the air
or
swim like a fish in the ocean
He had been experiencing
subtle but profound changes in himself
changes so subtle
nobody could observe them
but so profound
he could not ignore them anymore
When he got out of bed
he felt like
a cool breeze of the morning
When he looked into the mirror
he smiled
and spontaneously kissed himself
he had never done that ever before
That morning
he became acutely aware
his beard had turned grey
making him look wiser
When he went for a walk
and saw flowers in the park
rather than plucking them for his sweetheart
he let them smile
so that they could experience
their natural life
When he sat near the lake
he could
feel the cool breeze
and hear
the sound of the waves
He felt in tune with his environment
He had never realized
rocks and flowers and wind and water could communicate
He felt like a child
who played for hours
with leaves and rocks and sand on the beach
While walking on the lakeside
he saw
the sea-gulls and the geese
He went close to them
and was surprised
they did not fly away
He offered them seeds
and they ate
right from his palm
When he touched their wings
they looked at him
with friendly eyes
as if asking.

Do you want to borrow them?
When he looked around
he saw a little boy
standing quietly
watching him feed the birds
Although
there was no exchange of words
yet
there was perfect communication
between him, little boy and the birds
They were in harmony with each other
After a few minutes
when the little boy
saw his mother
he ran
and the birds flew away
and he came home
That evening
rather than reading ten stories
he read one story
but re-read it many times
until
he felt in touch
with the essence of the story
and the soul of the writer
That night
when he was in bed
with his sweetheart
he gently kissed her eyes
rather than
passionately kissing her lips,
"Don't you want to make love to me?"
she asked in a tremulous voice
"No" he said
for the first time in his life
"Don't you love me anymore?"
she had tears in her eyes
He kissed her tears affectionately
kept quiet
and after a few minutes
fell asleep in her arms.