Rashid Sitarazad and the Seekers of Knowledge

'Rashid Sitarazad' received a group of intending students whose heads were filled with his wonders and the excitement of arriving so near to the source of the Teaching.

He said:

‘Let one of you be your spokesman and let him tell me of your feelings.’

One of the visitors stepped forward and said:

‘We are stimulated by the Presence,  and  eager  for  the Knowledge, and elevated by the Tradition.’

Rashid said:

‘That is a truthful account of your feelings. Because you all love the exciting, I shall have to give you the banal. You are to learn through life. And life— the key to knowledge— is the most banal of all things. You will have to undergo experiences which will make you understand life, not make it more interesting.’

One of those present exclaimed:

‘That man whom you asked to represent us speaks for him­ self, and yet we must all be judged by his behaviour!’

Rashid said:

‘He may think that he speaks for all of you.  You may think that he speaks only for himself.  But it is  I who have agreed that he speaks for all.  Are you already disputing my authority?  To do so shows that  you crave excitement, and verifies the words which you are trying to refute!’