Chai Baash….Sharbat Jaan
For externalists this world may be full of contradictions like my dervish friend from a village near Ghazni “ Sharbat Jaann” who is originally a “ Chai Bash”( incharge of serving tea) the beverage of the common people at a ChishtiYa Ribbat in the mountains of Afghanistan.
“ Nai Sharbat Jaan ! not now”. I said giving back the cup of tea offered by Sharbat Jaan. “ He who tastes, knows. He who tastes not, knows not.” He said to me resisting taking the cup back. Since then with every cup of tea, I try to remember the same taste, the same unveiling of the knowledge; introduced by a “ Chai Bash” my beloved Sharbat Jaan, half Tajik half Pashtun.
We were both staying at a Khanqah of a blind Tajik Shaykh near Dushanbe in Tajikstan; who has closed the shop of arguments and judgments and has opened the “ Chai Khana” the teahouse of experience. Sharbat Jaan once told me that Coffee, the most recent of social drinks, was discovered by Hazrat Abdul Hassan Shadhili, at Mocha in Arabia. And among dervishes it is considered as the Langar of Shaykh Shadhili . After listening all the tales of the magical and celestial drinks from Sharbat Jaan, I showed my intention to switch the duty from being “ Yaar Bash” ( head in charge of serving friends) to become “ Chai Bash”. There was glow on the face of Sharbat jaan; he said Hazrat Shams says “ is like a touchstone or a balance-scale; it always inclines towards the Truth.”
I had spent several years as a courtier, and some years looking after animals before I was sent to Tajikistan by my Shaykh to learn from the blind Tajik Shaykh and become “Chai Bash”. It was in his presence when I started learning aligning practice with current needs and collecting vestiges of the tradition from its roots. He used to repeat the words of Hazrat Ibrahim Khwas
“Demonstrate the unknown in term of what is called “known” by the audience”.
The advantage of being “Chai Bash” is that one can get the latest news all the times. Sharbat while serving the tea to the people visiting me at Ribbat, heard that Pakistan is under debt country, and the institutions that give loan are imposing the strict conditions on government which is making their lives miserable.This is our family tradition to spend 9 nights annually at the shrine of Qibla-e-Aalam Hazrat Khwaja Nur Mohammed Maharvi r.a . This year I was joined by “Sharbat Jaan”.
It was Thursday night; we woke up to pray “Tahujd” prayers. Sharbat Jaan brought a vessel of warm water, and asked me to put my head into it for a moment. As soon as I had done so, found myself alone on deserted seashore, a place which I did not know. As I walked up the shore I saw a stone with an arrow pointing towards the highway for “The country of Fool”. Soon I met some hunters who asked me who I was. Unable to explain my true state, I told them that I was a shipwrecked. They were very kind to give me some clothes and food, and offered me to join them in hunting the Monkeys.
This was one specie dominated jungle, monkeys ruled the kingdom. There are different tribes of monkeys in this jungle and every tribe got a different psychology. To catch a monkey, one must be aware of how the monkey thinks. The head of the group was briefing while eating. “The first part is held by the Merchant Monkeys. Who wish to test his skills to enter to the first part of the jungle and get the golden arrow of success? The group leader asked the group. “I am ready to take the challenge” a young hunter sitting beside me shouted. But instead of speaking high of my skills and avoid, I want this stranger to be witness of the challenging hunt.
“I have been hunting for many years, and know much about the monkeys. The only thing I do not know is “Merchant”, since you appear to come from some civilization, guide me on this. The young hunter looked into my eyes and said. I told him my poor understanding of merchant class. Upon listening to me, he went into deep thoughts for some time, as if he was making some plan. He place two long necked crystal clear bottle and place two glittering stones in each of the bottle, and both of us camouflaged in the bushes.
After some hours a big fat monkey came down from his tree to get those glittering stones. After some experimentation, the monkey found that he could get hold of the shining stones by putting his hand into the bottle by way of the neck. As soon as he had done so, he closed his hands on stones in each bottle, but then he found that he could not withdraw his fists holding the stones, because it was larger than the internal dimension of the neck. On hearing the monkey’s whimpering, we came along and the monkey tried to run away. But, because his hands were, as he thought, stuck in the bottle, he could not move fast enough to escape. The Hunter had used the glittering stones, and the bottle, but he still had them.
On our way back deciding to say the prayers, I started to was in the water, when I suddenly and dramatically found myself back at the palace, with the vessel of water, and Chai Bash Sharbat Jaan.
For externalists this world may be full of contradictions like my dervish friend from a village near Ghazni “ Sharbat Jaann” who is originally a “ Chai Bash”( incharge of serving tea) the beverage of the common people at a ChishtiYa Ribbat in the mountains of Afghanistan.
“ Nai Sharbat Jaan ! not now”. I said giving back the cup of tea offered by Sharbat Jaan. “ He who tastes, knows. He who tastes not, knows not.” He said to me resisting taking the cup back. Since then with every cup of tea, I try to remember the same taste, the same unveiling of the knowledge; introduced by a “ Chai Bash” my beloved Sharbat Jaan, half Tajik half Pashtun.
We were both staying at a Khanqah of a blind Tajik Shaykh near Dushanbe in Tajikstan; who has closed the shop of arguments and judgments and has opened the “ Chai Khana” the teahouse of experience. Sharbat Jaan once told me that Coffee, the most recent of social drinks, was discovered by Hazrat Abdul Hassan Shadhili, at Mocha in Arabia. And among dervishes it is considered as the Langar of Shaykh Shadhili . After listening all the tales of the magical and celestial drinks from Sharbat Jaan, I showed my intention to switch the duty from being “ Yaar Bash” ( head in charge of serving friends) to become “ Chai Bash”. There was glow on the face of Sharbat jaan; he said Hazrat Shams says “ is like a touchstone or a balance-scale; it always inclines towards the Truth.”
I had spent several years as a courtier, and some years looking after animals before I was sent to Tajikistan by my Shaykh to learn from the blind Tajik Shaykh and become “Chai Bash”. It was in his presence when I started learning aligning practice with current needs and collecting vestiges of the tradition from its roots. He used to repeat the words of Hazrat Ibrahim Khwas
“Demonstrate the unknown in term of what is called “known” by the audience”.
The advantage of being “Chai Bash” is that one can get the latest news all the times. Sharbat while serving the tea to the people visiting me at Ribbat, heard that Pakistan is under debt country, and the institutions that give loan are imposing the strict conditions on government which is making their lives miserable.This is our family tradition to spend 9 nights annually at the shrine of Qibla-e-Aalam Hazrat Khwaja Nur Mohammed Maharvi r.a . This year I was joined by “Sharbat Jaan”.
It was Thursday night; we woke up to pray “Tahujd” prayers. Sharbat Jaan brought a vessel of warm water, and asked me to put my head into it for a moment. As soon as I had done so, found myself alone on deserted seashore, a place which I did not know. As I walked up the shore I saw a stone with an arrow pointing towards the highway for “The country of Fool”. Soon I met some hunters who asked me who I was. Unable to explain my true state, I told them that I was a shipwrecked. They were very kind to give me some clothes and food, and offered me to join them in hunting the Monkeys.
This was one specie dominated jungle, monkeys ruled the kingdom. There are different tribes of monkeys in this jungle and every tribe got a different psychology. To catch a monkey, one must be aware of how the monkey thinks. The head of the group was briefing while eating. “The first part is held by the Merchant Monkeys. Who wish to test his skills to enter to the first part of the jungle and get the golden arrow of success? The group leader asked the group. “I am ready to take the challenge” a young hunter sitting beside me shouted. But instead of speaking high of my skills and avoid, I want this stranger to be witness of the challenging hunt.
“I have been hunting for many years, and know much about the monkeys. The only thing I do not know is “Merchant”, since you appear to come from some civilization, guide me on this. The young hunter looked into my eyes and said. I told him my poor understanding of merchant class. Upon listening to me, he went into deep thoughts for some time, as if he was making some plan. He place two long necked crystal clear bottle and place two glittering stones in each of the bottle, and both of us camouflaged in the bushes.
After some hours a big fat monkey came down from his tree to get those glittering stones. After some experimentation, the monkey found that he could get hold of the shining stones by putting his hand into the bottle by way of the neck. As soon as he had done so, he closed his hands on stones in each bottle, but then he found that he could not withdraw his fists holding the stones, because it was larger than the internal dimension of the neck. On hearing the monkey’s whimpering, we came along and the monkey tried to run away. But, because his hands were, as he thought, stuck in the bottle, he could not move fast enough to escape. The Hunter had used the glittering stones, and the bottle, but he still had them.
On our way back deciding to say the prayers, I started to was in the water, when I suddenly and dramatically found myself back at the palace, with the vessel of water, and Chai Bash Sharbat Jaan.
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