Kaaba

A great Sufi master is known to have gone through a great transmission. His name was Junnaid. He was the master of al-Hillaj Mansoor. Al-Hillaj Mansoor is more known to the world because he was crucified just like Jesus, but in a more cruel way. Part by part he was cut – the American way, in installments.

Junnaid was a very poor man. And it is said that unless at least once in your life you make the pilgrimage to Mecca, where the stone Kaaba is representing Mohammed’s place… It is from that stone that, sitting on his horse, he simply went upwards to paradise and took his horse too. If you are an authentic Mohammedan, you have to visit that place at least once in your lifetime. So even the poorest Mohammedans collect money, sell their houses, their farms, because it is an absolute necessity that before they die they must go to Kaaba.

Junnaid was getting old and he was very poor, so he collected money from his neighbors. Nobody refused because the money was for the journey to Kaaba; and everybody is told that if you support a Mohammedan on his pilgrimage, you also partake in the virtue of the great pilgrimage. So people gave him money, gave him some food, clothes, so that he could go. He had to travel…but people were surprised: the next day he was back. It was expected that he would be back in about six months, three months going and three months coming. This was too quick! – People could not believe it. And also, he looked absolutely transformed, so radiant; so blissful.

They said, “What happened?”

Junnaid said, “Kaaba itself came to meet me outside the village.”

They said, “This is sheer nonsense. That big stone?” It is an asteroid that has fallen from the sky…huge.

They asked him, “At least tell us in detail what really has happened.”

A Sufi master, Bayazid, was sitting under a tree at the crossroads outside the village Junnaid asked him, “Which way should I go? I want to reach Kaaba at the pilgrimage time.” At a certain time every year Mohammedan from all over the world try to reach Kaaba.

Bayazid said, “Nonsense! Bring out all your money!” And he said it with such authority that poor Junnaid brought all the money that he had gathered.

And Bayazid said, “There is no need to go anywhere! Just make the seven circles around me. I am the Kaaba!”

Junnaid could not believe it at first, but what to do? The man was so…his eyes were so penetrating; his presence was so fragrant. He circled him seven times; as Mohammedans are suppose to go round the Kaaba stone seven times.

And Bayazid said, “Now give me all the other provisions you have for the journey and go home! Your pilgrimage is complete.”

He could feel that something had changed. He was no longer the old person who had come just a few minutes before. So he told the villagers, “I met a man who said, ‘I am the Kaaba!’ and he took all my provisions and all my money and told me to make the seven rounds.” A few people laughed. Those who were stupid laughed, but those who were wise understood because they could see the transformation that had happened.

It does not matter who the man was, but certainly the man was a man of realization. Just going around him seven times, Junnaid himself became a master.

But it cannot happen by going around a stone seven or seven hundred or seven thousand times.