A question of faith

Two ladies went to a spiritual Master. One of the ladies asked the Master a question on behalf of her friend. She said, “Can you tell us whether her son will pass his examination? He will be sitting for it very soon.”

The mother of the boy also showed some interest in hearing what the Master would say.

The Master meditated for a few moments and said, “Oh, he will do very, very well!”

A few weeks later, the results appeared: that particular boy had failed his examination. As a result, the lady who had asked the question stopped coming to see the Master. “What a useless Master!” she said. “His prophecy was all wrong!”

But the boy’s actual mother came back to the Master. When the Master saw her, he said, “Please tell me about your son’s examination.”

“Unfortunately, he failed,” the mother said.

“And where is your friend?” asked the Master.

“My friend lost all faith in you because your prophecy did not come true and my son failed,” said the lady.

“Then why are you still coming here?” asked the Master. “After all, it was your son who failed.”

“I come because I see something in you,” said the lady. “I feel something in you. Who cares for my son’s personal failure? He can easily sit for the examination again. But the joy that I get when I look at your eyes and your feet is indescribable. I come here for joy and not for prophecies.”

Then the Master blessed her and said, “You are my real disciple.”

The useless friend had used her mind to judge the Master. She did not want a Master who could not see even two weeks into the future. But the boy’s mother came back to the Master, even though he had been wrong. As a matter of fact, the Master did know in advance that her son would fail the examination, but he had wanted to see the strength of her faith in him.

We all need this kind of faith. You can call it blind faith. Faith itself is blind, true! But again, blindness is all oneness, all oneness.