I Am Helpless, My Child!

The sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Hassan Basri was a jeweler before becoming a saint and was known as Hassan Maulvi. One day he happened to visit Rome (Italy). There he met the Minister of the King. The Minister was going somewhere. He asked Hassan Basri to accompany him. Alongwith him, when he reached a forest, he saw that a beautiful tent was erected there and that a batalian of the Kings Army was parading around it. Then he saw that some Scholars and Philosophers entered the tent and came out after a while. Likewise some senior officers and the rich people had a round of the tent. Thereafter about two hundred beautiful women with plates of jewellery in their hands entered the tent and came out. Then the Minister and the King entered the tent and came out. Seeing all this Hassan Basri was perplexed. He asked the Minister, ‘What’s all this about?’

The Minister replied that the prince of Rome had died and he is buried in this tent. Every year we come here once and perform this ritual and leave the place. First the Army takes round of the tomb and all the soldiers jointly say, “Oh Prince, if by waging a war we could save you, we would have done it. Then the scholars and philosophers enter the tent and say, ‘Oh Prince, if we could stop your death with our education, intelligence and cleverness, we would have definitely done it.’ Then the senior officers enter and say that if our pleadings and prayers could save you, we would have surely done it. Then the beautiful women enter the tent and say, ‘Oh prince, if our beauty and our money could save you, we are prepared to sacrifice all.’ In the end the King himself enters the tent and says, “My dear son! I have brought an Army, Scholars, Senior Officers, Beautiful women, Lot of money, Jewellery and come in person also. If I could help I would have tried my best. I am helpless, my child! because we have to deal with the one before whom not only your father, but the whole world is just nothing.

The incident had such a touching impressions on Hasan Basri that he realized the inevitablity of death. He renounced all attachments and became a great saint.