The King of Balakh Bokhara

Ibrahim Adahm, the king of Bokhara was very fond of the spiritual way of life and was always seeking the company of the Sages and the Saints. However, he lived in such a luxury that he slept in a bed that had flowers laid on it all the time. One day, when he was going to this bed, he heard a noise on his palace roof and, on investigation, saw two men roaming about on the roof.

“What are you doing here?” he asked them sharply.

“Sir, we are camel drivers and are searching for our lost camels,” they replied. Amazed at their stupidity, the king said scornfully.

“How could you ever expect to find camels on the top of a palace?”

“In the same way that you are trying to realize God in your bed of flowers,” was the reply.

This greatly shocked the king and completely changed his way of life. He abandoned his throne and started to see much more of the Saints and Sages in his own kingdom; but without satisfaction. Thereafter, he went to India and, after making a thorough search, was still unsuccessful until he reached Kashi (Banaras). There he heard of Kabir Sahib, the waver Saint,

He asked Kabir Sahib to accept him as his disciple. Kabir Sahib replied,

“There is nothing in common between a king and a poor weaver like me, and two such different people could hardly get on together.”

But the king pleaded with saying “I did not come to your door as a king, but as beggar/ Again I beg of you o kindly give me the boon for which I am seeking.”

Loi, the wife of Kabir Sahib, also asked her husband to accept him; and the Saint gave in to her request.

In a weaver’s house, the only work that could be done by the king was that of a menial- cleaning the woof and the warp. and washing the yarn and the thread. Six years passed by, and the king did this work without a murmur throughout these years. One day Mai Loi entreated Kabir Sahib, saying:

“This king has now been with us for six long years, has been eating what we offered him, and has been doing what we have ordered him to do, without uttering a word of complaint. Because of all this, he appears to highly deserve.”

Kabir Sahib told his wife- “As far as I can see, the king’s mind is not yet crystal clear.”

Mai Loi again entreated, and reminded Kabir Sahib that what the king had done was tremendous service to them; and that she could not event for a moment believe that he was not serving of Initiation. Kabir Sahib replied- “The best way to prove it to yourself is to what I ask you to do and there after come and tell me what you heard from his mouth. Please go on the top of the roof and, as the king comes into the street, throw the entire sweepings of the house upon his head.”

Mai Loi did as she was asked, and as the sweepings fell on the head of the king of Bokhara, he looked up and sighed- “If only this were Bokhara, you would not have dared do this to me.”

Mai Loi returned to Kabir sahib and repeated what the king had said.

“Didn’t I tell you that the king was not yet fully deserving of the great Gift of Nam?” Kabir Sahib said.

So another six years passed by, during which the king worked as hard as he had during the first six years. One day Kabir Sahib said to his wife- “The vessel is now completely ready to receive the Nectar.” Mai Loi told him- “I do not find any difference between the condition of the king six years ago and now. He has been ever dutiful and willing, and has never uttered a word of complaint, even on days when we had a large number of sadhus in the house and there was nothing left for us to eat.”

Kabir Sahib told her- “If you want to see the difference, you may once again throw the refuse and rubbish swept up from the house on the king’s head.”

The next day, when the king was passing the house, she did exactly as she was asked. On receiving the gift, the king looked up and said- “May you, the doer of this, live long. This mind was still full of ego and self. It had to be treated this way.”

Again Mai Loi related the king’s words to her husband. This time Kabir Sahib told her:

“The king now deserves the great treasure of Initiation.”

AS Kabir Sahib then gazed on the king, the king’s soul swiftly ascended, traversed the upper realms and ultimately merged in the Supreme Being. After this, Kabir Sahib told the king:

“Your devotion has been completed. You better return to your kingdom.”

The king went back, but not as a king. One day as he was sitting on the band of the River Tigirs (Dajla) and mending his garment with a small needle and thread, he was seen by his vizier , who had gone out hunting. He was returning from the hunt, and although he had not seen the king for twelve years and the king was in tattered clothes, he recognized him and asked if he was not Ibrahim Adham. The king replied in the affirmative.

The hunter then told him- “Your majesty, I am your vizier. During your long absence I have trained your children well in the art of warfare; and my only wish now is that you should return to your throne.”

The vizier then vowed to continue to serve him devotedly.

On hearing this, the king threw his sewing needle into the fast-flowing river and asked the vizier:

“Can you get the needle back for me?”

The vizier replied- “IT is not possible for me to do that; but in barely half an hour I can bring a hundred thousand such needles from the city.”

“No, I am interested only in my own needle, and no other.”

Then the vizier expressed his complete helplessness, saying- “The water is very deep, the current is rapid, and it is absolutely impossible for me to recover the needle.”

The king then asked- “Is there any other means of revering the needle? Or is there any other man who could get it for me?”

The vizier replied in the negative.

The king then applied his attention, and lo and behold! A small fish came out of the water, holding the needle in its mouth and placing it at the feet of the king. Then the king said to the vizier:

“What would I do with your kingdom, when I have now gone into the Court of the Lord who rules over all the universes and worlds as well as the netherworlds, and under whose command are everything that lives in them? Please, therefore, go and do whatever you like. I am no longer interested in your kingdom.”

From- The tales of the mystic east