Storie.

"There was a time where Sufi(islamic meditation) practices became popular in this world, and thus a local university invited Nasrudin, the great master of the Sufi tradition, to give a lecture to whoever wanted to hear.

Nasrudin arranged to give the lecture at two o’clock in the afternoon, and it looked set to be a great success; the thousand seats in the auditorium were completely sold out and more than seven hundred people were left outside, watching the lecture on closed-circuit television.

At two o’clock precisely, and assistant of Nasrudin’s came in, saying that for certain unavoidable reasons, the lecture would begin late. Some got up indignantly, asked for their money back and left straightaway. Even so, many people remained both inside and outside the auditorium.

By three in the afternoon, the Sufi Master had still not appeared and people gradually began to leave the place, picking up their money at the box office. The working day was coming to an end, it was time to go home. When it was six o’clock, the original one thousand seven hundred spectators had dwindled to less than a hundred.

At that very moment, Nasrudin came in. He appeared to be extremely drunk and began to flirt with a beautiful young woman sitting in the front row.

Astonished, the people who had remained behind began to feel indignant. How could this man behave like that after making them wait four solid hours? There were some disapproving murmurs, but the Sufi master ignored them. He went on, in a loud voice, to say how sexy the young woman was, and invited her to go with him to France.

After cursing the people who were complaining, Nasrudin tried to get up, but fell heavily onto the floor. Disgusted, more people decided to leave, saying it was pure charlatanism, that they would denounce the degrading spectacle to the press.

Only nine people remained. A soon as the final group of outraged spectators had left, Nasrudin got up; he was completely sober, his eyes glowed, and he had about him an air of great authority and wisdom. “Those of you who stayed are the ones who will hear me,” he said, “for you have passed through the two hardest tests on the spiritual road: the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed in what you encounter in life. It is you that I will teach.

Thus Nasrudin shared with them some of the great Sufi techniques."