"Junnaid looked at him for a long time. The man started feeling a little nervous: Why is he looking at him for so long and so silently?

"Finally Junnaid said, 'To be a disciple is very difficult.'

"The man said, 'Then I am ready to be a devotee.'

"Junnaid said, 'That is even more difficult. The only thing that is not difficult here is to be a master.'

"The man said, 'If that is the case, I am ready to be the master.'

"Junnaid told his disciples and devotees, 'This is a case of unconsciousness. He is not even a student, but the longing is to be a master if it is easier.'

"The student comes almost accidentally. Perhaps he reads a book, perhaps a friend talks to him and he becomes curious. But curiosity is so superficial; it cannot make you committed and devoted for a long journey. It is very momentary; hence the student is not accepted in the mystery schools. He is too unripe; he has to wander a few days more or perhaps a few lives more before he can be accepted by a master as a disciple. Another Sufi story will explain it to you clearly….

"A man left his home and his village in search of a master. Just outside the village he met an old man sitting under a tree, so silently and so peacefully that he thought, 'Perhaps he may know somebody who is a master; otherwise, how am I going to find…?'

"Each master is so unique that there are no symptoms that can be recognizable. The young man went to the old man sitting under the tree and asked him, 'Do you know a master?'

"The old man said, 'Certainly. Do you also want to know him?'

"He said, 'That's why I have asked you. Show me how I can reach the master and how I will recognize him.'

"The old man said, 'It is easy. He will be very old – at least thirty years older than me – and he will be sitting under a tree.' And he described the tree, what kind of tree it would be, and he described the moment of meeting."