A great deal of misery in this life is due to the fact that most people do not know their “place” in this world. Some want to be more than what they are, and hence they live trying to get what does not really belong to them. If or when  they do get what they want, it causes great suffering and painful Karma. Others belittle themselves and never come into the full bloom that allows their lives to reflect their authentic place in this world. Due to this they, too, suffer.

Finding and realizing one’s place in this world is essential. When people are NOT clear about their “place” in their own lives nor in the world, they inhibit their ability to rise to a place where authentic Love can reach them. The choice to remain in any situation, be it marriage, business or otherwise, must never be based on mere emotional comfort. It is something a person must feel through intuition about the situation’s validity and importance relative to their spiritual practice.

Each of us is more than what the unconscious mind, the self, insists. The language for this “knowing” comes from the voicelessness of an intuition that is yielding and blending with the higher nature of creativity. This is the Law that belongs to a more refined energy than the human mind can fathom – a never-ending flow of energies that can sustain  continuous enfoldment of Love throughout our lifetime.

It is crucial that we realize, through intuition, our place as a living entity in this world and follow its lead beyond the logic and reasoning of our human mind in order to fulfill the nature of the authentic Heart.

Following is the most wonderful Sufi story of Mojud that so beautifully depicts the essence of transcendence:

There was once a man named Mojud. He lived in a town where he had obtained a post as a small official, and it seemed likely that he would end his days as Inspector of weights and measures.

One day when he was walking through the gardens of an ancient building near his home, Khidr, the mysterious guide of the Sufis, appeared to him, dressed in shimmering green. Khidr said, “man of bright prospects! Leave your work and meet me at the riverside in three days’ time.” Then he disappeared.

Mojud went to his superior in trepidation and said that he had to leave. Everyone in the town soon heard of this and they said, “poor Mojud! He has gone mad.” But, as there were many candidates for his job, they soon forgot him.

On the appointed day, Mojud met Khidr, who said to him, “Tear your clothes and throw yourself into the stream. Perhaps someone will save you.”

Mojud did so, even though he wondered if he were mad.

Since he could swim, he did not drown, but drifted a long way before a fisherman hauled him into his boat, saying, “foolish man! The current is strong. What are you trying to do?” Mojud said, “I don’t really know.”

“You are mad,” said the fisherman, “but I will take you into my reed-hut by the river yonder, and we shall see what can be done for you.”

When he discovered that Mojud was well-spoken, he learned from him how to read and write. In exchange, Mojud was given food and helped the fisherman with his work. After a few months, Khidr again appeared, this time at the foot of Mojud’s bed, and said, “Get up now and leave this fisherman. You will be provided for.”

Mojud immediately quit the hut, dressed as a fisherman, and wandered about until he came to a highway.
As dawn was breaking he saw a farmer on a donkey on his way to the market. “Do you seek work?” asked the farmer, “because I need a man to help me bring back some purchases.”

Mojud followed him. He worked for the farmer for nearly two years, by which time he had learned a great deal about agriculture but little else.

One afternoon when he was baling wool, Khidr appeared to him and said, “Leave that work, walk to the city of Mosul, and use your savings to become a skin-merchant.”

Mojud obeyed.

In Mosul he became known as a skin-merchant, never seeing Khidr while he plied his trade for three years. He had saved quite a large sum of money, and was thinking of buying a house, when Khidr appeared and said, “Give me your money, walk out of this town as far as the distant Samarkand, and work for a grocer there.”

Mojud did so.

Presently he began to show undoubted signs of illumination. He healed the sick, served his fellow man in the shop during his spare time, and his knowledge of the mysteries became deeper and deeper.

Clerics, philosophers and others visited him and asked, “Under whom did you study?” “It is difficult to say,” said Mojud.

His disciples asked, “How did you start your career?”
He said, “As a small official.” “And you gave it up to devote yourself to self-mortification?” “No, I just gave it up.” They did not understand him.
People approached him to write the story of his life.
“What have you been in your life?” they asked.

“I jumped into a river, became a fisherman, and then walked out of his reed-hut in the middle of the night. After that, I became a farmhand. While I was baling wool, I changed and went to Mosul, where I became a skin-merchant. I saved some money there, but gave it away. Then I walked to Samarkand where I worked for a grocer. And this is where I am now.”

“But this inexplicable behavior throws no light upon your strange gifts and wonderful examples,” said the biographers.

“That is so,” said Mojud.

So, the biographers constructed for Mojud a wonderful and exciting story: because all saints must have their story and the story must be in accordance with the appetite of the listener, not with the realities of life.

Please note that Mojud’s experiences (his place) changed over and over again in the world and in proportion to his place within himself. He never fought with this process of the mystical…he flowed with it. Flowing in unconscionable trust is a technique of the wise in which there is no need to question the intuition that instructs them to move on from within. From the outside, Mojud’s actions looked foolish, sometimes even dangerous. But as he became more and more aware of his place within himself, he found that his place in the world changed in unison with his awareness.

We must live as Mojud did…simply listen and follow, even when it seems contrary to the ideals we have about what makes us “happy.” When we are willing to find our place within our lifetime on this earth, we realize the power of what it means to truly find ourselves in attainment, in an authentic life with authentic Love. Nothing is more important, nothing is more powerful, than knowing our place within.