The Naqshbandi Order of dervishes was founded in the fourteenth century in Bukhara, and its chief centre was there until Bolshevism arose. Their great adept, the Mullah Nasrudin, is the origin of several mystic-philosophic tales which convey quite simply instruction on deep Vedantic truths. In the second story he says, "I never tell the truth!" The commentary explains: "If this is true, he lies. If untrue, he tells truth! Thus by words we can arrive anywhere, but this is not, never, truth." In the first tale the idea of cause and effect vanishes. In the third, the past and the future are already here, now. The Naqshbandis warn aspirants that self-deception is a common obstacle to finding and realizing truth. They further teach that to satisfy the intellect becomes impossible and explanation reaches a dead end; but it can be transcended and a mysterious plane of higher being attained through the experience of deep contemplation. The last tale may make you laugh. Nasrudin went into a shop. He asked, "Have you flour?" "Yes." "And have you milk, sugar, honey?" "Yes." "Then, for heaven's sake, why don't you make sweetmeats?"
-- Notebooks Category 15: The Orient > Chapter 6 : Islamic Cultures, Egypt > # 39
