There
is No Reason to Waste Time in Life,
For
To Live is To Establish Our Future Karma
Malba Tahan
An Editorial Note:
The following story
is reproduced from the book “Maktub -
The Book of Destiny and Other Stories”, by Malba Tahan, Charles Frank
Publications, Inc., New York, 1965, 120 pp., pp. 9-14.
“Malba Tahan” is the literary
name of Mr. Júlio César de Mello e
Souza (1895-1974), a Brazilian author. Often situated in Arab
countries, Tahan’s fictional works teach popular wisdom in a way that
stimulates unconditional ethics and interreligious understanding. Devoted to
the principle of universal friendship and mutual respect among nations, Malba
Tahan wrote also a book with stories based on the Jewish tradition.
The philosophical tenets taught in the short story below
are valid in one’s family, in social and political life and the relation among
countries as well. On the individual plane, each person can indeed help improve
the Karma and Destiny of mankind as a whole.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
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The Book of Destiny
Once, many years
ago, as I was returning from Baghdad, where I had been selling carpets and
skins, I stopped at a caravanserai near Damascus. There my attention was
arrested by the strange behavior of an old Arab of Hedjaz. He was talking
excitedly to the merchants and pilgrims, gesticulating and swearing by Allah
all the time; he was chewing a strong mixture of tobacco and hashish; and
whenever he heard someone making an unfavorable remark about him he would exclaim,
clutching his ragged turban in both hands:
“Mak Allah! O Mussulmans, I was a powerful man once -
I have had the Book of Destiny in these hands!”
“The poor devil”, people would say. “He was gone soft
in the head. May Allah have mercy on him!”
I confess, however, that I was irresistibly attracted
by this stranger with the ragged turban. I drew near him and spoke to him
gently, and after some hours, succeeded in gaining his confidence.
One evening, when we were by ourselves, he told me:
“I know they think I am mad. They refuse to believe me
when I tell them that I have had the destiny of all humanity in my own hands.
Yes, sir, the destiny of the human race.”
I stared at the man in astonishment. The repetition of
the statement that he had been the Master of Destiny showed only too well that
the old Arab was completely out of his mind. The stranger, however, seemed not
to notice my fears and suspicions.
“According to the teachings of Alcoran - the Book of
Allah - all our lives are written in the great Book of Destiny. There is a page
for every man, and on it is written all, both good and bad, that is to happen
to him. Everything that happens upon the earth is inevitably determined in the
Book of Destiny, be it the falling of a dry leaf or the death of a Kalif.”
Before I could say a word, he continued, shaking his
head sadly:
“I once rescued an old sorcerer from death at the
hands of the Sheik Abu Dolak, after that ruthless Bedouin had sacked an
encampment of the Morebe tribe with terrible slaughter and destruction. This
sorcerer gave me, as a mark of gratitude, a unique talisman - a small black
stone, in the shape of a heart, that he had found many years earlier in the
tomb of a Mussulman saint.”
“This marvelous stone would enable whoever possessed
it to go freely into the famous carven where, by the will of Allah, the Book of
Destiny is kept.”
“I traveled for many years, to the top of the Masirah
mountains, beyond the Desert of Dahna, in order to reach the enchanted cavern.
A kind jinnee, who was guarding the entrance of the cave, let me in but told me
that I was allowed only a few minutes inside the cavern.”
“It was my intention to alter whatever was written on
the page concerning me, and to make myself a rich and happy man. All I had to
do was to add, with the pen I had brought with me, that I should be happy and
loved by all and that I should have good health and great wealth. But I
remembered my enemies too. I realized how easy it would be for me to do harm to
them all. Moved by the basest feelings of hate and vengeance, I looked for the
page of Ali Ben-Homed, the merchant. I read what was going to happen to that
rival of mine, and, seized by an uncontrolled anger, I added to his destiny
that he would die in poverty and the greatest sufferings.”
“I altered the life of the Sheik Zalfah el-Abari by
writing on his page that he would lose all his wealth, become blind and die of
hunger and thirst in the desert.”
“And thus without mercy, I went on ruining and killing
all my foes.”
“What about your own life?” I asked, gazing at him
with wonder. “What did you write on the page allotted by Destiny?”
“Ah, my friend”, moaned the poor devil wringing his
hands in despair, “I did nothing for myself. I was so eager to bring adversity
upon my enemies that I completely forgot myself. I distributed sorrow and
misfortune liberally, but I did not take for myself the smallest share of
happiness. When I remembered myself and thought of making my own life happy,
the time assigned for me to remain in the cavern was over. All of a sudden,
there appeared a fierce jinnee who seized me, snatched the talisman from my
hand and threw me out of the cave. I fell among the rocks with such force that
I lost consciousness. When I recovered my senses, I found myself injured and
hungry near an oasis on the Omah desert. I was miles away from the caver.
Without the precious talisman, I could never again find the way to the
enchanted cave in the Masirah mountains.”
And sighing, he concluded in a low, hoarse voice:
“So I lost the only opportunity I ever had to make
myself rich, respected and happy.”
I still do not know whether this strange story was
true or not.
It is certain, however, that the sad experience of the
old Arab from Hedjaz teaches us an important lesson, for how many people there
are in the world who are so busy making other people’s lives miserable that
they neglect the good that they could do to themselves.
000
The story “The Book of Destiny” was published as
an independent item in the associated websites on 26 November 2019. It is also
part of the August 2019 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 7-9.
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In order to
investigate the mystery of one person being able to help change the Karma or Book of Life of the whole mankind, read
the articles “A Lever to Move the World” and
“The Center of Pascal’s Sphere”.
See also “The Power to Change the World”.
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