“Once, a king went to the wise Bahauddin Naqshband and sat watching the gathering of his disciples. Later, when supper began, the king said:
‘O teacher of eternity! I noticed that during the lessons your disciples sit in a semicircle around you, just as my courtiers do. Is there perhaps some sign in this?’
Bahauddin replied:
‘O ruler of the world! Tell me quickly how your courtiers sit, and I will be able to tell you whether the seekers sit in the same order.’
‘In the first circle sit those toward whom I feel special favor – that is why they are closest. Farther back sit the important and powerful people of the kingdom and the envoys. At the very end sit the most insignificant.’
‘In that case,’ said Bahauddin, ‘you and I divide people by different criteria. Those who sit closest to me are deaf, so that they can hear. The middle group consists of the ignorant, so that they may concentrate on the Teaching. Farthest away sit the enlightened, for whom closeness of this kind is not important.’”*
Note: The quoted text is translated from Bulgarian.
