Mulla Nasruddin-Prattling Parrots

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A short Sufi story stresses the importance of knowing oneself first before jumping into judgements regarding others' nature.

Mulla Nasruddin was to be tried in the court. He was charged with undermining the state's security as he admitted that he went about, village to village saying that the so called wise men in the king's court were all ignorant and irresolute as well as lacking clarity.

The king asked Mulla to present his point first.

Mulla asked some papers and pens to be brought and distributed to the first seven savants.

He then asked them all to write individually in their respective piece of paper, their answer to the question, “What is bread?"

When the answers were all written down, the papers were handed over to the king who read them aloud,

“Bread is food," the first had written.
The second said, “It is flour and water"
The third had his own version, “A gift of God"
The fourth one said, “A dough that is baked"
The fifth had noted down, “It has different meanings according to what you mean by 'bread"
“Its a nutritious material" said the sixth while the seventh had expressed “Nobody actually knows!"

Mulla then turned to the king and said, “When they actually conclude what bread is, it only then be possible for them to decide on other matters"

Mulla continued to the king, “How can you entrust things relating to assessment and judgement to such people who have disparities in agreeing on the food that they eat daily, yet who uniformly say that I am a non-conformist.

Osho points out the futility of being just learned, merely reproducing whatever was passed on. One merely prattles like a parrot. What can one know when one actually does not know oneself, the very substratum of all that is known? The mystery of oneself, the very nature of oneself, has to be unravelled first. Lest how can one be acquainted with others?

Reference: “Unio Mystica, Volume 1," Osho