Where Has The Light Gone

The great Sufi Saint Hasan was breathing his last. People collected together and one of them asked him, “Please tell us something about your teacher.” The Saint replied, “If I had one teacher, I could have told you about him but I had the good fortune to have a large number of teachers,” and he told the following story about a little boy:

Once, Hasan came to a small village where he saw a little boy lighting a candle on a dome. Hasan asked “Son, you lighted this candle?” The boy said, “Yes”. With mischief in his eyes, Hasan in order to confuse the boy, said, “You lighted the candle and saw the light coming into the candle. Can you tell me from where this light came?” The boy was a very smart one. He gave an answer which silenced Hasan. The boy blew out the candle and said, “You saw the lamp being blown out. Can you tell me where its light has gone?” Hasan bent down and touched the boy’s feet in appreciation.