The Sweetness of His Presence

Once when Baba Farid was a young child, his mother told him that every morning he should spend some time in prayer. The little boy then asked his mother, “If I do my daily prayers, what will I get in return?”

To teach her son to get into this habit of prayer, she told him, “To those who pray every day, God will give them sweets to eat.”

With the anticipation of getting sweets, Baba Farid started to do his prayers regularly. Secretly, the mother would put some sweets under his prayer mat. Every day, after his prayers, he would open his eyes and find the sweets she had left. In his innocence, he would excitedly tell his mother, “Look mother, God gave me some sweets to eat today.”

And so he continued every morning in this way, looking forward to his daily morning prayers and his sweets.

But one day, Baba Farid opened his eyes and didn’t look down at the sweets. He didn’t eat the sweets but still looked happy and content.

His mother asked, “Farid, why haven’t you eaten the sweets God has given you?”

Baba Farid answered, “Once you taste the real sweetness of His presence, then everything in the world has no taste at all.”