There is a tale that one night the great master Rabia was seen searching for something in the street, just outside her humble hut.

They gathered around her and asked: What happened? What are you looking for?

And Rabia replied: I have lost my needle.

Eager to help, they all joined the search.

After a while, someone said: Rabia, the street is wide, the night is falling, and soon there will be no light at all. A needle is such a tiny thing. Unless you tell us exactly where it slipped from your hand, it will be nearly impossible to find it.

The master answered: Do not ask that. Do not raise that question at all. If you wish to help me, then help; otherwise, do not bring it up.

Those who were searching stopped and insisted: What is the problem? Why can't we ask that? If you don't say where it fell, how can we help?

She clarified: The needle fell inside my house.

Almost indignant, they exclaimed all at once: Are you out of your mind? If the needle fell inside your house, why are you looking for it here?

Then came the surprising answer: Because the light is here. Inside the house there is no light at all.

Someone objected: Even if the light is here, how can we find the needle if it was not lost here? The proper thing would be to take the light into your house; only then can you find the needle.

Rabia smiled and reached the point she desired: How sharp your minds are with little things. When will you turn that intelligence inward, toward your own lives?

I have seen you all searching in the outer world, yet I know (through my own experience) that what you are truly seeking is lost within yourselves.

The blessing you crave, you misplaced inside. And yet you search outside. Your reasoning is clear: the eyes see outward with ease; the hands grasp what lies outside. And because the light shines there, you search there.

But if you are truly wise, she concluded, use your wisdom rightly. Why do you seek your blessing in the outer world? Did you lose it there?

The crowd fell silent, and Rabia slipped quietly back into the darkness of her home.

*   *   *

It is always easier to search outside. The light is ready; it reveals everything clearly, close at hand.

But to speak of looking within frightens us. There is so much darkness there, so much unknown. And more: we ourselves must kindle the light. We must create it. And that seems such heavy labor...

That is why so many of us keep searching for the lost needle where it cannot be found, outside the secret chambers of the heart, merely because it feels easier.

Yet countless teachers have spoken to us of illumination. It is nothing other than this inner flame.

From the wisdom of Ancient Greece, to the Buddha, to Jesus, the Light of the world, down to our own day, when the study of the soul insists on the need for an inner radiance.

Where, then, are we searching for our lost needle?

Have we at last found the courage to enter our inner house?

The time has come. Let us consider this.

Spiritist Moment Team, based on chapter 57
of  Histórias de Transformação, by Osho,
 Cultrix Publishers.
October 9.2025