"An ancient saying holds that we have to become 'less than the dust at the feet of the Guru.' We have to become nothing, so insignificant that we are just like a speck of dust. Only then can we become permeated with the fragrance of our Beloved. "A man was walking down a path and suddenly he noticed that the earth where he was standing had a wonderful fragrance. " 'Oh dust,' he addressed it, 'why is it that you smell so nice? Are you a special dust?' " 'No,' said the dust, "I am just as any other dust, but once a tree stood here and the flowers used to fall to the ground. I was permeated with fragrance, but it is not me, I am just the same dust as any other.' "
(story from Daughter of Fire by Irina Tweedie)