The power of the magic stick

A theft was committed in the house of a rich man, but no one knew who the thief was. The man had five servants and one of them had definitely stolen something very expensive from the house, but nobody was sincere enough to confess and each one said he did not know who the thief was. It was impossible for the owner to accuse all five of his servants, for they were certainly not all in collusion. Finally the rich man asked the King’s minister, who was a very wise man, for his advice. The minister told the rich man to bring the five servants to his house the next day and he would be able to catch the real thief.

Next day the master brought the five servants to the minister.

The minister said, “I have five sticks. My master once taught me magic and I tell you all that these five sticks have magic in them. Now I am giving each one of you one stick. They are all the same length. Tomorrow morning each one has to bring his own stick back to me. Whoever has stolen from their master will see that his stick has grown an inch longer than all the others. Then you will be caught. You will not be able to deny your guilt. Tomorrow, when you bring the sticks back, whoever is the actual thief will have a stick one inch longer than the rest.”

Now, when they heard this, the four servants who were innocent were quite calm. But the guilty one was in a turmoil of fear and anxiety. “Since I am the thief,” he thought, “the magic will expose me.” Finally he decided that the best thing would be to cut his stick an inch short, so that when it grew an inch it would still be the same length as all the others.

Next morning, the five servants presented their sticks to the minister, who measured them against each other. “How is it that your stick is one inch shorter?” he asked the guilty servant.

“Shorter?” said the servant. “That is no problem. You said it had to be one inch longer to identify the thief.”

But the minister replied, “You fool, if the magic that I have inside this stick has the power to make it longer, it also has the power to make it shorter. You are caught.”

Spiritual comments

What do we learn? The sincere ones, even if they are accused, will eventually be freed, but the insincere ones, today or tomorrow, will be exposed. Some disciples bow down to me dramatically, but inside there is no love, no devotion, no surrender. Everyone thinks they are most devoted, but after a few months or a year or so, they disappear from my Centres. The sincere ones may bow or may not bow, but their sincerity will one day prove itself.

Insincere disciples will do all kinds of things. In the New York Centre they will bow down twenty times, or they will gaze at me until they get a glance, a little smile. They will go on and go on with this behaviour. But after a few months, when they see that I am not smiling at them, I am not even looking at them, they will leave the Centre. It has happened in many, many cases. The sincere disciples don't have to show off. Because of their sincerity, automatically one day they will get the best smile, the best love, affection and concern from me.

If people try to deceive me in their spiritual life, the same power that could make the minister’s stick taller could also make them shorter, so the power I have that can lift you up towards the highest Truth and bring forward all your divine qualities, can also expose your undivine qualities. Always be sincere and there will be no problems.