Question: I would like to know what the demands of my soul are when I accept a spiritual Master? Do I have to give all my life, all my intelligence, all my love?

Sri Chinmoy: When you say “give”, what do you really mean: give or give up? You need not give up anything when you accept a spiritual Master. Only you have to feel that what you call “yourself” is another name for your Master. A feeling of indivisible oneness must be established between the Guru’s consciousness and the disciple’s consciousness. If you feel that you are giving up something, then there will be no end to your frustration.

As the disciple need not give up anything, so also he does not have to give anything to the Guru. The disciple just comes to the Guru and enters into the Guru with what he has and what he is. What do you have? You have a soul. What are you? You are the soul. There is no difference between what you have and what you are. If you enter into your Master with that knowledge, with that wisdom, with that understanding, then you will see, feel, and become totally one with your Master’s existence. When the disciple’s soul and the Guru’s consciousness and soul are one, at that time you are not giving him anything. Your achievement is not at all different from what you are. There will be no more difference between the two than between your fingers and your hand.

So if you are asking what a Guru will demand of you, I wish to tell you that it is your soul, which is precisely what you have and what you are. You may say that what you have, both your wisdom and your ignorance, you are giving to your Guru; but if you see that you are inside your Guru, then there is no giving and taking. There is nothing to give and nothing to take; there is only growth inside the Guru’s heart. Please stay inside your Guru as long as you can — forever. There is no time when a disciple’s soul should be separated from his Master’s consciousness. Remain inside the Master with what you have and what you are — not in the sense that you are giving anything to him but in the sense that you belong to each other. Feel that you are growing inside your Master. It is not a question of your giving him something and his having to give you something else in return. Again, there is no sacrifice in the feeling of oneness. When you feel that you and he are one, when you feel that you both have the same consciousness, the same existence, the same love; then there can be no sense of sacrifice.