Pleasing the disciples

A spiritual Master tries to please his disciples on all levels. At times he succeeds, at times he does not. At times he gets a hundred out of a hundred from them; sometimes he gets zero out of a hundred. He tries to please them most devotedly in the physical world, in the vital world, in the mental world, in the intuitive world and in the soul’s world. Most of his disciples may not be aware of these inner worlds, but they are aware of the outer world in which they are living.

It is not always possible for the Master to please his disciples. Sometimes a disciple feels that the Master is unkind or does not care for him if the Master does not give him what he wants. But if the Master does give him what he wants, the disciple’s soul will feel miserable and will curse the Master. And the Supreme will hold the Master responsible. He will say that the Master is consciously delaying the progress of that particular disciple. If a child wants to eat poison, the mother does not give him poison just to please him.

There are many, many things that I will not be able to give you, whereas others will be able to give you these things or you may be able to get them from the outer world. I do not have the capacity to fulfil these kinds of outer desires. When it is a matter of fulfilling your desires or demands, I am not the person. But what happens is that, out of compassion, I try to fulfil. I fulfil somebody’s outer demand or vital demand out of compassion. Then, when I see that the disciple is slowing down in his spiritual life I feel that since I have made the mistake, it is my responsibility. So I put that person on my shoulder and I run with him. Then, when I bring him back to normal speed, I say, “All right, now you go.” But a few days later he will again slow down and fall. So I have to put him on my shoulder again.

This is the plight of all spiritual Masters. The disciples say that they want to run the fastest: but when the Master uses the best method, the disciples say that the Master is unkind, he is cruel, he is indifferent, he is partial. So the Master is at everyone’s mercy. If he deals with divine Light, then the disciples say that he is partial. And if he deals with compassion, then he has to put out an extra effort to bring the disciples back to their normal speed.

If my disciples can feel that I am always doing the right thing, then they will be able to make the fastest progress. But sometimes the mind will say, “Yes, Guru is doing the right thing, ” but the heart will feel, “No he is partial.” Or in the heart a disciple will feel that I am doing the right thing, but in the mind he may feel that I am all the time doing something wrong, or that he could have done everything better or made some improvement. But I wish to say that the moment the disciple feels that the Master is doing something wrong either in his own case or in somebody else’s case, there his journey ends for five days or five months or two years. Once the disciple does not see or does not want to see the truth with the Master’s eyes, then he is lost.

Now, if you feel that your way of seeing the truth is more powerful or more real, then I may agree with you in order to avoid complications. If I say, “Do this,” and you say, No, no, that is wrong,” then immediately I will agree with you. I know that I am not wrong, but I don’t want to argue. Only I will wait for your soul to come forward and make you feel that I was right. Sometimes the disciples feel, “What does Guru know about this?” or “What does he know about the outer life?” All right, then I will keep silent. But one day your soul will come forward and tell you that I said the right thing, absolutely the right thing.

Sometimes some of the elderly disciples criticise me right and left in front of the younger ones. You people go around saying, “What does Guru know about earthly matters?” You feel that you have gone through many more years of life, so definitely you know more than I do. But you have to know that in this world there are still many things for you to know well, to be one hundred percent sure of. You also have to know that it is a real injustice to children who are being guided by me when you supply these little ones with this sort of criticism. They want to be moulded and guided by my inner light, but you are really ruining their possibilities if you make them feel that they are just blind when they listen to me. Since I have taken the responsibility to bring them to God, you don’t have to offer them your wisdom. If a child is fondling a doll, some adult doesn’t have to come and say he doesn’t like the doll. If the children like me, if I am the object of their love, and if you say, “No, he is ugly, he is all wrong,” then what are you doing for these children?

In this world, very few people can remain at the same standard or level of consciousness all the time. How many hours during one day, for example, do you stay in your highest consciousness? Perhaps for half an hour, and then you are in your ordinary consciousness for the rest of the day. Perhaps today you are depressed, tomorrow you are angry. When some negative forces have entered a disciple, or when these forces are already inside him and his consciousness is low, then he is very weak. If on a particular day a little girl is weak like this and you speak to her against me, she may say, “Oh yes, this person is sixty or seventy years old, so I am sure he is right.” You are so wise: you have added only more strength to the strength of ignorance. If you people hadn’t injected poison from your own world into these children, they would still be safe. Now I have to go and give these young ones new life.