Sri Aurobindo and Lele part ways

As ill luck would have it, Sri Aurobindo and Master Lele did not continue on good terms. Lele saw that Sri Aurobindo was moving very fast in his spiritual progress. Once he gave Sri Aurobindo some advice on a certain aspect of higher spirituality, and Sri Aurobindo did not accept his advice at all.

Lele said to Sri Aurobindo, “If you do not accept my advice, then I am telling you, you will be caught by the devil.”

“Fine! I am ready to be caught by the devil,” answered Sri Aurobindo. “But I do not want to listen to you any more.” By this time, Sri Aurobindo had gone much, much higher than his Master. He no longer needed a human Guru.

Lele had four very close disciples. After Sri Aurobindo and Lele developed this unfortunate feeling for each other, Leles disciples left him and began to follow Sri Aurobindo. Later they all came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. All four of Lele’s disciples were accepted by Sri Aurobindo. They became his closer than the closest attendants, and they offered him twenty-four-hour-a-day service. Many years later, one of these pillars of the Ashram came to New York and I honoured him. His name was Champaklal. At every moment of the day, he offered his service to Sri Aurobindo.

When it comes to stories of the Masters and their disciples, there is no hard and fast rule about what a spiritual Master will do when another Master’s disciple wishes to join his path. In Sri Aurobindo’s case, he accepted Leles disciples.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The power of kindness and other stories, Agni Press, 2011
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/pok