Question: Should a disciple bring his bad qualities forward when he is in front of you?

Sri Chinmoy: Definitely. Once a disciple went to his Master and said, “The whole day I have been praying and meditating. My mind is pure, my vital is pure, everything is pure. I feel that if I can continue like this for a few months, I will realise God. But, alas, when I come before you, all my bad qualities, all the lower forces in my nature, come to the fore and I am exposed. In a fleeting second, I see how horrible I am. During the day I was not hiding from you. I was only praying to you to give me purity. And I feel that you did give me purity. So why do these forces have to come forward?” The poor disciple was so miserable.

Then the spiritual Master said to him, “Have you come to me to hide something or have you come to me to give me what you have and to take from me what I am? Do not hide, my son. You think you are free from those forces because the whole day you have been so pure, so happy. But now you come to me and you see that it is not true. You have not conquered them. Who is going to help you? Am I your examiner that I will give you zero? Or am I the one who loves you at every moment? I am your compassionate Guru; I am the one to help you. If you feel that I am the one to help you with these impure thoughts, then why do you have to worry? But you have to give them to me. Unfortunately, now you are hiding them, holding them. You are wondering what I will think of you. You are afraid that I will take you as the worst possible creature. Your Master only thinks badly of you when you want to hide these things.”

So this was the spiritual Master’s answer. During the day, when the disciple was praying and meditating, these forces were hiding. But when the disciple was in front of the Master, that is the time these forces were trying to make his life miserable. They were trying to make the disciple feel that the Master was thinking low of him. What kinds of rogues these hostile forces are!

It is the Master’s bounden duty to be of service to the Supreme inside the particular seeker. They will work together. But a third party, the hostile force, wants to come and separate them and make the disciple feel how horrible he is so that he will become disgusted with his spiritual life and say, “O Master, I have prayed and meditated for so many years and still you have not cured this problem. I have not made any progress. Why then do I need you, Master?” This is how they want to break the relationship between the Master and the disciple.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy answers, part 38, Agni Press, 2005
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sca_38