Question: Do you feel that most of your disciples are devoted and surrendered?

Sri Chinmoy: There are insincere disciples who doubt what the Master does for them in the inner worlds. But they say, "Let us have some faith in the Master anyway. At least he says that he does these things, although we don't feel it and we don't realise it. But let us believe what the Master says and let us also do something for him." Although it does not come from the bottom of their hearts, they inwardly say to the Master, "You say that you have done much for us. Therefore we say that we are going to do something for you."

But again, there are really sincere, dedicated and devoted disciples who feel that every day their spiritual Master does something significant for them in the inner world. These disciples are aware of real progress in their inner life as well as in their outer life. What they were before they entered into the spiritual life and what they are now shows them the vast difference between their past life and their present life. When they see the difference they get tremendous joy and they spontaneously try to dedicate their inner life as well as their outer life to the Master.

The Master offers to the sincerely devoted and dedicated disciples his true Concern, his soulful Concern. He offers to the doubting and insincere disciples his Compassion-Light. While dealing with them his Compassion overflows.

Now we come to the surrendering and surrendered disciples. If disciples have true devotion, then they will also have dedication. When they pass the test of dedication, when their dedication is complete, then they try to enter into the surrendering-world. First they try to surrender their inner life, then their outer life. At that time the Master gets a much greater opportunity to deal more effectively with the disciples' inner and outer beings. When an aspirant actually starts to surrender his inner life and his outer life to the Supreme in the Master, then the Master really sees his divine hope in that disciple. Gradually, slowly and steadily the surrendering disciple enters into the realm of the surrendered-world. And finally, when the aspirant surrenders totally, integrally and unconditionally, he becomes in no time the highest transcendental Pride of the Master and of the Supreme.

Now all of you know that Mother Earth has been blessed with many great spiritual Masters. Unfortunately, all of them have been most unfortunate in the matter of true, unconditionally surrendered disciples. Sri Krishna had very few disciples when he was alive. Only four or five persons knew who he really was. The Buddha's disciples misunderstood him when he took milk from Sujata, a beautiful woman, and they left him, although afterwards the Buddha, with his soul's inner light, recaptured them. There were only three or four people who thought that Sri Ramachandra was a real spiritual Master, not to speak of disciples who had made unconditional surrender to him. Sri Ramakrishna also had very few true disciples. In fact all the other spiritual Masters had the same fate. True, some Masters have hundreds and thousands of disciples. But when it comes to unconditionally surrendered disciples, the fate of these Masters is really deplorable.

From:Sri Chinmoy,My self-giving is my God-becoming, Agni Press, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sgg