The Master said, “Ramesh, my son, I am so pleased with you. Please tell me what kind of advice you actually need from me. I am more than willing, more than eager to illumine you and fulfil you, divinely and supremely.”
“Master, you know more than I do what kind of advice I really need in order to realise you as my very own."
The Master asked his disciple to come closer to him. Then he placed his arms around the disciple’s neck and said, “Ramesh, now tell me, what kind of relationship am I now cherishing and treasuring?”
Ramesh, with a tearful and soulful heart, said, “The relationship of a friend.”
The Master immediately added, “An eternal and unconditional friend.”
Ramesh was so deeply moved that for fifteen minutes he was swimming in the sea of Light and Delight. Finally the Master said, “Ramesh, I shall tell you what your spiritual disease is.”
“Master, I am so grateful that you are going to tell me about my disease. And I don’t have to worry at all about the remedy, for you are my only doctor and my only medicine. You can cure the disease that has been making me suffer from time immemorial.”
“Son, your disease is not as serious as you think. Your disease is your teeming ignorance within and without. Your disease is your misconception of reality’s oneness. This disease is very common, and it can easily be cured. Now you know that you are a real human being, and that I am also a real human being."
“No, Master, you are not a human being, but a divine being. That is why I find it so difficult to understand you.”
“My son, today I will teach you how to understand me. Anyway, you cannot deny that I am a real being, just as you are a real being.”
“Of course you are real, Master, and I am also real." Then the Master began to make his philosophy clear.
He said, “You and I are both real, but I know something that you do not know and you are unfortunately not learning from me.”
“What is that, Master? Today I really want to learn everything from you most devotedly and most soulfully. And I assure you, Master, your advice, from now on, will never be doubted or rejected by me.”
The Master said, “The message of reality you have already learned from me. The message of reality’s oneness I am offering to you today. When I ask you to do something for me, never feel that an outsider is speaking to you, or that a stranger is illumining you, or that a foreign element is entering into you. You know well that, according to common belief, the highest part of a human being is the searching and evolving mind. But if you enter into the spiritual life, you realise that a higher and better member of the soul’s family — the body, vital, mind and heart — is the heart. When your mind asks your body and your vital to do something, they do it immediately, because they feel that their elder brother has more light and wisdom than they have. They do not take your mind’s request as an imposition, but as an offering of light from a superior member of their own family. Naturally there can be no revolt. By obeying their elder brother, they get tremendous satisfaction. But since you are a most sincere seeker, you have seen countless occasions on which your mind has disappointed you, failed you, deserted you at the time of your dire inner need. I can never fail you, yet when I ask you to do something you feel that somebody else is offering you light.
“When somebody else says something to you or does something for you, naturally you will revolt. Or at least you will not get the same joy that you would have gotten if you had received the message from within, or accomplished the action under your own initiative. Just because you have entered into the spiritual life, just because you are making good progress, just because I am all love and concern for you, I tell you this: your heart and I are inseparably one. I am not a dictator, or even an advisor. I am only an extension of your heart’s aspiring consciousness. Your heart and my offering of wisdom-light are eternally and inseparably one. As you have established oneness with your mind, so also can you establish inseparable oneness with your heart, and take me as an extension of your heart. If you can do this, then on the physical plane I will be able to convince your body, vital and mind that what I say and do is not only for your good, but for God’s good.
“The Master’s dictionary does not house the words ‘imposition’ and ‘compulsion.’ His dictionary houses the words ‘reality’ and ‘reality’s oneness.’ When you reach the height of reality’s oneness, there is no Master and no disciple, no imposition or compulsion. There is only execution and fulfilment of the greater Light’s Reality and of the lesser Light’s reality. The lower reality can find its real satisfaction only in the heart of the higher Reality. Needless to say, the higher Reality not only accepts the lower reality as its very own, but also knows perfectly well that without the liberation and transformation of the lower reality it can never be complete, perfect and fulfilled.”
“Master, today you have illumined my heart totally. I know in the near future you will manifest and fulfil yourself in and through my life of aspiration and dedication. And for that, if I have any gratitude in this incarnation of mine, it is all yours.”
WM 1. 22 January 1974↩
“He went into the homes of four different Masters on four consecutive nights. The first night he entered a Master’s bedroom and grabbed his wristwatch. The Master caught him red-handed then immediately said to him, ‘Oh, you have come all this way to steal my wristwatch. Please take it. I shall give you my other wristwatch as well. I do not need earthly time; what I need is eternal time. I do not need earth-bound time; what I need is Heaven-free time. So please take both watches.’ My friend bowed to the Master and went home happily with the watches.
"The next night my friend entered the second Master’s room to steal this Master’s wristwatch. This Master also caught him and said, ‘You have taken such trouble to come into my room. I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble. You can certainly have my wristwatch. I have another one; I don’t need two. One is more than enough for me.’ My friend bowed to this Master and quietly went back home with the wristwatch.
“The following night my friend went into the room of a third Master. As he was stealing this Master’s wristwatch, he was caught by the Master himself. The Master said, ‘Since you are so eager to have my wristwatch, you can have it. This time I forgive you. But stealing is not an act of virtue. Please do not steal anything in the future.’
“The next night my friend went to the room of the fourth Master. While he was stealing that Master’s wristwatch, he again was caught. The Master immediately called out, ‘Thief, thief'. All the disciples living in the house rushed into the Master’s room. The Master said to them, ‘Here is a thief. Look at his audacity! He has come to steal my wristwatch. I want you people to strike him as hard as possible and throw him out of our house.’ The disciples carried out the Master’s order immediately, and my friend was most severely beaten. Poor fellow! There was no watch for him that night. Humiliation and punishment were his only rewards.
“Master, my friend wants to know which of these four is the best Master, so that he can choose the right one.”
The Master said, “I cannot tell you who the best Master is. Your friend has to make his own choice. But I will give him some advice.
“Go and tell him that the Christ-consciousness spoke to him through the first Master; the Buddha-consciousness spoke to him through the second Master; the Chaitanya-consciousness spoke to him through the third Master, and the Krishna-consciousness spoke to him through the fourth Master. Now it is up to him to make a choice. Whichever Master he cares for, he can accept as his own. Now tell me, what did you steal from me before becoming my disciple?”
“Master, as you know, I did not steal anything from you." On the contrary, it was you who came into my room secretly on four consecutive nights to steal four things that were then very precious to me. The first night you came and stole away my body’s impurity. The second night you stole my vital’s aggression. The third night you stole away my mind’s insincerity. The fourth night you stole my heart’s insecurity.”
“And then what did you do?”
“Quite helplessly I became your devoted disciple.”
The Master, with a broad smile, blessed this dear disciple with all his love, joy and pride, and said, “Would you ever like to steal anything from me?”
“Yes, Master, I would.”
“What would you like to steal from me? You don’t have to steal. I shall immediately give you anything you want freely. Just tell me, and I shall give it to you immediately.”
“Master, I wish to steal not one, but four things from you.”
“What are they? I shall immediately give them to you.”
“Master, early in the morning I wish to steal a smile from you. At noon I wish to steal a loving word from you. In the evening I wish to steal a compassionate blessing from you. At night I wish to steal fruitful forgiveness from you.
The Master said to his disciple, “My son, the more you can steal the things that you have mentioned, the more you will make me happy and proud of you. So take them every day to your heart’s content.
WM 2. 25 January 1974↩
“Your disciple Jadu reads seventeen hours a day. The rest of the time he sleeps and fools around. He never meditates or does any kind of dedicated service. He just reads and reads. He is totally confined to the mental world. What is the mental world, after all? A world of useless information.
“Your disciple Madu just works and works like a machine, fifteen hours a day. Needless to say, his work is not dedicated service at all. He is a fool. He does not care for meditation. He never meditates even for five minutes. He does not even care for books, for mental awakening and mental discipline. How can such a stupid fellow ever realise God?
“Your disciple Sidu meditates sixteen hours a day, and the rest of the time he just sleeps. Now you see, Master, Sidu is so mean that he wants to have realisation and liberation all for himself. He does not care for the ashram activities. This is a spiritual community. We must work and meditate at specific times. But he only meditates and meditates for his own liberation. It is we who work and do everything for him. So you see how ungrateful and mean he is.
“Madu works and works, and Sidu meditates and meditates. But Jadu is so clever! He thinks that since Sidu is meditating and Madu is working, he will gain his own realisation by virtue of their dedicated service and soulful meditation. Look at this rogue! So, Master, Jadu is a rogue, Madu is a fool and Sidu is a selfish churl!
“Master, I work selflessly, I devotedly read only your books, and I meditate soulfully. Do you not think that it is I who will get realisation first? It is I who deserve realisation, and not Jadu, Madu or Sidu.
The Master gave his angry disciple a smile and said, “I tell you, Ladu, it is true that one day all of you will realise God. But your friends Jadu, Madu and Sidu will realise God long before you.”
Ladu was shocked. He said, “Master, how can it be? I never thought that you could be so partial. Your statement — I beg to be excused — is absurd. I work, I read, I meditate, I do everything to please you. But they do everything to please themselves.”
“How do you know that they do everything to please themselves? Anyway, I shall tell you why they will realise God long before you. They know what they are. They know perfectly well what their weaknesses are. But you do not know at all what your weaknesses are. Your weakness is pride; your weakness is finding fault with others; your weakness is pulling forward God’s Hour undivinely. Since they are conscious of their weaknesses, they will pray to God for forgiveness. Each one will turn over a new leaf. With a searching mind and a crying heart they will all run and run towards their destined Goal. Before you even become aware of your weaknesses, I tell you, your friends will try to rectify their weaknesses. Naturally, you will not be able to keep up with them.”
“But Master, now that you are illumining me with your blessingful advice, I am sure I shall achieve my realisation before them. As you see, they are not here to receive your advice.”
“Yes, Ladu, I am illumining you now. But I have already illumined them. You can go and see for yourself."
Ladu ran to the meditation hall, where the other three were sitting. To his wide astonishment, he saw infinite Light in Jadu’s eyes, and he saw that Jadu’s body was none other than the Master’s own body. Immediately Jadu stretched out his hands and blessed Ladu with all his loving compassion. Then Ladu saw infinite Peace in Madu’s eyes, and he saw that Madu’s body was none other than the Master’s own body. Madu stretched out his hands and blessed Ladu with all his loving compassion. Then Ladu went to Sidu, and he saw infinite Delight in Sidu’s eyes, and he saw that Sidu’s body was none other than the Master’s own body. Sidu stretched out his hands and blessed Ladu with all his loving compassion.
Sorrowful because he had been humiliated, yet delighted because at last he had really received something worth treasuring all his life, Ladu returned to the Master. Lo, he saw Jadu, Madu and Sidu already sitting there by the Master. He was wonderstruck. How could they have come before him? The Master asked Ladu to come and sit in front of him.
The Master blessed Ladu. Immediately Ladu’s three brothers saw in his eyes the sky-vast Perfection-light. All three fell at his feet and received perfection from his blessing.
Then the Master blessed all four disciples and said, “Today my disciples and I have brought down the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Let us welcome aspiring humanity to become citizens of our newly established and well-founded Kingdom.”
WM 3. 25 January 1974↩
Early one morning, the Master was in his meditation room in a contemplative mood when Ratul hurriedly came in and touched his feet, saying, “Master, I have come to you for a last blessing.”
“What?” said the Master. “What do you mean by a last blessing?”
“Master, today is the last day that this life of mine will be blessed by you, for today I am leaving you for good.”
The Master was simply shocked. “Ratul,” he said, “what is wrong with you? What kind of nonsense is this? Just yesterday you were in a most soulful consciousness, as you have always been. Has anyone insulted you?”
“No, Master, nobody has insulted me. Nobody ever dares to insult me, for they know that if they do they will be in serious trouble, and you will not forgive them. Your indulgence towards me at times borders on madness. Although people don’t dare to say so outwardly, inwardly I am sure they cherish this idea.”
“Who cares what they think of me? As long as you love me most devotedly and I love you most compassionately and most proudly, who cares for others’ assessments of my divine action?”
“You are right, Master, but today I have come to you not for consolation or illumination but for the strength to fulfil my promise.”
“What is your promise, my dear son? Please be explicit.”
“Master, when I came to you ten years ago I made a solemn promise to myself that I would never doubt you or deceive you. I vowed that if ever I should doubt you or deceive you I would leave you immediately. Alas, yesterday, the time came for me to keep my promise. I both doubted you and deceived you.”
“In what way did you doubt me and deceive me, my son?”
“Master, let me tell you the whole story. Last night when I went to bed, hundreds of ideas — divine and undivine, progressive and destructive — entered into my mind, and at last there came a moment when I started doubting you.”
“But why? How did your doubt begin?”
“Master, it is all your fault. Some time ago you told me that in this incarnation I would realise God. But now I have been with you for ten years, and I see that God-realisation is still a far cry. I know perfectly well that my whole life is full of limitations, imperfections and weaknesses. I am convinced that there is no hope of God-realisation for me — not only in this incarnation, but for many incarnations to come. Master, all along you just encouraged me so that I could accept your path and walk along with you. Anyway, Master, last night I doubted you most sincerely and most powerfully. Now I do not want to stay with you any more, for I want to keep my soul’s promise to myself.
“Now about my deception, which is the other reason for my decision to leave you. At about eleven o'clock last night I got a phone call from Vidhan. He was terribly upset, for he had lost all faith in you. He felt that his life was meaningless. All his aspiration and all his material wealth he had offered to you during the seven years that he stayed at your ashram, and in return he felt that you had given him nothing, absolutely nothing. He was sad and furious, and he wanted to leave your ashram immediately. Do you know, Master, what I said to him on the phone? I gave him all kinds of most illumining advice. I told him all about your loving and compassionate qualities, and I reminded him of all the times you have shown him special love, special concern, special compassion, special joy and pride. I also told him that because of your unconditional love and compassion for all of us, we have made enormous progress in our spiritual life. I even said that the Goal is not very far from us, especially in his case and mine.
“So, Master, do you see what kind of rogue I am? I doubted you vehemently last night, and the same night I had to deceive my most intimate friend with my false reassurance. To deceive him is to deceive you, for you and he are one, as you and all of us are one.”
The Master most compassionately placed his hands on Ratul’s head and said, “What a contradiction! What an irony of fate! This moment you make me feel that you have totally understood my supreme philosophy, whereas a moment ago you made me feel that you have not learned even the ABC of my philosophy. Have I not told you time and again that in my philosophy doubt is poison, doubt is destruction? How is it that today you are paying so much attention to doubt and not to the inner faith which you so soulfully and powerfully offered to Vidhan at the time of his dire need?”
“Master, I don’t know. Please tell me what I can do now. On the one hand, I really want to leave you because I don’t want to break my promise. But on the other hand, I feel that there is no place for me on earth if I leave you. And please tell me this, Master: how could I doubt you? How could I doubt you and, at the same time, convince somebody else about your love, compassion, light and power? I hate myself for deceiving Vidhan, who was so sincere to me last night. I could have told him that I, too, was sailing in the doubt-boat.”
“Ratul, I shall make it all clear to you. You did the right thing. Both you and Vidhan were swimming in the sea of darkness, confusion and destruction, but you came out of the sea before him.”
“Master, I don’t understand that. How was it possible for me to come out of the ignorance-sea before him? He was at least sincere. He told me everything about his deplorable condition and about his decision to leave you. I had made the same decision, but never during our conversation did I mention my plan. On the contrary, I spoke so highly of you, so devotedly of you. I was the real culprit. Master, you have to tell me, wasn’t it an act of injustice on your part or on God’s part to bring me out of the ignorance-sea before Vidhan?”
“My son, when two are on the verge of drowning, one should strive to come and touch the shore first so that he can stretch out his hand and save the other. Now you may ask, how was it that you became the saviour? You became the saviour because even while you were doubting, even while you were deceiving, there was something in you that inwardly made you see what your future would be without me. If you left me your life would be totally ruined, and your God-realisation certainly could never take place in this incarnation. God alone knows how many incarnations you would take to realise God. You felt all this last night.
“You say that you doubted me and you deceived me. But I wish to say it was your mind that doubted and deceived me, Ratul. Your heart has always been inseparably one with my Wisdom-Light. True, wisdom-light does not intimidate anybody; it only illumines the unlit substance, the unfulfilled reality in human beings. But, at times, when God feels that there is no other medicine for an individual in most deplorable circumstances, He asks the Master to use his Wisdom-light in a frightening way. This is His remedy for the seeker who has always been good, aspiring and dedicated, but on a rare occasion has become a victim of doubt and deception. So your fear of an uncertain future, your fear of an unrealised life, saved you. But Vidhan allowed himself to be inhumanly hostile to me and to God. He did not care for his future at all. He was simply carried away by his haughty vital.
“True, in the spiritual life, love is the most important thing. But I wish to tell you that sometimes when unconditional love fails to conquer a particular defect of a dear disciple, the Master has every right to use his divine Force, which is nothing but another form of genuine love for his dear disciple. In your case, this Force operated first. Therefore, you were in a position to reach the shore before Vidhan and then help him reach the shore.
“So, my son, is my philosophy clear to you?”
“Yes, Master, what you have said about my deception is quite clear. But why did I doubt you in the first place?”
“Ratul, it is not easy to conquer doubt. Doubt follows a seeker for a considerable distance on his way to the Goal. At times it may even happen that just when the seeker is about to reach his destination, doubt tries to devour him. Doubt is conquered only when one has reached the Goal. There are some human beings who are not born with doubt at all, who are born only with implicit faith. Again, there are people who have a little doubt and a great deal of faith. You are one of those. Your faith far surpasses your doubt.
“I wish to tell you that you have already covered half the length of your spiritual journey. You are bound to reach your Goal no matter how long you doubt me or how long you doubt your own spirituality. As you made an inner promise to yourself when you accepted me, so also did I make a solemn promise both to God and to your soul. My promise was that in this incarnation I would make you realise God. I didn’t tell your soul or God that I would make you realise God provided you did this or said that for me. My promise to your soul and to God was unconditional. Therefore I assure you that in your case, God-realisation is destined, no matter what you do, no matter what you say. Your God-realisation is as inevitable as the passage of today into tomorrow.”
Ratul fell down before the Master and kissed his feet with overwhelming love and gratitude. “Master, I knew. I knew all along that you were great, very great, exceptionally great. But today you have revealed to me another divine aspect of yours. You have shown me today that you are good, very good, exceptionally good. Your greatness always fascinated and attracted me. From now on, your goodness will forever illumine and fulfil me.”
WM 4. 25 January 1974↩
“Ratan, faith is blind, and it always has to be blind. But you have to know what is meant by blind faith. Blind faith means one-pointed faith, concentrated and unswerving faith. If a disciple does not have that kind of faith, then it is simply impossible for the Master to act through him successfully all the time.”
“Oh, now it is clear to me. What you want is not actually sincere and devoted disciples, but a gang of wild flatterers. Almost all your disciples are clever flatterers. But I shall have faith in you for the things that you can do, not for the things that you cannot do. Do you want to hear something funny, Master? Those three brilliant disciples of yours told me this morning that their faith does not depend on what you can or cannot do, for according to them, there is nothing you cannot do. If you do not do something, it is simply because you do not care to do it or you do not need to do it. They are such silly fellows!
“They asked me if I had read the Bible. I laughed at their absurd question. I am sure I have read the Bible many more times than they have. I have studied it thoroughly from beginning to end. They asked me whether I believed in the Christ’s utterance, ‘Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ I told them that I do not believe in this utterance. Unless and until I see a thing with my naked eyes, I do not believe in its existence.
“Then that rascal Shyamal asked me, ‘Can you see Rome from here with your naked eyes?’ I said, ‘No!’ He then asked, ‘Can you see your own heart with your naked eyes right now? Can you see the thousands of subtle nerves inside your own body?’ Again I had to say, ‘No.’ But Master, I wish to tell you that these arguments are so silly. Although I lost to Shyamal this morning, I shall never accept anything just from hearsay. I need firsthand proof. I need justification for the reality of everything. Now, Master, please do me a favour. Will you kindly say a few absurd things that your great disciple Shyamal will not be able to justify or defend?”
“Why? Why should I do that?”
“Master, I am pleading with you. This morning he humiliated me badly. Now I want him to be humiliated at least once. And if he is humiliated by you, I don’t think it will hurt him much. After all, Master, it is you who have taught us that pride is immediately followed by humiliation.”
“But Ratan, Shyamal has not shown you any pride. He has only told you the truth, the absolute truth.”
“Master, I know it is simply useless for me to say anything against Shyamal. But would you not, out of your infinite kindness, give me a little pleasure and satisfaction by smashing his pride just this once?”
“Ratan, I tell you, the question of pride does not arise in Shyamal’s case. But if you want me to play a game in front of you, I will do so. I shall ask those with whom you had this sad dispute to come to me. Then I shall say two most significant things which will have to be justified. And I shall be proud of the person or persons who can justify me.”
“I know your proud disciple Shyamal will immediately justify you. But I beg of you, Master, to say something extremely absurd so that he will not be able to justify you at all.”
“I tell you, Ratan, no matter how absurd the things that I say, Shyamal will be able to justify them.”
“Let me see, Master.”
“Then go and invite your friends. Bring them to me.”
Ratan brought his three friends, and all four disciples sat before the Master. The Master said, “My children, I will give you two special messages. You have to justify them and prove that they are or can be true. The first message is this: last night, Gokul, your father committed suicide.”
Immediately Ratan jumped up with great joy and said to Shyamal in a mocking manner, “O great philosopher, O great devotee of the Master, now justify the Master’s message! Last night we had supper at Gokul’s place, and his father also dined with us. I can bring his father here right now. So you can see what kind of statement our Master has made. And you fools still have faith in him!”
Shyamal flew into a rage and said, “Shut up, Ratan! Our Master always tells the truth. It is said in the Indian scriptures that if you want to commit suicide you don’t have to do it physically. Just brag about your glorious achievements and all the things that only you could have done. That kind of pride is itself an act of suicide. You heard what Gokul’s father said to us yesterday. He told us that he was so disappointed in his children’s lives that he wanted to commit suicide. Then, for two hours he bragged about the accomplishments and achievements in his own life. He did not allow us even to open our mouths. In pindrop silence and with wide astonishment we heard all about his grandiose triumphs in life. So you see, Ratan, he did commit suicide, for that kind of pride is nothing short of suicide.”
The Master and the other two disciples immediately gave Shyamal a powerful round of applause. Then the Master said, “I have one more statement to make, and it is this: I realised God at the age of forty-two.”
Immediately Ratan jumped up again, joyfully. He said, “Master, now you are caught. In your autobiography you say that you realised God at the age of nine. Shall we believe in your biography or in your present statement? Either you told us a lie then, or you are telling us a lie today.”
Shyamal cried, “Shut up, Ratan! How dare you call our Master a liar? You fool! Our Master cannot tell a lie. Let me inject some wisdom into your barren mind. True, in our Master’s autobiography he says that he realised God at the age of nine, whereas now our Master is saying that he realised God at the age of forty-two. What he means is this: at the age of forty-two he opened his ashram and accepted many disciples, and thus realised God in another way. At the age of nine his God-realisation was only for himself, but at the age of forty-two his God-realisation is for us — for fools like you and me.”
The Master and the two disciples again gave Shyamal most enthusiastic applause, and Ratan buried his head in his hands in utter shame. Then the Master asked Shyamal to sit in front of him. He said, “Shyamal, I am so proud of you. This is how a disciple should justify his Master at every moment. The Master, too, justifies his disciples in every way. I shall tell you how he does this.
“In the Supreme Court of the Supreme, when ignorance and a disciple are brought together, ignorance tells the Supreme Judge, ‘This fellow was with me for millions of years, and I fed him all the time. But now he has left me. He does not even recognise me. And he tells me that I am suing him unjustly.’
“At this point the Master plays the role of a lawyer and supports the disciple. He says to the Supreme, ‘O Supreme, the past is dust. We see no trace of ignorance in this man. He is all perfection. Your philosophy states that the important thing is not what one was, but what one is and what one eventually becomes. Ignorance no longer has any claim on this man.’ On hearing this the Supreme takes the side of the disciple and dismisses the case.”
Shyamal asked the Master, “Do you always defend your disciples against ignorance in the Court of the Supreme?”
“Yes, I always do it, and I do it gladly and devotedly.”
“What does the Supreme think of you? Does He not think that you are partial to your disciples?”
“No, not in the least. On the contrary, the more I defend the cause of my disciples, the dearer I become to Him, for it was the Supreme who commanded me to become part and parcel of the disciples’ ignorance and thus make them feel that if I could realise God in spite of all obstacles, they too can realise Him. The more I support and justify my disciples, the more I cover up their ignorance-life, the sooner I get the opportunity to illumine them, and the prouder God becomes of me for the total dedicated service which He Himself demanded from my life.”
Ratan politely pushed Shyamal aside and sat in front of the Master and said, “Master, I am one of those unfortunate disciples. You have to justify and defend me, too, when I stand facing ignorance in the Court of the Supreme. Master, you are my tutor and you are my lawyer.”
The Master said, “I am neither your tutor nor your lawyer, Ratan. In the light of the highest Truth, I am only your lover — a divine lover, an eternal lover of your heart’s aspiring cry.”
WM 5. 25 January 1974↩
“Master, I am sad because I have been suffering badly for the last two weeks.”
“Why have you been suffering, my child?”
“Master, I have been suffering because of the ingratitude of some of your ex-disciples. When they came to you they had countless defects in their nature. They were useless. You literally took them out of the gutter and showed them infinite love and compassion, blessingful gratitude and divine pride. They were with you for about ten years and no doubt served you considerably. But after they had made some solid progress, pride, haughtiness and ingratitude took them away from you. Master, I am feeling sorry and sad about this.”
“My child, don’t be sad. Gratitude is not yet born on earth, and God alone knows if it will ever take birth here. God has created all of us, but how many people love God? How many people want to live a spiritual life, a divine life? Out of a hundred people, not even one cares to follow the spiritual life. Poor God! He has done everything for us, but we do not show Him any gratitude. God is infinitely more kind and compassionate than your Master. So if God can remain quite satisfied with the ingratitude of the world, how is it that we cannot accept it? God gives unconditionally everything that He has. We are God’s children, so let us also try to offer our capacity and our light unconditionally to the world, without expecting gratitude or appreciation. As a matter of fact, my son, I wish to say that I am to some extent lucky.”
“In which way are you lucky, Master?”
“Let me make it clear to you. I have often told you that I am a spiritual farmer. You know that a farmer sows thousands of seeds, but only a few hundred germinate. Yet when these few hundred seeds manifest life, the farmer feels that he is well compensated. These seeds grow into a bumper crop, and he gets great satisfaction from his creation.
“Now, for an ordinary farmer, the remaining thousands are all lost, dead, forever ruined; they have produced no life. But in the case of the spiritual farmer, the situation is much better. When a seeker leaves his Master, thinking that the Master is worthless, he may not follow the spiritual life for a few years or even for a few incarnations. But one day that seeker will definitely go to some other spiritual Master, who may be either inferior or superior to his previous one. And one day that seeker is bound to realise God.”
“But Master, you have always told us that time is a crucial factor. If we can realise God today, why should we wait ten years or ten incarnations?”
“My son, you are absolutely right. I always say, ‘First things first.’ If I can realise God today, then tomorrow I can reveal God, the day after I can manifest God, and the following day God and I can perfect His creation. If one wants to realise God, then he must attempt to do so as soon as possible. One has to walk or run to the realisation-tree and then he has to start climbing up. But if he comes right to the tree and then goes back to his old home, ignorance, then he is lost — yes, totally lost — for a few years or for a few incarnations. Now, if someone consciously goes back to ignorance after seeing the Light, what can we do? We can only sympathise with him and remember that he is living in eternal time.
“If I have to tell you the ultimate Truth, nothing is permanently lost in the eternal life of a divine soul. The soul that has gone back to ignorance will one day return to Light. But that soul is an unlucky soul. We pity it for embracing ignorance again after getting ample opportunity to run the fastest towards the Goal. When we know we have the capacity to run the fastest under the guidance of a true spiritual Master, it is a great shame if we again enter into the world’s ignorance and temptation, thinking that perhaps this time the ignorant pleasure-life will satisfy us.
“There are two shores: one is the shore of temptation and the other is the shore of aspiration. Knowing perfectly well that the temptation-shore — where we stayed for twenty, thirty, or forty lives — had failed to satisfy us, we came to the divine shore, the aspiration-shore. We must stay here, for the aspiration-shore is the harbinger of the illumination-shore, the realisation-shore. To go back again to the temptation-shore is a most deplorable mistake, a Himalayan blunder. We must know that if we go back again to the temptation-shore, our punishment will be most severe.
“When a child does something wrong, when he commits a theft, everybody forgives him because he does not know the consequences of theft. But if an adult commits a theft, he is badly punished. Now, when we enter into the spiritual life we are fully mature, we have struggled to come out of desire-life, and only with the greatest difficulty have we succeeded. So if we go back to our temptation-life, to the fulfilment of our desire-life, our punishment becomes extremely severe, for we have already seen the life of aspiration and the shore of God-realisation.
“Before one accepts the spiritual life, one is like an ignorant child. Because of his ignorance, a child wants to play with fire, but when his fingers are burned he does not again go near the fire. In the spiritual life, we come to realise that living a life of desire is as destructive and ignorant as consciously playing with fire. Again, a child eventually comes to realise that, if he remains good, he gets appreciation and admiration from others. Here in the spiritual life, if you remain faithful and devoted to God, no undivine force can dare take you away from the path of Truth and Light.
“So, my son, I wish to tell you that since these people want to make progress slowly, you can do and say nothing. You can only pray, ‘O God, illumine them and make them again run towards Your Goal — towards You, the Goal. Whether they come to You through my Master or through some other Master is immaterial. My fervent prayer to You, O God, is to take them to You in Your Boat, at Your choice Hour, in Your own Way.’”
WM 6. 30 January 1974↩
“Master, something happened yesterday.”
“Tell me, what was it?”
“Master, yesterday during your talk, you said that if we first please God in His own Way, then God will please us in our own way. Master, do you remember saying this?”
“Yes, I remember, Rohina. I did say it.”
“Then, Master, I take this as your promise to mankind.”
“Certainly, you can take it as my solemn promise to mankind.”
“Master, now I have to tell you my secret hope.”
“What is your secret hope?”
“Master, for the last ten years I have been crying and crying to marry Tanka, but you have not allowed us to get married. Now I have decided that we shall please you in your own way by not getting married. So I am sure that the day will come when you will be pleased with us and then you will say, ‘All right, go and get married.’ ”
“Foolish girl! When I say that only when you please God unconditionally in His own Way will God please you, how can you take it in that way? When will God please you in your own way? Only when you become an unconditionally surrendered disciple, only when you please God unconditionally and constantly, only when your way becomes His Way.
“Today perhaps you can please God unconditionally for one minute. But after that minute is over, everything is conditional, conditional, conditional. Now, why should God care for the fulfilment of your teeming desires? You entered into the spiritual life with the idea that God would give you Peace, Light, Bliss and Power in infinite measure. God promised that He would definitely give you all this because you wanted to give up the life of desire and enter into the life of aspiration. But now, in spite of the fact that you have prayed and meditated for so many years, you still want to enter into the life of temptation, the life of vital pleasure, the life of possession and bondage. You feel that once your Master is pleased with you he will allow you to go your own way. This is a serious mistake.
“When the Master tells you, ‘Please God in His own Way, and then God will please you in your own way,’ you have to know that when you become unconditionally surrendered to God for your whole life, there comes a time when your will and God’s Will become totally one. When you become totally one with God, your decision and God’s decision are the same. A child does not know what his father’s will is. But when the child grows into a mature man he becomes totally one with his father’s wisdom. He knows perfectly well that he has established his conscious oneness with his father. And naturally, if the son has to make a decision, his father knows that he will do the right thing.
“What I said about you pleasing God and God pleasing you applies to the time when you have established constant, inseparable and permanent oneness with God. At that time, whether you tell God to do something or God tells you to do something, it is the same. At that time it becomes impossible for God to refuse you anything, because His Will and your will have become totally one. On the strength of your surrender you have become one with Him. And on the strength of His Wisdom-Light He has become one with you.
“At the time of your permanent unconditional surrender, if you want to maintain your individuality, you can say, ‘God, this is the decision I have made.’ But your individuality has already entered into universal unity with God’s Reality. So there is still no difference of choice or will between you and God. This is what I meant when I said that if you fulfil God in His own Way, He will fulfil you in your own way.
“Suppose you give me a glass of water and then, because you have pleased me, ask me to buy you a gun so that you can kill your enemy. Shall I allow that? Similarly, at this point in your spiritual life, you want to marry a particular person whom God Himself does not want you to marry. Will God allow you to do something which is not right for you, even if you have pleased Him? It is true that sometimes God does want a seeker to do a certain thing at a later date. God may feel that now is not the right time for something — that you should make considerable progress in your spiritual life and then, later on, He will consider the case again.
“But if the Master once tells you that God Himself has said that this union cannot take place because He feels that the two souls do not go together, this is a categorical statement. Once the Master has made a categorical statement, if the disciples still cling to their own hopes and attachments, they are making a serious mistake. They may think that if they please the Master in his own way for a number of years, then naturally he will try to please them, but this is wrong.
“Suppose you have an innocent desire: you want to become a good singer in a short time. But circumstances and your capacity do not allow you to become a good singer. Now at this point, if God’s Compassion enters into your limited capacity, He can easily expedite your singing capacity. He will do this only if He sees that the fulfilment of this particular desire will not eventually lead you to a life of destruction. God may fulfil an innocent snow-white desire if you truly please Him, but He will not fulfil your damaging and destructive desires at that time. God gives us what we want if He safely can so that our hearts will gratefully offer the Supreme what He Himself wants: our eternal, unconditional surrender.
“Naturally, even if you have just a little aspiration God will offer you His infinite Compassion. His Compassion, which is Power, will expedite your spiritual progress. Without God’s Compassion, it would have taken you hundreds of years to make the progress which you have made since you entered the spiritual life and began consciously pleasing God — in your own way, of course, and according to your own capacity.”
WM 7. 30 January 1974↩
“Tell me, my child, what is it? I shall definitely throw light on it, whatever it may be.”
“Master, you have been requested by the disciples of so many other spiritual Masters to meet and speak with their Masters. How is it that you always refuse? Not even once have you listened to their requests. Why is that?”
“My child, the reason is very simple. My disciples and the disciples of other Masters are apt to create tremendous confusion for each other. How? Through their rivalry. You will say that your Master is by far the best, and those who follow a different path will have every right to say the same thing about their Master. I have seen inwardly that for one spiritual Master to meet with another does not serve any purpose.”
“But Master, there are some spiritual Masters who have written to you personally. They are so anxious to meet you and you have not even answered their letters.”
“Yes that is true. Outwardly I have not answered their letters. But I have answered their letters inwardly. If the Masters were truly spiritual people, I contacted them inwardly the moment I read their letters.”
“But you answer the letters of your disciples, who ask you most unimportant things, absolutely silly things, if I may say so. How is it that you ignore these Masters, who are far superior to your disciples in spiritual height, and who want to discuss very serious things with you from a higher plane of consciousness?”
“I am a spiritual father and I have quite a few spiritual children. It is my first and foremost duty to help the members of my own family. You have to know that there is an important difference between a friend and a member of one’s own family.”
“Master, it is true that you have to pay attention to the members of your family most of the time. But one does pay attention to one’s friends, too, from time to time.”
“True, on the physical plane one has to pay attention to one’s friends as well. Even if a person pays attention to the members of his family twenty-four hours a day, he thinks of his friends at least once in a while. But on the spiritual plane it is not like that. On the spiritual plane, real Masters can easily communicate with each other inwardly. I don’t have to answer the questions of other Masters outwardly. I don’t have to speak to them on the outer plane in order to say what I have to say because I can do it inwardly.”
“Master, I shall be grateful if you can make this more clear to me.”
“My son, I shall make clear to you why I do not want to see other spiritual Masters and also why I ask my disciples not to go to other Masters. Do you think that I am really mean? Do you think that I have a smaller heart than ordinary people who are willing to accept the whole world? I have a heart of light and wisdom. I feel that everyone is right in his own way. If I say what I consider to be right, you can easily disagree with me. You won’t do that because you are my disciple and you have implicit faith in me, but somebody else will eagerly deny what I say. He will say what he feels is right.
“We should stick to our own convictions. Those who have accepted my path are mine, totally mine, and should stay with me. The disciples of other Masters belong to those Masters. I tell my disciples, ‘This is the truth that I have realised. There is only one truth, but I have realised the truth in this particular way. If you want to realise the truth this way, then you can stay with me. Similarly, the other Masters can say the same about the way they have realised the truth.
“We are speaking about the way, not the Goal. The Goal is the same for everyone. I can show you the way I have realised the truth, and you will learn from me. But if I show my way to other Masters or to the disciples of other Masters, they will be totally confused. These disciples will say either that I am totally wrong or that their Masters are wrong. Now why should I create problems? Our path and other paths are equally right. I accept people who have faith in me, who feel that I am the person to take them to the Goal, and other Masters take their disciples to the same Goal with their own way of understanding and realising the truth.
“Now I shall tell you something more. Suppose there are three persons climbing up a tree. They are all on different branches, and they are all giving sermons from different heights. Each one speaks according to the height of the branch he has reached. There will be people who will understand the person speaking from the lowest branch far better than the one speaking from the higher branches. Again, there will be some people who will be able to understand the one who is speaking from the highest branch. Each speaker is right in his own way, and everyone understands his Master’s message according to his own standard.
“But one who is meant for the Master on the lowest branch may immediately deny what the Master on the highest branch is saying, and shout that it is all wrong. According to his own capacity of understanding, he has grasped the truth spoken by the Master on the lowest branch.
“Again, the Master on the middle branch will speak in his own way, according to his own realisation, and many people will be able to understand him. But when these people hear the Master who is on the topmost branch, they will not understand a word. They will say, ‘Our Master didn’t give us this kind of philosophy at all. What this Master is telling us is all wrong.’ Just as the disciples of the first Master find it impossible to understand what the second Master says, so also do the disciples of the second Master find great difficulty in understanding and realising the philosophy of the third Master, who is on the topmost branch.
“The disciples of the Master who is on the topmost branch do not find it so difficult to understand the Masters who speak from the lower branches, because they have climbed past those branches and reached a superior height. It is not necessary for them to go back to the lower branches in order to know what is being said there. If I have my Master’s degree, I do not go back to the primary school or the kindergarten in order to understand what is being taught there. If you have achieved the highest standard, you will not go back to the lowest standard. If people of the highest and the lowest categories mix together, or if people of different paths mix together, then there will be nothing but chaos and confusion.
“Each Master is right according to his own knowledge, and for his disciples he is perfect. But if he mixes with other Masters and exchanges ideas with them, the disciples of the different Masters will not understand, and even the Masters themselves will not understand each other’s spiritual language because of the difference in their depth and the difference in their height. So I always say that whether I am superior or inferior to another Master is up to God to judge. But if you play your part, if you are devoted and faithful to me, I shall take you to the destined Goal; and if other disciples are faithful and devoted to their Masters, then their Masters will take them to the destined Goal.
“Two Masters can be of the same height, of the same standard — that is to say, they have entered into the same room. But one has entered through the left door, and the other through the right door. If the one that has entered through the left door is asked about the location of an object inside the room, from his point of view it will be in a particular corner, perhaps the front right corner. For the other Master, that object will be located in the left back corner. Although the object is in the same place, the two Masters observe it from different viewpoints. Naturally each will claim that he is right. Let us take the object as the Goal. Even after they have reached the same Goal, these two persons may easily dispute the location of the Goal.
“So you can see for how many reasons it is not advisable for spiritual Masters to exchange their philosophies and lofty realisations. Each one is right in his own way. Let each one be satisfied with what he has and what he is. Let each one become what he wants to become. This is my philosophy. I am sorry if you don’t understand my philosophy, but I can assure you that there is someone both on earth and in Heaven who understands my philosophy perfectly, and He is my eternal Friend, God.”
WM 8. 30 January 1974↩
The Master replied, “In most convents, everything is mechanical. It is not an illumined life; it is a suppressed life, which is not good. In a convent, austerity, penance and forced discipline are frequently demanded for their own sake. But in an ashram, a real ashram, austerity is not demanded, but simplicity is expected; penance is not demanded, but right action is expected; forced discipline is never demanded, but spontaneous inner discipline is expected.
“In a convent, many persons look upon the ordinary life as an object of contempt. But in a real ashram, a seeker stays not because he feels the life of desire is filthy and impure, but because it is something no longer necessary for him.
“In a convent the Mother Superior need not be a God-realised soul. Far from it. But in an ashram, whoever is the head is supposed to be a God-realised soul.
“In a convent, the Mother Superior will often condemn all other spiritual Masters, religions and spiritual paths. But in a real Indian ashram, the Master tells the disciples that other ashrams, other paths, other Masters are good in their own way. However, he will not encourage his disciples to mix with others because he feels it only creates confusion when people following different paths exchange their views.
“Since you have asked me the difference between ashram life and convent life I wish to tell you a juicy story about another spiritual Master, who happens to be a very good friend of mine.
“This Master had about two thousand disciples in America. One day, a very close disciple of his took him to a convent to see her son, who was convalescing in a nursing home there. The disciple’s son did not care at all for the Master, for he had no faith in this Master. But still the Master said a few comforting words to the son.
“Later on, as the Master and disciple were leaving the nursing home, the disciple asked the Master if he would like to visit the chapel of the convent. The Master said, ‘Why not?’ Fortunately or unfortunately, the disciple stayed outside talking to some people, and the Master went into the chapel alone, wearing his Indian clothes. He started looking at the portraits of the Christ and Mother Mary, and was deeply absorbed in meditation on them when suddenly three nuns rushed out of the chapel shouting and screaming undivine words.
“A few minutes later the Mother Superior was brought in. As soon as the Mother Superior came in, the situation became worse. She was beside herself with anger, and was about to throw the spiritual man out, when suddenly something changed inside her, and instead she said, ‘I am sure Christ will forgive him, even though he is a Hindu. His eyes are full of sincerity and devotion from looking at the portrait of Christ.’ Then she added, ‘But don’t you dare come to this place any more. This chapel is extremely sacred. It is only meant for Christians. You are not a Christian, and you should not have come in. I can clearly see that you have a good heart; therefore Christ will not be offended. But please don’t come again!’
“The Master gave the Mother Superior a thankful smile outwardly as he left the chapel, and inwardly he gave himself a sigh of relief.
“Alas, a few days later the disciple’s son died. Now this particular young man was anything but spiritual, and therefore, after his death, he was having tremendous problems in the vital plane. But he could see that there were many people in the vital plane who were really enduring much less suffering. So, he made enquiries as to why these people were rather enjoying themselves while he was condemned to suffer.
“A guardian of the vital world said, ‘All these people lived a spiritual life on earth and had spiritual Masters. Therefore, they are happy. In your case, you didn’t follow the spiritual life, and perhaps you do not even know a spiritual Master.’
“The young man replied, ‘I do know of someone, but I have no idea whether he is a real Master or a fake. But this much I can say — my mother was full of love and admiration for him, so I assume that he was my mother’s boyfriend.’
“The guardian asked him the name of his mother’s boyfriend, but he did not know it. All the guardians were compassionate, so they concentrated on his mother’s soul and immediately they came to know the Master’s name. Utterly disgusted, they insulted the young man mercilessly.
“'How dare you speak this way about such a high Master?’ they cried. ‘You fool! Only to know of a spiritual Master of that calibre, only for someone in your family to be his disciple, is the greatest blessing and fortune. Although you do not deserve anything yourself, because of your mother’s virtue and the Master’s infinite Compassion, this great Master will take you to a much higher vital plane where you will have no suffering, but only boundless joy.’ ”
WM 9. 31 January 1974↩
“My son, don’t you understand? It is so simple. Each one has a reason for leaving me. One has left because he has discovered that I am unrealised. Another has left because he feels that, although I do have realisation, I am not going to share it with him. He feels that I am a miser and want to keep my realisation all for myself. A third one has left because he has stayed with me for fifteen years without making any spiritual progress. Since he feels there is no hope of his making any spiritual progress or ever reaching my height, what is the use of staying with me? A fourth one feels that I am extremely partial. He has never seen anybody as partial as I. He feels that I show preference to some disciples who are far inferior to him in spirituality, who are absolutely undeveloped and impure. I show such interest in those people, but I have no time to look at him or even say a nice word to him, even though he is so spiritual and divine. These are some of the many reasons why the disciples leave me.”
“But why do they want to come back again, Master? These disciples who have found so many things wrong with you, why do they feel the need to come back?”
“Because now each one has been blessed with a different realisation. The one who decided that I was not a realised soul now thinks, ‘When I used to meditate with the Master, I used to have very deep meditations. But now that I am meditating alone, I feel nothing. Perhaps he really did bring down Light, Peace and Bliss.’
“And the one who felt that I was not going to give him realisation says to himself, ‘Is it possible for everyone at the Master’s ashram to be a fool? He has so many disciples. I thought that the Master would not give me realisation because he wanted to keep his realisation for himself. But how is it that his other disciples are not coming to this same understanding? If everybody else feels that the Master is a saint and I alone feel that he is a rogue, then I am stupid. The best thing is for me to go back to him again and see if I can receive something from him this time.’
“The one who left because he felt that he was making no progress and would never be able to reach my height now feels a new realisation entering into him: ‘All right, I may never realise my Master’s height, but I may at least get something if I go back to him, whereas since I left him I have not been making any spiritual progress at all. During the period I stayed at his ashram, at the times when I was not depressed or jealous, I used to get some inner nourishment from him.’
“The one who left because he felt I was partial now has gone to another Master. Now his feelings have changed. He thinks, ‘Now that I have gone to another Master, I am not getting even the little importance that I used to get from my previous Master.’ So he wants to come back. Each one thinks that he will get something from me if he returns, and this is why they now want to come back.”
“Master, I really don’t understand how spiritual aspirants can behave that way.”
“Well, my son, I can make it more explicit. You see, in this world some people are fools, some are clever and some are supremely wise. People who have left me for various reasons are now coming back to me because they feel that they will get something. These people were fools when they left. Now they are coming back again out of cleverness, because they now feel that they were wrong before, and they will get something from me.
“But some people are wise. They will stay with me forever, just as I will stay with God. These people feel that the Master knows what is best and that the Master will do what is best for them. They feel that they are wise in always listening to the Master. They believe in the Master when he tells them that there is somebody infinitely superior to him, with whom he is in constant contact, and that is the Supreme.
“When they think of doing something wrong, they are terribly afraid that the Master will punish them or show them his indifference. This indifference is just like a death-blow to them. They also feel that if the Master makes a mistake, then his superior, the Supreme, will not fail to correct him, to perfect him and to do whatever He wants to amend the situation.
“It is better to be clever than to be a fool. If you are a fool and leave your Master permanently, you will ruin your life. But if you become clever and return to him again, you will definitely make progress again. But if you remain always wise, then you will get the utmost. Slowly and steadily you will go on making progress. Regularly, every day, you will get something from the Master. Even if you are not aspiring, just because you are with the Master you will get a little every day — even just one spiritual penny. But gradually all your pennies or all your dollars will accumulate and you will be a spiritually rich man.
“If you feel that one cent is nothing or that the coin is counterfeit and you leave the Master, still the Master will go on giving one cent or more every day to all the disciples who remain with him. Naturally their wealth will continue to increase, while yours will soon be entirely spent. So stay with the Master, even if you have no faith or very little faith in him, for you are bound to get at least one cent every day. And if you have real faith, tremendous faith in the Master, then instead of one cent you will receive a hundred inner dollars every day. Then you will make very fast progress and become a multi-millionaire in the spiritual world.
“People come to a Master and very often want to equal him immediately. Overnight they want to become as great as the Master, and they become jealous of him if it does not happen. But if you go to a big store and become jealous of the owner because he has many valuable things, does the owner lose anything or do you gain anything? You may try to steal something, and you may or may not be caught. But if you want to get something by hook or by crook in the spiritual life, it is impossible. You cannot deceive a real Master at all because he is one with the supreme Knowledge, with the supreme Vision. It is far better to be wise. If you can please the owner of the shop, what happens? He may give you what you want at a discount. And if you can please him still more, he may someday give you what you want free.
“The Master is very wise. He tries to please the Supreme, the Highest, all the time. Since he has realised God, he knows that he personally does not have the Infinite. Only the Supreme has everything in infinite measure, so he tries to please the Supreme in His own Way. Then the Supreme gives him the things that he needs. He just asks, and immediately infinite Peace, Bliss and Light pour down on him. And if the Supreme is extremely pleased with him, the Master does not even have to ask.
“If you also try to please your Master all the time, then I tell you he will give you everything in infinite measure — not only beyond your necessity, but beyond your imagination as well. The Master forever stays with his Master, the Supreme, who has infinitely more than he has. And, in turn, he asks you always to remain faithful to him, your earthly Master, who has a little more than you have. Stay unconditionally in the Heart of the Supreme, where you and He will become absolutely one, inseparably one. Do not be a fool and then become clever. Be wise from the very beginning. Once a little wisdom dawns on you, try to acquire more wisdom, abundant wisdom and finally infinite wisdom. Infinite wisdom alone can satisfy your eternal hunger.”
WM 10. 30 January 1974↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,Why the Masters don't mix, Sri Chinmoy Centre, Inc., New York, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/wm