Question: How can we proceed and make inner progress in the spiritual life if we get light and joy from more than one Master?

Sri Chinmoy: Here you have to know that each Master is like a doctor. If you have a headache, you will go to a doctor, who will give you some medicine and cure you. Again, if you have some other ailment — say, foot pain — you will go to a foot specialist and he will cure you. But if you see that there is someone who has the power to cure you no matter what ailment you have, if there is someone who can enter into the root of all diseases, then naturally you will go to that person. If there is a doctor who will be able to give you so much Light that you will never suffer from any disease again, then you will go to him. So if you see a Master in whom you have implicit faith, and if you feel that he will be able to guide you until you have reached your destination, you will go to this Master and not go to any other Master.

It is like going to school. Some Masters will be able to teach only kindergarten, or only primary school, or only high school courses. Again, there are some Masters who will be able to teach you right from the beginning to the end — from the kindergarten level right up to the Ph.D. If you see a Master who can guide you right from the journey’s start to the journey’s destination, then you will go to that one. Otherwise, you will go to one who has the capacity to teach you at your level of spiritual development. Then, after a couple of years, perhaps you yourself will surpass him, and you will have to look for someone else to guide you for another couple of years. Then once again you will see that your inner progress has far surpassed your Master’s realisation. This has happened in many, many cases. So again you have to look for a new Master.

Each time you go to a new Master, you waste time. Each one has a special way of teaching and you have to adapt yourself to the new way. One has taught you a particular truth and given you a specific way to reach it. The next one is giving you a higher truth, but he may not ask you to walk along the road where you have already made some progress. He may take you along a totally different road. He may take you to a farther destination, but he may also take you along a different road. So when you start along a different road, you may be bewildered or puzzled and it may create problems for you.

So if you get someone in whom you have implicit faith and confidence, and if you feel that he will be able to guide you, not only at your present level of consciousness but until you have reached your highest destination, then you should go to that person. He will show you how to walk along Eternity’s road and also help you walk along the road. It is not his road but the road that he has discovered, that he is well acquainted with. In that case, it is advisable to walk along with that Master who, from the beginning to the end, can show you, teach you and guide you along one road to your highest Goal. Otherwise, you will just waste time going from one Master to another.