Safe in the Master's compassionate concern

There was a sincere seeker who was looking for a Guru. The poor man had worked very, very hard. He had spent years in search of a Guru, but could find no Guru who really pleased him. He had met many spiritual Masters, but he did not care for any of them. Now he was miserable, for he felt that his days were passing in vain. In spite of his intense aspiration, he could not find a real Guru — a Guru of his own.

At last, one night he had a dream. In his dream he came to know who his Guru was, and the following morning he set out for his Guru's place, which was about sixteen miles from his own house.

Since the Guru lived in one village, and he himself lived in another, he had no choice but to walk. It was early in the morning, and everything was calm and quiet. He felt immensely happy and excited. He realised that he did not actually know where his Guru's village was. He could recognise the house, but he had only a vague idea of the location of the village. But he thought that somehow he would be able to ask his way of the people he passed, and reach his destination that way.

The seeker walked for about six miles, until he came to a large crossroad, and there he became unsure which route to take. Looking around for someone to ask, he saw a young woman fetching water from a pond by the crossing. She had a pitcher with her, and she filled it to the brim. Then she started carrying it down the road which led to the north. When the seeker saw the beauty of the woman, he seemed compelled to follow her, and this made him sad and angry with himself.

He thought, "Now my journey will be all in vain! Temptation has already caught me. This stupid woman has ruined all my aspiration. She is a real curse! O God, now where is my Guru, where is my goal? She has ruined me. I have read Ramakrishna's books, and the books of other spiritual Masters. They all say that women will take us to hell. At last I am going to find my Guru, and she has to be right in front of me!"

So he cursed the woman inwardly. But she was not paying any attention to him. She was walking along the road, full of joy and purity. The man continued to follow her. What else could he do? He could either go home, or continue on that road until he met a man to ask. He decided to walk on, following the woman, and thought to himself, "What is wrong with her? Why is she carrying such a big pitcher along this road for so long, always ahead of me, never behind?"

After travailing about four miles in this unfortunate plight, he came to another intersection. There the seeker saw a little boy, naked, playing in the street and singing a village song. The song went like this:

"To the north is the goal,

To the south is breath,

To the east is destruction,

To the west is frustration."

The man could not understand the meaning of the words, and he wondered why it was that the child was singing so soulfully. But he decided to continue following the road on which the child was playing, and he went on his way, while the child kept singing, "To the north is the goal…"

As he walked away, listening to the child's song, he suddenly became aware that the woman with the pitcher had disappeared. She was nowhere to be seen. He was relieved and happy that she had left him, for he had been badly tempted by her beauty. The seeker walked for another five or six miles, and again he began to wonder where he was and whether he would ever be able to find his Guru's house. Tremendous doubt came into his mind. What could he do? It was very strange — on other days there would have been some people on the road, but today there were none. Finally he said to himself, "All right, let me walk on for another mile or so. Then if I don't find anyone, I shall return home."

After covering a mile, the seeker entered a village. Still uncertain that he was even on the right road, he was about to turn back when he again saw the woman with the pitcher. She was looking at him with great compassion, but he became very angry. "Again you have come to tempt me!" he cried, "just a few hours ago you left me in peace, and now you have come again!"

He was very angry, but the woman just pointed to a particular house. The seeker went into the house, and there inside he saw his spiritual Master. He touched his Master's feet and was blessed by his Master.

After they had talked and meditated together for a few hours, the Master said to the disciple, "Now come, let us go and see my fields. I have a large vegetable garden." The seeker, the new disciple was delighted to go with his Master.

While they were in the field, they saw a neighbour of the Master, who was taking away two eggplants without permission. The Master flew into a rage. "How dare you do this without asking!" he shouted.

The neighbour said, "Oh, you are a spiritual man. I am taking only two eggplants. My wife has nothing to make for food, and I knew you would not miss these two eggplants."

The Master said, "No, you can't do that. You have taken them without my permission!" A terrible quarrel ensued. The Master was threatening to strike his neighbour.

The new disciple wondered, "O God, what kind of Master is this?"

At last the Master said, "All right, take them. I don't need them. You take the two eggplants." Then he said to the disciple, "Let us go home."

Both the disciple and the Master went back and had their supper. Then the Master said, "Let us meditate." But the disciple could not meditate at all. He kept remembering the Master's anger, and thinking, "Oh, the Master is so mean. He cannot give his neighbour two eggplants." He was very upset and unhappy, and thought, "I was mistaken. This man cannot be my Master. He is so cruel. He is so unkind. Tomorrow, early in the morning, before he gets up, I will leave this place without his knowledge."

So, in the small hours of the morning, while the Master was still fast asleep, the disciple tiptoed out of the Master's house.

As he stood outside, about to run away, he again saw the beautiful woman who had carried the pitcher of water. She asked him to carry a bag for her, and he felt compelled to take it. As soon as he had it in his hands, the woman began shouting, "Thief, thief, thief!"

The Master woke up when he heard the shouting. He ran out of his house and caught the thief by the arm. Then he saw that it was his new disciple, who was leaving him, and when he looked into the bag, he discovered that there were two eggplants in it.

The Master said to the disciple, "You thief, did you take these eggplants yesterday? You certainly didn't take them this morning. Or perhaps you entered into my storage barn and stole them."

The disciple protested, "I have not stolen them! This girl insisted that I take them, and I could not resist. I don't know what kind of charm she has, but she put them into my hand, and I couldn't seem to throw them away. And then she cried out, 'Thief, thief!' But this is her false accusation. She is the thief; I am not." He wanted to hit the woman right then and there, but when he was about to strike her, she disappeared.

"Master, please tell me who this woman is," cried the astonished disciple. "Why does she make problems for me all the time? I did not tell you, but yesterday she nearly ruined my journey at the very beginning. I started out to find you, full of eagerness, enthusiasm, and joy. Soon after I started walking, I saw her fetching water. She tempted me. Her beauty disturbed me. She walked ahead of me for a long, long way before she disappeared. Then again I saw her near your door, and again this morning. Master, save me from this woman."

The Master said, "Why did you leave me? Why did you try to leave me early in the morning?"

The disciple answered, "Oh Master, what could I think of you? You were quarrelling with and insulting that man about two eggplants. How can a spiritual Master be so mean?"

The Master said, "It was not my meanness. If that man had asked my permission, I would gladly have given him not only two eggplants, but as many as he wanted. But if he does not ask my permission, why should I allow him to take my food? Then he is stealing. Forgiveness is always there: you saw that I forgave him for taking those two eggplants. But if he does this without permission, today he will take two, tomorrow twenty, and the day after tomorrow he will take everything I have."

He continued, "Like me, you grow fruits and vegetables in your garden. I know that your neighbours take away your things, and your wife gets angry about it. But you say, 'Oh, don't worry, it is not a serious matter. After all, we are all God's children; it is all God's property. Who cares?' And you suffer financially afterwards. You are expected to sell fruits for your livelihood. But you grow food and let your neighbours steal away so much of it that your wife can't make both ends meet. You are making a serious mistake. Your neighbours will remain lazy, and they will become real thieves.

"So it was just to show you that you are doing the wrong thing that I did all this. The thief was not my neighbour, it was I. I can take all forms, so I took that form. I was quarrelling and fighting with myself only to show you that stealing is something that you must not encourage. Nobody should take another's possessions without his knowledge, approval, and permission. That is why I did it. It was one of my beings that you saw. I assumed another form."

The disciple said, "All right. I believe you. Since you have convinced me, I will stay with you. I will stop giving things to people who don't deserve them."

The Master said, "Good. If you allow people to take away your things, you are encouraging them in that way to commit theft. This is your mistake."

The seeker said, "Forgive me, Master. I wish to continue to be your disciple. But what about that stupid woman? She bothered me, tempted me. You know that I was so pure, so spiritual. What has she done to me?" With a broad smile the Master said, "That beautiful woman was also myself."

"Why did you do that?" asked the disciple.

"Look here," said the Master. "The first time you saw her, you were feeling totally lost. You thought that your journey would be a wild goose chase. You did not know your way, and there was nobody there to guide you. I took the form of a beautiful woman because I knew that you still had vital desire within you which you hadn't yet fully conquered. And when I took that form, although you were cursing the woman, you did feel lust for her. She did not have this passion — she was absolutely pure — but you felt lustful toward her. You were cursing her. That is what men do when they see a woman. Inwardly they desire her, and outwardly they curse her. They say, 'She has ruined me.' But it is not she who has ruined you. It is you who are throwing all your own impurities into her.

"I wanted you to come to my place, but how? I had to bring you myself, since there was nobody else around. It was the beauty of the woman which brought you to the child. You covered the distance because you appreciated and admired her beauty. If it had been somebody else, say some man, you would have doubted him, you would have been unsure, you would have said, 'No, perhaps he does not know the way.' But you followed this woman spontaneously. Her beauty compelled you to go on. Her love was absolutely pure and divine. Her concern for you was supremely genuine."

"Oh Master, then why did she leave me when I saw the little boy?"

"That little boy was also myself. It was I in another of my forms. You were cursing the girl, and at the same time you were following her. I said, 'Now let me use some other means, and give him some relief.' I got the idea of assuming another form, of a child. He was so innocent, so pure. He was singing so soulfully. You were tempted by the beautiful woman, but you had no physical attraction for the boy. The boy had a greater advantage. He was so innocent. He was like nature — absolutely pure."

"But why was the boy singing?" asked the disciple. "The song seemed so meaningless to me: 'To the north is the goal, to the south is breath, to the east is destruction, to the west is frustration.' What does it mean?"

The Master replied, "You don't know? I was singing through that boy. 'To the north is the goal…' You see, you followed my instructions unconsciously. To the north was my house. 'To the south is breath…' Breath is rest; breath is your own home. You did not go back towards the south. When you return home, you will get rest. And if you had followed the road that was leading towards the east, it would have meant destruction, because there were two dacoits there. Whoever went along the road towards the east from the place where the boy was, was destined to be attacked by these two dacoits. When they find nothing to steal on a traveller, they simply kill him. So you would have been attacked by these highway robbers. First they would have searched you, and if you had not had enough money, they would have taken much pleasure in killing you. If you had followed the road to the west, you would have found only frustration, because there was no goal there. This is the meaning of the song."

"Oh Master, my Master, my Saviour!" cried the disciple.

"Unconsciously you followed the child's message. You walked towards the north and you reached your destination."

Then the disciple said, "Why did that stupid woman again come and bother me?"

The Master replied, "The stupid woman was again I, who assumed another form with compassion. After walking a few miles, you got lost again. You were confused, you were hesitating, you were ready to turn back. I took that form, and, full of compassion, I showed you my own home."

"But was it necessary to do all this?" asked the disciple.

"Yes, it was necessary," replied the Master. "You needed to learn that if purity is not fully established when you run toward your Master, toward your Goal, then you should run with impurity. There is no harm if you cannot walk along the path with absolute purity, especially in the beginning. Walk toward the Goal even with impurity. Your impurity will eventually be transformed.

"Then, you see, if you have childlike innocence, you will get joy. With impurity you started. With an innocent feeling and spontaneous inner joy you can go farther. When you go still farther, you will be inundated with divine compassion." The seeker touched his Master's feet, saying, "Master, now I have understood. You have helped me; you are truly my Master. I take you as my real Master. You are my only Saviour."