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    The Master and the Disciple
    The Master and the Disciple
    The Master and the Disciple
    Ebook108 pages2 hours

    The Master and the Disciple

    By Sri Chinmoy

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    About this ebook

    What is a genuine spiritual Master, and what kind of wisdom does he embody? Who are his disciples and what force compels them to follow him? In this remarkable collection of writings, spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy illumines for us the deeply moving dynamic that binds the spiritual Master or Guru and his disciple. This dynamic is eloquent with love, and testifies to a transforming vision of life. Sri Chinmoy's words reveal a higher spiritual truth whose pursuit is charted by the odyssey that spiritual Master and disciple undertake together. The nature of that odyssey deserves our understanding.
    In Sri Chinmoy's terms, a true spiritual Master or Guru is someone who has attained God-realisation, ultimate perfection in the wisdom of life, and who seeks to convey this wisdom to others. To anyone with an ardent hunger for inner knowledge and peace, such wisdom is readily visible in the God-realised soul. Sri Chinmoy himself emanates a radiance and peace so profound, and a love so accepting and unconditional, that one cannot escape feeling a quiet delight in his presence. The illumined Master conveys his wisdom seldom by words and never by didactic instruction. His teaching is the silence of his gaze, the harmony of his gestures, the compassion of his smile and the infinitude of his heart. His authority stems from his love and peace, and it is for the sake of these that the disciple binds himself with willing devotion to his Master's will.
    There are few God-realised souls and still fewer God-realised spiritual Masters. As Sri Chinmoy points out, the genuine spiritual Master, recognising that the inner wealth he has discovered is each man's birthright and hidden treasure, offers his gift to suffering and seeking individuals everywhere. This gift of necessity comes without charge, for love and peace have no price and teach us to see their reflection in all created things. And so, with infinite compassion, the spiritual Master takes frustration and pain from those who come to him and gives in return his own peace and joy.
    A spiritual Master is an artist of infinite patience. In him are joined the determination of a dauntless warrior and the gentleness of the tenderest mother. Using years as his time frame, he sculpts the recalcitrant human material of his disciples into the very image of peace. This task is enormous. For peace is as natural to the soul of man as air is to breathing, yet peace evades us. Each of us claims to want nothing more than peace, yet each of us lives in a sea of turbulence. The fault lies in our own ignorance, doubt and inadequate devotion to the source of peace within us. And so the spiritual Master must repeatedly compel his disciples to turn away from false solutions to the aggravations of life and to find their own ultimate refuge in the shrine of their hearts.
    Through his own childlike simplicity, joy and serenity, the Master continually offers the disciple an image of the disciple's own true goal. At first the Master's influence provides the disciple with repeated but temporary experiences of tranquility and delight. But over time these experiences generate in the disciple a budding faith in his own inner potential. This faith hungers for the realisation of its own inner vision. Sri Chinmoy writes, "It is the spiritual Master's job to make his disciples feel that without love, without truth and light, life is meaningless and fruitless. The most important thing a spiritual Master does for his spiritual children is to make them consciously aware of something vast and infinite within themselves, which is nothing other than God Himself."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSri Chinmoy
    Release dateDec 23, 2013
    ISBN9781934972229
    The Master and the Disciple
    Author

    Sri Chinmoy

    Sri Chinmoy was born in the small village of Shakpura in East Bengal, India (now Bangladesh) in 1931. He was the youngest of seven children in a devout family. In 1944, after the passing of both of his parents, he joined his brothers and sisters at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a spiritual community near Pondicherry in South India. He prayed and meditated for several hours a day, having many deep inner experiences. It was here that he first began writing poetry to convey his widening mystical vision. He also took an active part in Ashram life and was an athletic champion for many years. Heeding an inner command, Sri Chinmoy came to the United States in 1964 to be of service to spiritual aspirants in the Western world. During the 43 years that he lived in the West, he opened more than 100 meditation Centres worldwide and served as spiritual guide to thousands of students. Sri Chinmoy’s boundless creativity found expression not only in poetry and other forms of literature, but also in musical composition and performance, art and sport. In each sphere he sought to convey the diverse experiences that comprise the spiritual journey: the search for truth and beauty, the struggle to transcend limitations, and the supremely fulfilling communion of the human soul with the Divine. As a self-described student of peace who combined Eastern spirituality and Western dynamism in a remarkable way, Sri Chinmoy garnered international renown. In 1970, at the request of U Thant, third Secretary-General of the United Nations, he began the twice-weekly peace meditations for delegates and staff members at UN headquarters that continue to this day. He offered hundreds of peace concerts, always free of charge, in the U.S. and many other countries. He founded the World Harmony Run, a biennial Olympic-style relay in which runners pass a flaming peace torch from hand to hand as they travel around the globe bearing the message of universal oneness. And he established the Oneness-Heart-Tears and Smiles humanitarian organization, which serves the less fortunate members of the world family by supplying food, medical and educational equipment and other urgent support. On 11 October 2007, Sri Chinmoy passed behind the curtain of Eternity. His creative, peace-loving and humanitarian endeavours are carried on worldwide by his students, who practise meditation and strive to serve the world in accordance with his timeless teachings.

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      Book preview

      The Master and the Disciple - Sri Chinmoy

      THE MASTER AND THE DISCIPLE

      SRI CHINMOY

      AUM PUBLICATIONS • NEW YORK

      Copyright © 1985 Sri Chinmoy

      Copyright © 2011 Sri Chinmoy Centre (eBook)

      All rights reserved. No portion of this book

      may be reproduced in any form without express

      written permission from the Publisher.

      Library of Congress card catalog no. 85-072172

      ISBN: 978-1-934972-22-9

      Published by:

      Aum Publications

      8610 Parsons Blvd.

      Jamaica, N.Y. 11432

      www.srichinmoy.org

      Smashwords Edition

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Prologue: The Guru

      1. The Role of the Guru

      2. Choosing a Guru

      3. The Realised Master

      4. The Master and the Disciple

      5. Oneness with the Master

      Stories and Plays

      Our Path

      INTRODUCTION

      What is a genuine spiritual Master, and what kind of wisdom does he embody? Who are his disciples and what inspires them to follow him? In this remarkable collection of writings, spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy illumines for us the deeply moving dynamic that binds the spiritual Master or Guru and his disciple. This dynamic is eloquent with love, and testifies to a transforming vision of life. Sri Chinmoy's words reveal a higher spiritual truth whose pursuit is charted by the odyssey that spiritual Master and disciple undertake together. The nature of that odyssey deserves our understanding.

      In Sri Chinmoy's terms, a true spiritual Master or Guru is someone who has attained God-realisation, ultimate perfection in the wisdom of life, and who seeks to convey this wisdom to others. To anyone with an ardent hunger for inner knowledge and peace, such wisdom is readily visible in the God-realised soul. Sri Chinmoy himself emanates a radiance and peace so profound, and a love so accepting and unconditional, that one cannot escape feeling a quiet delight in his presence. The illumined Master conveys his wisdom seldom by words and never by didactic instruction. His teaching is the silence of his gaze, the harmony of his gestures, the compassion of his smile and the infinitude of his heart. His authority stems from his love and peace, and it is for the sake of these that the disciple binds himself with willing devotion to his Master's will.

      There are few God-realised souls and still fewer God-realised spiritual Masters. As Sri Chinmoy points out, the genuine spiritual Master, recognising that the inner wealth he has discovered is each man's birthright and hidden treasure, offers his gift to suffering and seeking individuals everywhere. This gift of necessity comes without charge, for love and peace have no price and teach us to see their reflection in all created things. And so, with infinite compassion, the spiritual Master takes frustration and pain from those who come to him and gives in return his own peace and joy.

      A spiritual Master is an artist of infinite patience. In him are joined the determination of a dauntless warrior and the gentleness of the tenderest mother. Using years as his time frame, he sculpts the recalcitrant human material of his disciples into the very image of peace. This task is enormous. For peace is as natural to the soul of man as air is to breathing, yet peace evades us. Each of us claims to want nothing more than peace, yet each of us lives in a sea of turbulence. The fault lies in our own ignorance, doubt and inadequate devotion to the source of peace within us. And so the spiritual Master must repeatedly teach his disciples to turn away from false solutions to the aggravations of life and to find their own ultimate refuge in the shrine of their hearts.

      Through his own childlike simplicity, joy and serenity, the Master continually offers the disciple an image of the disciple's own true goal. At first the Master's influence provides the disciple with repeated but temporary experiences of tranquility and delight. But over time these experiences generate in the disciple a budding faith in his own inner potential. This faith hungers for the realisation of its own inner vision. Sri Chinmoy writes, It is the spiritual Master's job to make his disciples feel that without love, without truth and light, life is meaningless and fruitless. The most important thing a spiritual Master does for his spiritual children is to make them consciously aware of something vast and infinite within themselves, which is nothing other than God Himself.

      For Sri Chinmoy, the principal vehicle of spiritual instruction is meditation, through which the Master gradually brings forward qualities which will enable the disciple to make inner progress and to counteract the pull of self-destructive and negative forces and habits. Through meditation, the disciple begins a process which eventually transforms the roots of his being. This process compels him to cease identifying himself with outer events, the successes and failures of his life. Instead, he begins to find an unfaltering source within himself, a source so profound that it is unperturbed by the vicissitudes of life. Each event in life, whether joyful or painful, becomes an occasion through which the disciple deepens his devotion to this source of remarkable beauty, and cherishes the delight it offers him. The mysterious journey towards this unknown source unfolds in a miracle of joy and gratitude which, for the true seeker, becomes the compelling reality of his life. All other experiences lose importance against the necessity of this journey towards peace, light and delight.

      Sri Chinmoy tells us that as the spiritual Master fosters his cherished disciples' inner hunger, he leads them to recognise that his height and his realisation of infinite Peace are their own. When the disciple feels this truth, he understands that true obedience to his Master is nothing other than his constant determination to remain in his heart and to claim his Master's light for himself. Outer obedience, or compliance with the spiritual Guru's advice and requests, only expresses the inner recognition that just because his Master is all for him, the disciple longs to be all for his Master. Because he is one with his Master, the disciple makes his Master's vision his own. Because the Master is one with his disciple, he gladly accepts the disciple's imperfections as his own, and takes full responsibility for transforming those imperfections into perfections.

      With wondering gratitude, the disciple sees again and again that his own self-love, fraught with self-doubt, is nothing compared to the love his Master cherishes for him. At first hesitantly, and then with increasing devotion, he abandons himself to the experience of this love. With the healing power of his compassion the Master slowly replaces his disciple's limitations with sincerity of mind, purity of heart and devotion to a sacred vision of life.

      Sri Chinmoy calls his path a path of love, devotion and surrender. The disciple loves his Master, and through him loves his own higher self. He devotes himself to the nourishment, with infinite care and tender affection, of the reality his Master brings forth within him. And finally, he gladly surrenders his whole being, with all its imperfections, to the will of his own reality. Through his oneness with his Guru, he learns that each of us possesses God within himself, and that all of creation is nothing but God's Light. He sees that his role is simply to be of this Light, to manifest it and to love and cherish it in others. With a flood of delight, he embraces the gift of life. With gratitude, he offers this life to his Master's vision. And with unfathomable compassion, his Master shows him his own life's ocean of peace.

      —Sunanda

      PROLOGUE: THE GURU

      The Guru sees in his disciple the very image of God; so he is all sacrifice to the disciple. The disciple sees and feels in his Guru the only shelter of his limitations; so he is all love for his Guru.

      * * *

      The Guru's love for his disciple is his strength. The disciple's surrender towards his Guru is the disciple's strength.

      * * *

      The Guru is at once the source of the disciple's achievements and a most faithful servant of the disciple's love.

      * * *

      The Guru has only one compassionate weapon: forgiveness. The disciple has three naked swords: limitation, weakness and ignorance. Nevertheless, the Guru wins with great ease.

      * * *

      To achieve realisation by oneself alone is like crossing the ocean in a raft. But

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