The disciples will know their future

“Enough!” said the Master. “I am sure you are tired of my marathon talk. Some other day ask me to tell you more occult stories, and I will be able to prove to you that still I know many, many more stories. I will write down a few words from my memory about each incident so that I will immediately be able to recall the stories one after the other when I sit down to tell them to you.”

“Master,” said one disciple, “it’s still raining.”

“Please don’t stop now,” said another disciple.

“Just a few more?” pleaded the disciples.

“One or two more I can tell you, about a spiritual Master who lived in India four hundred years ago.

“There was a spiritual Master who was disgusted with his disciples. He said, ‘Soon I am going to tell all of you about your past incarnations and how far you will go in the spiritual life in this incarnation.’

“The Master said he would start early in the morning. It would take the whole day and God knows how many days more to complete the prophesies because the Master had quite a few thousand disciples. Although the Master never practised palmistry, he had said that the disciples would have to show their palm, and he would use his occult power to tell them about their future. He would tell them how far they had come in the spiritual life, what mark they would get for their present spiritual life — ten, twenty, forty or sixty per cent — and how far they would be able to go towards God-realisation. Everything would be said to them in a few seconds’ time.

“The day after this announcement, all the disciples were in the seventh heaven of delight because they would know their future. Some had stayed with the Master for fifteen years, some twenty, some thirty, some even forty years. Now at last they would hear from their Master how far they could go in this incarnation.

“Everything was arranged. The day arrived and this cosmic game was about to start at ten o'clock. But another Master had come to know of the fortune-telling of this Master from one of his own disciples. This disciple accused his own Master, saying, ‘You have never told us about our fate. We have served you in so many ways and you have not told us anything. Today our friend Gokul’s Master will tell his disciples all about their future. We are going too. We don’t need you.’

“The Master said, ‘Yes, yes, you don’t need me; that is true. But today a real calamity will take place, as soon as you people learn how far you will go and how far you have already come. Already I can’t even manage my ashram because of your ego-problems. You people have made some people idols — you feel that they are so great, while others you feel are so inferior that it is beneath your dignity even to allow your feet to touch them. So if you hear how great you were or how great you will be, then there will be a real calamity. When Gokul’s Master tells some people, ‘You are this and you are going to be that,’ he will really create most serious problems not only for all of you but for himself as well. But I must go and save Gokul’s Master. Let me personally go to Gokul’s Master and give him some advice.’

“The Master arrived at the ashram of Gokul’s Master. He wanted to advise him. Gokul’s Master said to him immediately, ‘I don’t need your advice. After all, it is none of your business. I shall deal with my disciples; you deal with yours. Mind your own business. I shall deal with my disciples in my own way. Obviously, you do not have any occult power, and you are afraid that once your disciples come to me to know their future, you will lose them all. Indeed, you are poor but clever. Anyway, I forgive you. You stay with your children. But for God’s sake, you must not enter into my domain, the occult domain. In the occult world, you are a beggar and I am a prince. A beggar cannot be a chooser.’

“But the disciples never did hear their futures that day because Gokul’s Master was so badly humiliated by the other Master’s reply. ‘I tell you, this beggar is a chooser,’ he said, pointing to himself, ‘He will choose only the Divine. He will choose the real, eternal and absolute Supreme.’ ”