Question: Among Those Masters Who Decide, After...

Question: Among those Masters who decide, after realisation, to go out into the world to help humanity, why do some accept large numbers of disciples while others do not?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes the Supreme makes the decision, but He does not impose His Will. There are some Masters who, after having their major realisation, are asked by the Supreme, “What is your will? What do you want to do?” If the Master says, “I want to work for so many people, I want to do this much work,” then the Supreme says, “All right, granted, with My Blessings.” Then there are some who do not make any hard and fast rule as to how far they want to go. They say, “I will try my best up to the end. I need Your Blessings. I need Your Grace. I will try to manifest as much as possible. I set no limits.”

With some Masters, there is a limit to the number of disciples they want. With others, there is no end to their aspiration to serve. They remain an open channel and tell the Supreme that they will try their best to fulfil Him and manifest Him until the end of their lives. And not only that, but after leaving the body also, they promise to try to continue His work through their disciples. So it depends on the individual Master and how much spiritual responsibility he wants to accept.

Regarding the number of disciples a Master may have, this depends on what kind of people he accepts. If he is very selective and wants only souls that are fully dedicated, intensely aspiring and absolutely destined for the spiritual life, then he will accept only a handful. Sri Ramakrishna, for example, wanted only a limited number of disciples. He was very particular about his disciples. But some Yogis say, “Anyone who wants to learn anything about the spiritual life is welcome to my community.” Again, some spiritual Masters say, “Let everyone progress according to his own standard.” So they accept thousands of disciples.