Question: Just following up that question, I feel that I don't require the guidance or tuition of any particular Master. There have been many Masters: the Christ, Buddha, Krishna. Now, I feel that I can get the same from any one of them as I can get from a living Master. Isn't that true?

Sri Chinmoy: No. Unfortunately that is not so. It is true that Krishna, Buddha and the Christ were Masters of the highest calibre, but what happens is that if you get a living Master then it becomes much easier. Every day, in your daily activities, it will be easier for you if you have a living Master.

Today, if your son falls sick, then you can immediately approach your spiritual Master who is on earth. You don’t have to go deep within to contact him. If you are in difficulty today, if you are depressed or some calamity takes place in the family, then immediately you can approach him here. Your living Master comes to your immediate rescue. Further, when it is a matter of aspiration also, he can sit right in front of you and teach you how to meditate. Otherwise, you may meditate for hours, yet you may feel that you are walking through a stony desert, a stormy night. Without a living Master, walking along the path is an extremely long and difficult process. If a living Master is right in front of you, and sees you face to face, then you can give to him all your earthly frustration as a human being — just as in the case of Krishna and Arjuna, who stayed side by side. Arjuna offering his doubts, his fears, his everything, to Krishna. Finally, Arjuna was illumined by Krishna. So similarly, in your spiritual life today, if you get a living Master it becomes infinitely easier.

Yes, if you meditate on Krishna or the Christ, certainly you will realise God. But if you want to go faster, you need a living Master. It will be easier and faster for you if you see somebody who can illumine your consciousness and whom you can approach at your sweet will. It is difficult to approach the spiritual Masters who have left the body. You have to go deep within, cry deep within, to get their Blessings. If you have a Master right beside you, you can offer to him all your sufferings, all your anxieties, worries and doubts. In this way it is much easier. It is not that the other Masters of the hoary past are not necessary. They are of paramount importance. But, if you want to make the life of aspiration simple, easy, and if you want to run faster and safer, then you have to get the help of a living spiritual Master.