Question: How can a disciple best please his Master?

Sri Chinmoy: A disciple can best please his Master if he does not expect anything from the Master. He will give and give and give and offer himself totally and unconditionally. Only then will the Master be most pleased with him. At that time the Master will give him infinitely more than he deserves.

Right from the beginning, the disciple’s devoted, dedicated action should be absolutely unconditional. The disciple feels that his time, his effort, his capacity and his dedication are all his treasures. When he has given his treasures to the Master, he thinks that he has a legitimate right to expect the Master to give him Peace, Light and Bliss, which are the Master’s treasures. But there should be no bargaining in the spiritual life. If the disciple gives something of his, he immediately expects something in return, because he is living in the world of give-and-take. But the Master knows what is best for the disciple and also when it is best to give it. If the Master gives some thing untimely, instead of illumining the unlit consciousness of the disciple, he will just break the inner vessel. The power of the Master is bound to illumine the disciple if the disciple has receptivity. If the disciple has no receptivity, then the Master’s power will be of no use. On the contrary, it will be harmful. Very often when I touch and bless someone, I get such resistance or unwillingness to accept what I have to offer. And at that time what happens? I can force Light or Power from above into this adamantine wall of resistance, but it would only break.

So if you want to please the Master in a perfect way, then the word “expectation” should go out of your vocabulary. If you expect, you will expect in your own mental way: “I am doing this for the Master, so the Master will do something for me, or I will be his favourite.” There are so many expectations. But beyond expectation is the divine Truth. The Master knows what to give and how to give. But the disciple has his own way of expecting something from the Master. So there is a conflict between the Master and the disciple.

By giving something to the Master, if you feel that you will be able to please the Master, to some extent it is true. But you can really please the Master by not expecting anything after you have given him something, for then the Master will be able to operate in the disciple in his own way. The Master will feel: “He has given me his treasure, but he does not want anything from me. Now it is up to me to decide what to give. So I shall give him the best, the very best.” But if somebody gives the Master something and then thinks that the Master will favour him in something, or say something very nice about him, then he has already begged for something in the inner world. So naturally the Master will try his best to give him that. But if he had left the choice to the Master, if he had given the Master the opportunity to give what the Master wanted, at that time the Master could have given him abundant Peace, Light and Bliss.

The best way to please the Master is to give what you have and what you are, but without the least possible expectation. In that way you get every divine thing in infinite measure from the Master and, at the same time, the Supreme in the Master can utilise you for His own purpose.