The real disciple

There was a spiritual Master who was really fine and great. He had many, many disciples. Most of them fortunately were sincere. One day he was giving a discourse. One of his old disciples, a woman, came and stood right in front of him. This particular disciple on that day had brought her three daughters with her. They were twelve years, fourteen years and sixteen years of age.

The Master with all his love and affection, blessed these three young girls. Then he asked them what they would like to be. The fourteen-year-old girl said that she would like to be a Yogi like this Master. The sixteen-year-old girl said she would like to be a greater Yogi than the Master. The twelve-year-old girl said she would like to be the most devoted disciple of the Master.

The Master asked the fourteen-year-old girl why she would like to be a Yogi like the Master.

She said, "I have heard many stories from my mother about you and I was deeply impressed with these stories, She told me that you can read everybody's mind, and you can work for many, many hours without needing rest or sleep like us. You can go on working and you don't have to sleep eight or ten hours like us. Also if you don't want to eat material food, you can get spiritual food and yet remain alive. Also you can speak to human beings who have left the body; you can speak to people who are in the other world. These are the reasons why I want to be a Yogi like you."

The Master then asked the sixteen-year-old girl why she would like to surpass him.

She said, "Everybody appreciates you, admires you and adores you. You have hundreds and hundreds of disciples, and I feel that if I can be a greater Yogi than you, then I will have thousands and thousands of disciples who will bow down to me, touch my feet, kiss my feet and worship me like God. That is why I want to be greater than you. If I become greater than you, then I will draw more appreciation, more admiration and more adoration from the entire world. So you can see why I want to be greater than you."

The Master next asked the youngest one, the twelve-year-old, "Why do you want to be my most devoted disciple?"

She said, "My mother says that she is your very devoted disciple. She says that you have many, many disciples, but, according to my mother, there are very few who are deeply devoted to you. Now, I feel that if I could be most devoted to you then I would get all your love, affection and blessings. My mother is so happy and so pleased that she is one of your very devoted disciples, but I want to be the most devoted so that I can become your dearest disciple."

The Master said, "Wonderful."

Then he again asked the eldest girl, sixteen years old, "You want to become greater than I?"

"Yes."

"And you have given me the reasons. You want to become greater than I so that you can draw the admiration of the entire world. Your motive is to become greater than I, and not to love God for God's sake, not to pray to God to realise God, or to do something great for humanity. Since this is not your aim, you can never be greater than I because your very motive is wrong. You don't want to serve mankind, you don't want to realise God, you don't want to love God for God's sake. What you want is only to have the world touch your feet. No, God will not make you greater than I."

Next he said to the fourteen-year-old girl, "You want to be a Yogi like me. The reasons that you gave for wanting to become a Yogi are ridiculous. You want to read somebody's mind. When somebody is thinking ill of you, if you read his mind, immediately you will enter into a quarrel. But, if somebody speaks highly of you, just for a fleeting second he may give you joy. And again, you will doubt whether he is sincerely thinking well of you or whether it is just a kind of mental flattery. If this is the reason that you want to read someone's mind, for the sake of curiosity, then this is not Yoga at all.

"Now you want to be a Yogi so that you can go without food or without sleep. Well, a thief does not sleep at night. He has to commit his theft. At night, he moves here and there, seeing if he can steal anything. So, if that is your motive, if you just want to be a Yogi so that you don't have to sleep, then you are in no way better than a thief; and if you want to be a Yogi so that you don't have to eat, then I can tell you that a snake eats only two or three times a year. In that way you are no better than a snake. You don't want to be a snake. You don't want to be a thief. Thieves and snakes can do the very things you want to accomplish by becoming a Yogi.

"Then you want to speak to your relatives who have left the body. Now, if you want to do that, you don't have to become a Yogi. In order to become a Yogi you have to work very, very hard. You have to meditate for many, many years. You just go to a successful medium, give him a dollar or two and he will be able to tell you where your relatives are. Sometimes, of course, he may give you wrong information, but sometimes he will be able to give you correct information. Anyhow, he will be able to satisfy your curiosity. Just for a couple of dollars you will be able to get the message.

"Now, if you really want to bring down your relatives' souls, you have to be extremely pure. If the souls you invoke, your relatives' souls, are on a higher level of consciousness, and if you want to bring them into you, right in front of you, then you have to realise the fact that they are coming from a very, very distant world. When they come, if you are impure, if you are not aspiring, it is a real torture for them. They come to you as if crossing a painful forest, full of thorns. That is the kind of torture they go through when you invoke relatives who have passed away. So, actually if you really love them, you won't call them and torture them. If you really want to know what they are doing, then you should go to some spiritual Master, and if he sees that you have a sincere, genuine cry, he may help you. But if you want to become a Yogi to bring messages from departed relatives, it is sheer stupidity.

"On becoming a Yogi, you must work for God and for the world. You should identify yourself with the whole universe. You should try to help humanity; then only will God be pleased with you. But since your motives are not right, God will not make you a Yogi like me. You cannot be a Yogi like me because you do not want God for a divine purpose. You only want God for ulterior motives: to read somebody's mind, to live without sleep or food, to bring down the souls of your relatives so you can get striking stories from them. Since you want to be a Yogi only for these silly purposes, you will never become a Yogi."

Then he turned to the youngest sister and asked her, "You tell me that you want to be my most devoted disciple. Why? Is it because you feel that if you become my most devoted disciple, everybody will appreciate you and admire you, and you will be very happy, very proud? Or is it because, by becoming my most devoted disciple, you will be able to do my work most satisfactorily? If you are devoted, then only will you try to do things perfectly. If you are not devoted, you won't do things sincerely and perfectly. Is it for my sake, that is to say, to help me in my mission with utmost sincerity, with utmost concern, that you want to be my most devoted disciple; or is it just to be proud because others will admire you when you become my most devoted disciple?"

She said, "No, I want to be your most devoted disciple because I feel that only then will I be able to work for you most sincerely and most perfectly. I feel that if I can be your most devoted disciple, then I can be of real service to you. Otherwise, my imperfection will not allow me to be of any real service to you. It is only to be of service to you, to please you in your own way, that I would like to be your most devoted disciple."

The Master immediately blessed her with all his heart's love, affection, appreciation and admiration.

He said, "I, at this very moment, make you my most devoted disciple."

In front of everyone he made the announcement: "This little girl of twelve is my most devoted disciple. Her one sister who wants to be a Yogi like me, and the other who even wants to surpass me cannot do so because of their wrong approaches to the spiritual life. If their approaches were true and sincere, I would have blessed both of them, saying that I wanted them to be as great as I am, that I wanted them even to be far superior to me. Why should they be of my calibre? God's Blessing dawns on everybody if one wants to fulfil God in a true way, a more fulfilling way. Naturally God will bless you all, but not for pride and vanity. Since their approaches were wrong, they cannot be as great as I am; they cannot surpass me. But the little one, their youngest sister, her approach was most sincere, most genuine. That is why she becomes my dearest disciple, my most devoted disciple. She is my real pride."