The seeker exploits the Master

There lived in America a well-known spiritual Master who had thousands of disciples. Some of them were first-class disciples and some of them were fifth or sixth-class disciples. One of the sixth-class disciples was a young man named Jim. This young man never liked to work and often he spent his days visiting different disciples. He would arrive at their homes unexpectedly and spend hours talking about the Master. In the back of his mind he was hoping that if he stayed through dinner time, they would feed him. Naturally the disciples wanted to talk about the Master and most of the time they were glad to see this young man and more than willing to feed him. Then, before going home, he always asked for subway money, and this too the disciples willingly gave him.

But sometimes people were not in a good mood, or they had other friends over at the time and they didn’t want to see him. The young man always thought that just because he was going to speak about the Master he would be welcome, but this was not always the case. Also, because he didn’t have any money to buy the Master’s writings, he often borrowed people’s books. Once he borrowed a book it was as good as lost, for he never returned it.

Jim looked upon himself as an assistant Guru, at least when it came to giving advice to young girls. He was always the consultant whenever a young girl had problems. No matter what their problem was, he always blamed it on the same thing: an impure vital. And he always told the girls that he was basing his analysis on wisdom he had learned from the Master.

One day, a high school girl from the Master’s Centre brought a girlfriend to see this young man. This girlfriend was not a disciple, but the two of them went to the same school.

“What is the matter?” he asked.

“I have a severe headache. Many times I get severe headaches.”

Then the young man said, “It is your impure vital. If you lead a purer life, then all your headaches will disappear.”

The girl became very sad and depressed. When she went home, she showed a very sad face, and her father became very worried about her. His wife had died a few years ago and he felt solely responsible for his daughter.

“Why are you so sad?” he asked.

At first she did not want to say, but finally she admitted that the young man had told her that her vital was impure.

Now, her father was a truck driver and was very strong. He became furious and went to the young man’s house. He grabbed the young man by the shirt and threatened, “If you ever tell my daughter anything like that again, I will break all your bones. Who do you think you are to speak about my daughter’s vital life!”

Now, the truck driver had heard from his daughter’s girlfriend that she had a Guru who had all kinds of occult power. So he decided to bring his daughter to the Master to get some Eastern light from him.

He took his daughter to the Master’s house and waited outside while she went to seek the Master’s advice. The Master concentrated on the girl for a few moments and then he said, “There is nothing wrong with your vital life. The reason you are having headaches has nothing to do with your vital life. What you are suffering from is constipation. Take some medicine. That’s all.” When the girl told this to her father, the father was so pleased that he gave the Master five dollars.

But although this particular girl’s problems were solved by the Master, the young man caused countless problems for other young girls. At the same time, he continued to visit other disciple’s houses, until gradually all his old friends became sick and tired of him. After a while he was not welcome anywhere. Finally, he just left the Master’s Centre.

Nobody heard from him for two years. Then one day a college student came up to the Master after one of the Master’s university lectures and said that he was one of Jim’s disciples. However, according to him Jim was no longer Jim any more. He called himself Shivananda and told everyone that the Master had given him that name.

“I’m so pleased to be able to meet Shivananda’s own Guru,” he said. “Shivananda gives talks on your philosophy all the time. He says that he comes to you privately for special instructions and that you give him all kinds of occult wisdom.”

“He gives talks?” the Master asked.

“Oh, yes. He gives talks every week in a large hall and he charges two dollars for admission. He offers everyone so much Light. I am so happy he has accepted me as a disciple.”

The Master was astonished. The Master himself never charged for any of his own lectures or public meditations. But here an ex-disciple was making money by lecturing about the Master. The Master did not have the heart to tell this seeker that the young man had left his Centre two years ago. So he just smiled and walked away.