Question: Can you tell us how to choose a Master? How can we know if we have made the right choice?

Sri Chinmoy: I have been asked this question quite a few times. Now, you want to choose a Master. I wish to tell you that God has given you a unique opportunity to choose your own Master. And God has given you the opportunity to be with your Teacher. Now you are looking for a Master. You are a student. God, at this point, gives you the opportunity and capacity to choose your own Master by doing something very simple.

You will write down the names of all the Masters that you have come across or that you have heard of, or that you have found out about in the books you have read. There may be a few: seven, eight or ten names.

Then, take the name of the first spiritual Master on the list and, as you repeat his name, place your right hand on your heart. Try to feel the sound, the palpitation of your heart as you repeat the name seven times. Follow the list. Repeat the name of each Master and, as you do, immediately try to feel the heartbeat. Then, if you feel any joy, delight or ecstasy, instantly write down a mark for it. Mark it say, sixty out of a hundred, or seventy out of a hundred. You have to determine what kind of joy you are getting and then rate it on a scale accordingly.

For each name on the list, as you repeat it seven times with your hand over your heart, try to feel the heartbeat. Then, give each name marks as you listen. Each time, mark whether you feel joy or not. Suppose you get no response, no joy, no inspiration when you repeat the name of a particular Master, then you are in a perfect position to give him zero out of a hundred.

When you get tremendous response from a Master on the list, say you are thrilled all over. His very name sends an enormous thrill from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head, you are bound to give him ninety, ninety-five or even a hundred. Undoubtedly he is your Master. He is meant for you and you are meant for him. Suppose he is not here. He is in India. Then you have to go there. Or, if he is meant for you, circumstances will bring your Master here. If you are meant for him, if you are a chosen disciple of that particular Master, God will without fail either take you to him or bring him to you.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Earth’s cry meets Heaven’s smile, part 2, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ech_2