They came only to go
The birthless and deathless chronicles of Himalayan absurdities — by an ancient Himalayan cave dweller
1
It happened that the Master was not informed that a particular day was her daughter’s birthday. Therefore, the Master did not bless her daughter. But the mother thought it was deliberate negligence on the Master’s part. Therefore, both mother and daughter left.2
He and his wife were not vegetarians. The Master knew it but did not pay any attention to it. One day they saw that two very close disciples of the Master were enjoying meat and they were terribly shocked. How could such close disciples eat meat? Either the Master had given them permission or they were deceiving the Master. The husband and wife felt that either the Master was bad or the disciples were bad. They didn’t want to stay with a bad family, so they left. They didn’t know that the Master himself had asked these two disciples to eat meat because they were not well and their doctor had requested that they eat meat.3
She was a middle-aged woman. One day she came to the Centre to do selfless service. There were quite a few young boys and girls who were working that day at the Centre. God alone knows why, but she tried to steal a five-dollar bill out of a young boy’s pocket. She was caught by one of the disciples, who told the young boy. The young boy very politely asked her to return the money. She did not deny that she had stolen it and she gave the money back to the owner. Then she came up to the Master crying. When the Master heard the story, he felt extremely sorry for her and told her that God had forgiven her. Do you want to hear what she said to the Master? “Master, God has forgiven me, true; but I have not forgiven you. I have been with you for three years. How is it that you have not changed my character? I have made no improvement since I came to you and joined your path. I am a hopeless case and you are a useless Master. I shall be looking for a new Master. ”4
One day a woman disciple said to the Master, “Master, why do you criticise the astrologers so mercilessly?”
The Master said, “I just make fun of astrologers from time to time. I never intend to hurt them.”
“Master, I am an astrologer. People on this island believe in astrology. They have tremendous faith in it. Therefore, they have all admiration for me. I told them that this whole land would sink into the ocean by such and such a day. You told the radio station and television station that nothing was going to happen and, unfortunately, nothing did happen. I and my astrologer-friends were absolutely sure that this island of ours was going to be washed away. Now that our prophecy has not come true, everybody is laughing at us. We all know that you are the culprit. It was you who used your occult power to negate our prophecy. Otherwise, our prophecy would have undoubtedly come true.”
The Master said to her smilingly, “I have nothing else to do with myself but use occult power to prove that you or your colleagues are wrong.”
She said to the Master, “You are not only an occultist of the first order, but also a liar of the first order. You have deceived the whole of our island. Therefore, I hate you and I am leaving your path immediately.”5
He thought that since he was an Indian he would receive special affection and love from his Master. Alas, the Master did not fulfil his expectation. In vain he stayed with the Master for eight long months and then one day he said to the Master, “You don’t care for the Indian heart. You care only for the American purse.”
The Master said to him, “Had I really cared for the American dollar, by this time I would have become a very, very rich man. It was not American money-power, but American heart-power that conquered me; and it was certainly not your deception-power.”
The Indian became angry and left the Master.6
She asked her Master one day to open up her third eye. The Master said to her that he could not do it since it was not God’s Will. She did not believe the Master. She told the Master that it was his own insecurity that made him refuse to open her third eye. If her third eye were opened up, naturally she would be as great as her Master; and how could the Master have somebody at his own level? Therefore, she left the Master and tried to open her third eye without anybody’s help. What she did was to make a big hole in her forehead by striking her head against one of the kitchen utensils. The Master felt miserable but he was helpless because she was no longer in his Centre.7
She wanted to see Krishna inside the Master, and she did. She was so happy. She said to the Master, “How is it that Krishna is so kind to me, yet I am so poor?”
The Master said, “Krishna’s compassion-power and his money-power do not go together at the same time in your life.”
She said to the Master, “But you are the Krishna of the present era. You could help me financially.”
The Master said to her, “Occasionally I will be able to help you, but not regularly, since my own financial situation is very deplorable.” She was not satisfied with the Master’s sincerity and she left his path.8
She was a middle-aged woman. She had a brother who was very unkind to her or, to use her own word, belligerent. He used to strike her mercilessly, in season and out of season. As a last resort she came to the Master for help. The Master went to her house and had a long talk with her brother, and her brother solemnly promised the Master that he would not strike her any more. Lo and behold, he kept his promise. The woman found that it was no longer necessary for her to come to the Master, for she had no other need which she wanted the Master to fulfil. She did not need God. What she needed was her sympathetic brother.9
He asked the Master whether he should study or work. The Master asked him to study. He wanted to know what to study. The Master asked him to study medicine. So he listened to the Master and began to study medicine. Alas, soon he fell in love with one of the beautiful girls in his class. He told the Master’s other disciples that the Master was to blame for his downfall since it was the Master who had asked him to study medicine. Had he worked instead of studying medicine, he would not have entered into the emotional life. The Master smiled and said, “That means people who work have no emotional problems.”
The Master said to his doctor-friend, “Your Master came into the world to be misunderstood.”
He said to the Master, “You are not my Master; you don’t deserve to be my Master. My temptation-life is the Master. You take care of yourself, sir, and let me take care of myself.”10
She and her husband and their two little daughters became the Master’s disciples. The wife felt sad and miserable that her children were not getting as much attention as the children of some of the other parents.
One day she came and threatened the Master. “Master, be impartial. My children are also God’s children. How is it that you don’t care so much for my children?”
The Master said, “I have equal love for each child, but some receive my love and concern in abundant measure while others do not receive it at all. In your children’s case, unfortunately, they do not receive my affection and love. I am not the culprit.”
She said, “Then who else is the culprit? Don’t fool me any more. You can fool only my husband. Let him stay with you. I and my children are leaving you. I am not as stupid as my husband. Stupidity is not spirituality. Sincerity is spirituality. I am that sincerity.”
The Master said to her, “You stay with your sincerity, and I will stay with your husband and his stupidity.”11
The Master had a German disciple. She always asked the Master the same question: “Can you tell me, Master, the condition of my soul?” Six or seven times the Master with utmost compassion told her about the condition of her soul.
Once the Master had to answer quite a few serious questions in a Centre meeting, and he was completely exhausted. Then, the last question was asked by the German lady: “Can you please tell me, Master, about the condition of my soul?”
The Master was not kind enough on that day, which he should have been. He simply said, “What will you do with the condition of your soul? Take care of your vital life and mental life.”
The woman became furious and told one of the Master’s disciples, who was a boxer, that she would have nothing further to do with an unsympathetic, cruel Master.12
This particular lady wanted to have a special interview with the Master. In those days the Master had very few disciples, and he was more than willing to grant interviews. Now, however, the story is totally different. But the day this lady wanted to have an interview with the Master, God knows why the Master did not want to see her. During that evening’s meditation, a sister of the Master who was in Heaven came down to the Master and pleaded with him to grant an interview to this particular seeker. But the Master did not want to grant the interview because he knew that he had quite a few important things to do in the next few days.
The Master’s sister scolded the Master and said, “You have to do it. This is my request and command. You have to give the interview.” She said that this particular woman had a special connection with her and when the time came for this seeker to become the Master’s disciple, she should be given the same name as hers. Sister’s demand and sister’s command the Master had to follow.
The Master gave quite a few significant interviews, plus inner experiences of a very high order, to this particular lady, but her photographer-husband was totally against her spiritual life. Eventually the photographer-husband won and the Master lost the disciple.
After the lady left the Master’s path, the Master said to his sister, who was in Heaven, “Look why I didn’t feel like giving interviews to that particular disciple.” But the sister only gave her brother a broad smile and said that there was nothing wrong in trying to illumine someone’s agelong darkness.13
He was a businessman who sold vegetable cutters. He thought that since the Master had quite a few disciples, he would be able to sell his vegetable cutters to them. He gave a free demonstration of his machine. The Master felt sorry for him and bought four or five sets which he presented to his favourite disciples. But the man was not satisfied. He thought that in one day he could have sold at least twenty-five sets. Since the Master did not fulfil his inner desire, he left the Master’s path.14
A brilliant mind he had, so everything he had to analyse. Mind was the last word for him. He felt that his sister and his brother were fools since they did not use their minds. They used their credulous hearts and this pained him tremendously. He felt from within that he could be his own saviour; there was no need of an outer agent to save his life. But strangely enough, there had been many occasions when he, the victim, could not help himself. His sister and brother’s Master, whose path he followed for a short while, helped him considerably to get out of his mind-desire and vital-jungle. His sister and brother’s Master had always kept his heart’s door wide open to him, both in the inner world and in the outer world, for the Master had a special preference for this boy with the young, brilliant mind. But the boy left because he had something else to do, other than what his sister and brother were doing.15
She was an elderly lady and she thought that the Master cared only for the young generation. He has no concern for the old generation, she thought. The Master encouraged her individually and there came a time when the Master paid extra attention to her. Alas, this extra attention caused tremendous fear in her romantic, vital life. Therefore, she left.16
She was an elderly woman, extremely devoted to the Master. One day she came to the Master crying and weeping. Her son-in-law, a policeman, had been severely wounded by a bullet and was in the hospital. She came to the Master to ask whether her son-in-law would survive. The Master said, “I do not know.”
“You don’t know? Then why do you claim yourself to be a God-realised soul?”
The Master said, “A God-realised soul does not have to know everything, and sometimes he prays to God to give him the capacity to unlearn most of the things that he has learned.”
This dry philosophy of the Master did not satisfy the old lady. She said, “Since you cannot read the future, how am I going to place my future at your feet?”
She left.17
He felt that he had come to be greater than his Master, more spiritual than his Master, more famous than his Master. He thought that he would show that he knew better than father, mother, sister, friends, but fate did not work in that way. His self-styled superior knowledge was not accepted. Therefore, he left the path.18
Although he brought disciples to his Master, in secret he was always cherishing the desire that he would remain the messenger, the bridge, between the Master and the seekers he brought to the Master’s path. He felt he would always remain their leader. Through him they would have to approach the Master — especially the women disciples. “They touch the Master’s feet, but they should touch my feet because it is I who have brought them to the Master,” he thought.
When he saw the women disciples become friendly with other members of the group, his pride was hurt. Jealousy-snake put an end to his spiritual life on this particular path.19
“I have stayed with him for seven long years. He says that he is all compassion for me, no matter what kind of life I lead. He told us that his compassion is the strongest power. So how is it that the strongest power cannot save me from my indulgent life? If he really had compassion, he would have cured me totally, for he knows how I suffer. His compassion has no power. If it had power, I would not keep going back again and again to the lower life of sense-gratification. If he does not have power, what good is it to keep him as my Master? And if he has power but does not use it to transform my nature, what is the use of having him?
“He told me, ‘Do anything you like, but stay.’ But if he really has compassion, why do I do this kind of thing? To realise God I came here. Why am I not realising God? If he had really realised God, he would have given me realisation. The best thing is to have realisation in my own way and not the Master’s way.”
So this disciple left the path.20
The husband and wife were blessed with a daughter. The husband told their Master that he had had a dream. In the dream he saw that it was Sri Ramakrishna himself who had come into their family. The Master said, “It is impossible; Sri Ramakrishna has not come. A great soul like Sri Ramakrishna has not come into your family. Just yesterday, in the soul’s world, I had a talk with Ramakrishna about something.” But the husband’s dream was so vivid that he felt either the Master was telling a lie or the Master did not want to give him or his family proper credit for the kind of soul that had come into their family. So both of them left.21
“The Master does not care for me. He just pretends. He cares only for my father. My father serves him in so many ways. Therefore, he tries to make me feel that he also cares for me. But I can feel inside my heart that he does not care for me. Since his concern and love for me are not real, I cannot stay with him. Furthermore, he does not approve of my emotional-vital life. Therefore, who wants to stay with him?”22
Although she was married, she fell in love with a married man and wanted to get married to this person. The Master intervened. She thought that the Master did not care for this man, her true love, and that he cared only for her husband. To her husband she could not show real love. Since the Master did not approve of her living an emotional life with a new person, she left.23
He had a vision. According to him it was the highest vision that a human being can have. He was all excited. But the Master told him that that kind of vision is not of a high order, although it is encouraging and inspiring. The Master encouraged him to meditate more soulfully and devotedly and assured him that he would grant him a higher vision. But the disciple did not believe in the Master’s statement or assurance. He was positive that his vision was genuine and, at the same time, of a very high order, the highest order. Therefore, he left.24
She told everyone that her mother wanted her to leave the path and go back to school. She said she had no choice. But the main reason she left was something else. She left because she was interested in an elderly man and the gentleman was consciously or unconsciously creating tremendous problems for her.25
He saw his wife offering a flower to the Master in front of many disciples. He saw her offering the flower with utmost devotion. He felt jealous, extremely jealous. He felt that this kind of adoration only he deserved from his wife. Therefore, he left.26
He was married. He and his wife were both very close disciples of the Master. But he fell in love with somebody else and this girl happened to be his wife’s best friend. The Master pleaded with him not to leave his present wife. But he did not listen. He left his wife and went away to get married to the other girl.27
Her husband was not faithful to her. She felt miserable in every way. She tried to get her husband to lead a better life but the husband wouldn’t do it. She became insane. Then the husband did not allow her to come to the Centre anymore. He told the Master that it was she who did not want to come. Alas, finally she committed suicide. But the Master did something most significant for her in the soul’s world.28
She sent a tape to the Master on the Master’s birthday and she expected an immediate reply from the Master highly appreciating her. But the Master was extremely busy and her inner expectation he could not fulfil. She was told by some friends that had it been some other Master, he would have definitely responded to her message. She believed them. That is why she left the path.29
He was an Englishman. He showed considerable interest in an American girl and they wanted to get married. The Master had no objection; on the contrary, he gave his full approval. But the man’s English friends and his so-called well-wishers told him that the American girls are no good, that they live all the time in the emotional, vital world. So he was frightened and he left the Centre.30
Arrogance incarnate he was. His disproportionate sense of superiority and ego were too much for the Master to bear. He wanted the Master to be his Master, but he had to be the Master of his girlfriend. The Master did not approve of his close association with the girl. Therefore, he left and the girl also left.31
An astrologer predicted that his mother would die in a few months’ time. The Master laughed and said no.
“How do you know, Master? My mother lives in Philadelphia. How do you know?”“I know.”
Finally the astrologer gave him the date. In a week’s time she would die. The Master told him, “Let us see whether she dies in a week or not.”
While the mother was walking in the kitchen, she fell down. The big toe on her left foot was hurt, but not severely. However, the old lady made a scene. She cursed the son’s Master. She said, “If he really cared for me, then how could it be possible for me to stumble in the kitchen and break my toe? Either he is very inconsiderate or it was God’s Grace that prevented me from having a more serious accident. In any case, he does not deserve to have my son as his disciple. ”
The son felt confused. Then he came to the conclusion that if the Master had real power, how was it that he could not avert this catastrophe? Protection should be complete and perfect. So he left.
A few months later he came back, full of remorse. The Master forgave him, and gave him special attention and finally told him, “You are ready. I want you to run a Centre in another state.” But he thought the Master was cleverly trying to get rid of him. He said to the Master, “Why do you have to get rid of me? Let me get rid of you.” Once again he left the Master.32
He was a lawyer. He asked the Master to put a special force on him so that he would be successful in his law practice. Although he had a very high education, he was not doing well. But the Master told him that he could not make any promises. The Master wanted to leave the entire matter at the Feet of the Supreme. The lawyer said, “If you advise me to place everything at the Feet of the Supreme, then why do I need you to be the intermediary between God and myself? Let me take care of myself.”
By the way, before he came to the Centre he had a vision of the Master and the following day he saw the Master’s picture in the newspaper. It was exactly the same picture he had seen in his dream. He was so deeply moved. That is how he joined the Centre.33
She had a car accident and her car was damaged. She expected her insurance company to fix the car or give her the money to pay for repairs. She came to the Master and said, “Either you do something with my car or cure my husband, who constantly accuses me of insanity. I know clearly that he has become senile, insane, but he thinks that it is I who have become insane. So either you cure him, or do something with regard to my accident. And I have another serious problem with my husband which I told you about previously.”
The Master gave her a broad smile and said, “All these matters I would like to place at the Feet of the Supreme.”
She said to the Master, “Since you have no true concern, no personal concern for me, why do I have to remain your disciple?”
She left.34
He felt that the Master could be his Master, but he expected all his brother and sister disciples to recognise him as their Master, for he felt he had hundreds of experiences, whereas they had none. He used to say, “I assure you that the Master has given me abundant occult power. If I tell you that I have occult power, you won’t believe me. But you can ask the Master and if the Master is sincere, then he will definitely tell you that he has granted me tremendous occult power.” So the disciples wrote to the Master and asked him about this.
The Master said, “I can’t say whether he has occult power or not. But if he has, then that occult power is not from me. It is from some other person, some other world.”
On hearing this, the man got disturbed, mad, furious. He gave up his self-styled leadership and left the Centre.35
Each time she had occasion to see the Master, her soul would come to the fore and she cried most devotedly and soulfully. Sometimes it was sincere; sometimes, unfortunately, it was not sincere. This went on, and one of her friends, who did not appreciate this kind of emotional scene, always used to criticise her. Finally, she saw that such outbursts were not doing any good. Outwardly she said she had to leave the country; therefore, she would not be able to follow the Master’s path. Inwardly she felt that it was impossible for her to get anything significant from the Master even though she cried so bitterly for the Master to recognise her as one of his most ardent disciples.36
He thought that he was the world’s best business consultant, but unfortunately the Master’s disciples saw that he was not only physically fat but also mentally fat. It was difficult for them to have faith in him, so they did not take any advice from him. He thought that since he was not appreciated at the Centre, it was useless for him to stay. Also, he blamed the Master for not speaking highly of him as a business consultant.37
On her wedding day she discovered that her husband was anything but divine. She wanted to punish her husband. She felt that the best punishment would be for her to go and stay with a Chinese gentleman who had three children. The Master did not approve of such severe punishment. So she said to the Master, “Since you don’t approve of this punishment, you don’t deserve me. I know that you will not be able to change my husband’s nature.”
The Master said to her, “Give me at least a chance.”
She said, “I know your capacity.”
Luckily, the Master was not responsible for this marriage.38
When her husband ran away with her best friend, she felt miserable. She felt that it was all the Master’s fault. Why did the Master allow her husband to be so undivine? The Master sympathised with her and assured her that she would get a better husband if she stayed with the path.
She said to the Master, “If I stay on your path, I won’t be able to take any revenge. I want to marry a fool to prove to my husband that I don’t give any importance to scholarly life. Let him stay with his head-factory. I shall stay with my heart-garden.”
So she left.39
The husband and the wife were blessed with a child. They begged the Master to give him a name, and the Master gave them a broad smile. They thought that the smile indicated the Master’s consent and that in the near future the Master would give the child a spiritual name. Alas, they waited for a month, two, three, four, five months. Then they said to the Master, “How is it that you are not keeping your promise? You told us that you would give a spiritual name to our child.”
The Master said, “When did I say this? When and where?”
“You didn’t use words but your smile was more than enough to convince us that you did want to give him a name.”
The Master said, “Your intuition did not do justice to my smile. I shall not be able to give him a name.”
Both of them left, mad and furious. But the divine force, the Compassion of the Supreme, did not leave them. Therefore, inwardly they used to pray to the Master and there came a time when they returned to him. Then the Master immediately gave the child a name. In this way the Master lost and regained three disciples.40
He became jealous of the President of the Centre. He thought that since he had come to the Centre long before the President, it was he who deserved to be President. Also, he felt that he had more love for the Master and more faith in the Master than the President. He said to the President, “Do you really have all faith in the Master, or is it just a pretence?”
The President said, “I do have faith, all faith, in my Master.”
“If you have faith, then it is all fanatic faith. If the Master asks you to jump off the fifth floor, will you immediately jump?”
The President said, “Of course, of course. ”
When sincerity came forward, the man felt from within that he did not have that kind of faith in the Master. Then he said to himself, “Since I am not as good as this man, who is to blame? The Master. How is it that he didn’t give me this kind of faith? Since I lost that case, for me the best thing is to leave.”41
She used to come to the Master and, at the same time, she used to go regularly to church. There she always had to make confession to the priest that she had spoken to this Indian teacher. Instead of showing compassion, the priest used to scold her and tell her that this was the worst possible sin.
She had lost her husband many years ago, and the Indian teacher used to bring messages to her from her deceased husband. Sometimes the messages were so accurate that she was astonished. Some of her relatives, who were also priests in another part of the world, wanted her to offer her house to the priests. She asked the Indian teacher whether her husband wished her to give it to the priests or to sell it. The Indian teacher said that the husband’s wish was for her to sell it. She said to the teacher, “If it is my husband’s wish to sell it, then you will have to be responsible. You have to tell when it will be sold.”
The teacher said, “In three months’ time it will be sold, provided you sell at a particular price.”
She said, “Oh no, that price is too low. I can’t sell it.”
The teacher said, “This is the price that I got from your husband. Your husband told me to quote this price.”
She said, “Impossible! You are telling a lie.” Then the teacher said, “All right, I am telling a lie. In that case, you should give away the house to the priests.”
She said, “Oh no, that I can’t do. I need money. ”
“You need money. Who does not need money? But your husband wants you to have the amount that I told you.”
Finally she agreed. Then the teacher said, “If you personally go to your house in two weeks’ time, then you will be able to sell it in three months’ time.”
She said, “If I will sell the place in three months’ time, why do I have to go in two weeks’ time?”
The teacher said, “It will be necessary.”
But she didn’t listen to the teacher. She began showing her house to customers only three weeks before the end of the three-month period. She did not sell the house. Then she insulted the teacher because her house was not sold. Finally she left him.42
“My brother has become close, quite close, to the Master, but I definitely know that if I follow my brother’s path, I can easily surpass him. In him I always notice a kind of over-enthusiastic fanaticism. He is carried away by all the outer world’s fantasy and by the inner world’s most complicated and unexplainable fantasy.” This is what he thought.
But after following his brother’s path for a few months, he felt differently. “Alas, I have tried in vain to outshine my brother with my dedicated service, but my brother wants to please the Master in his own way. He feels that is the only way to become happy, whereas I feel that if my happiness has to depend on somebody else’s compassion, pity or even love, then I don’t need that person. I want to remain my own boss, self-sufficient.” Also, he felt that the disciples were all fond of his brother and his brother’s craziness, but they were not fond of his own inner maturity.43
“My nose cancer could have been cured if the person who I thought was the modern Christ had actually been a real Master. It was my mistake to consider anybody as Master except the Christ. He who does not have the miracle-power can never be a true spiritual Master. So let me go and only cry for the Christ, who was all miracle-power plus the eternal life-saving miracle.” This is what she felt, so she left the path.44
“The life of the soul is not so charming and pleasing. Only the life of the lower vital is charming and pleasing. While pleasing the lower vital in oneself and in others, if one gets material wealth, then it is best to get four houses plus vital satisfaction. The life of the soul can wait because, after all, the soul’s life is dealing with Eternity.” This is what the person felt.45
She was in love with a married man. She felt, “If only he would give up his wife and try to please me! But if I keep my Master between my existence and his existence, then I will never get him. In order to get him, please him, placate him, I must give up the Master. I don’t want the Master to stand between us. There was a time when I used to think the Master was a bridge; now I think the Master is a wall, a solid wall.”46
“My friend has been through married life. He knows who can please him. His first wife did not please him because she was anything but divine, but in me he has found his true partner. That means he and I will really be happy. But the Master won’t allow us to become one. The Master feels that there can be no happiness based on human love. Why did God give us the human body if human love is meaningless and useless?
“And I curse the Master because he has brainwashed my future husband and made him feel that only God satisfies mankind and not any human being. I don’t need his path. I wanted to please him in his own way always. I am glad that I did not please him in his own way. If I had done that, today I would really have become crazy. I want to retain the little sanity that I have.”
This is what this young woman thought, and she left the Master.47
“I never knew that a human being could be so filthy and dirty as my wife. What kind of Master is he who asks me to stay with the filthiest woman on earth? He never cares for my satisfaction; he only cares for her satisfaction. I don’t need him.”
This is what he felt.48
“My first husband left me because I was an idiot, unreliable. The present one left the path and left me because he felt that his daughters from a previous marriage were more affectionate to him than I. Since the Master does not or cannot please me by keeping my husband faithful only to me, it is better to look for another path.”
So this woman left the Master.49
The day was fixed for him to get his spiritual name. He felt miserable, because getting a spiritual name meant he had to lead a pure life. He felt that his impure life was giving him so much satisfaction. “Why get a spiritual name and destroy my impurity-satisfaction life?”
And so he left.50
He stayed with his Master for six months. During these six months he did not notice any occult power in the Master. He thought that if the Master had occult power, naturally he would have displayed it during the six months. He was told that there were certain spiritual Masters who showed their occult power to disciples the very day they were accepted by their Master.
“Either this Master does not have occult power or he does not want to show it to me. Most probably he does not have it. A Master without occult power is no Master.”
Therefore, he left.51
He became famous, very famous, on his island. He felt that he did not need his Master’s blessings. Without the Master he could easily live on earth.
His wife had severe headaches and every morning she had to pray to the Master to free her from pain. The Master used to cure her only when she prayed to him. Finally she said to herself, “What kind of Master is this if I have to pray to him every day to free me from my headache? He has no compassion for me.” Therefore, she left.52
He left the Master because the Master told some people that his music was nothing but vital.
His wife left the Master because the spiritual name that the Master gave their daughter was not at all pleasing. She thought that if she stayed with the Master, she would be compelled to call the child by the Indian spiritual name. She felt that it was too much for her, so she left.53
“The Master does not know French. How can he understand my mind, not to speak of my heart? Either he has to learn French or I have to learn English. But he won’t learn French and I won’t learn English. How can there be any real communication between us?”
Therefore, he left.54
She had a huge apartment, a big loft, and once the Master went there with a group of disciples. She was a great artist and the Master appreciated her art tremendously. One day she said to the Master, “How is it that I can’t earn a living from my painting, although I am a great artist?”
The Master said, “For that, one thing is necessary: purity — a pure life, a life of purity. ”
That was the day the disciple thought of leaving the Master. In a few weeks’ time, she left.55
She was the Master’s first official secretary. She was extremely devoted to the Master while she was with him. However, she had two problems. First, her daughter failed to live a pure life, to say the least. She created many problems in the school where she studied, near Poughkeepsie. The Master did help the girl considerably in coming out of her vital life, but that was not enough for her mother. The mother wanted a radical transformation in her daughter. Also, she wanted the Master to use a special power so that her French husband would not beat her when he was drunk. Since the Master could not succeed totally in solving either of these two problems — the one with her husband and the one with her daughter — she disappeared.56
She ran a church and had quite a few disciples. Once she invited the Master to come and give a talk to the disciples. But then she saw that if her disciples met the Master, they would all leave her. So she asked the Master to bless her privately and she told her disciples that the Master was sick and had cancelled the meeting.
Eventually she came to realise that if she kept this man as her Master, sooner or later she would be compelled to take her disciples to see him and then she would lose all of them. She didn’t want to do that, so she gave up the Master.57
She saw that her boyfriend was making extremely good progress and getting extra affection and love from the Master. She was afraid that she would not get the same kind of affection and love from her Master, but she was not ready to give up her vital life and take the spiritual life so seriously. Therefore, she left.58
She and her husband had a lucrative business in Florida. Once she brought the Master a set of china plus a twenty-dollar bill. When she gave him the twenty-dollar bill, she told him, “Unfortunately, I cannot afford to give you a larger amount because our business is not doing well. And after all, why do you need the money? For spiritual people money is not necessary.”
The Master smiled at her and said, “True, true, spiritual people do not need money. They live on air. They don’t need material food.”
“I am sorry,” she said, “I won’t be able to give you regularly twenty dollars.”
The Master said, “Who wants to have twenty dollars from you regularly? Perhaps this will be your first and last time.”
She said, “How do you know?”
The Master said, “I do not know anything; I only presume.”
The Master was right. All the Master got from this extremely rich woman who followed his path for six months was one twenty-dollar bill.59
She felt she had the capacity to transmit spiritual power. She used to get messages from other spiritual Masters and She felt that other Masters transmitted their spiritual power through her because she was so pure and divine. The Master told her it was not because she was pure and divine, but because the other Masters were compassionate. She was severely hurt.
One day she told the Master that she had realised God. She said her realisation was perfect, but it was not as perfect as the Master’s realisation. Therefore, she still needed the Master.
The Master said realisation was a very big word, and he did not want to discuss it. He said he only wanted to discuss aspiration.
She felt that the Master wanted to avoid her. She thought she was such a great leader and felt that the Master did not recognise her as a born leader; he was blind, and what should she do with a blind man? So she left.60
He was a musician. He felt that his music would give him realisation. The Master said to him, “If you play soulful music, naturally it will help you in your self-realisation; but music as such will not be able to give you self-realisation. And your present vital music will never give you realisation.”
He was deeply hurt. He said to the Master, “If my music and I can’t go together to God, then I don’t want God-realisation. ”
The Master said, “Certainly, you and your music can go together, but you have to know what kind of music you are speaking of: vital music or soulful music?”
He said, “There is no such thing as vital or soulful music. Any music that gives us joy we must play.”
The Master said, “You have used the wrong word. The right word is pleasure.”
He said, “You are only juggling the words. Joy is pleasure, pleasure is joy. These are synonymous.”
The Master said, “My dictionary unfortunately has two different meanings for these two words.”
He said, “Master, let us not argue.”
The Master said, “Far from it! Let us not do it. Let us each follow our own path.”
So the disciple left the Master.61
A well-known swimmer came into her life. She wanted to marry him and she was also greatly influenced by a very close friend of hers to marry this swimmer. But the Master did not like the idea. The Master said, “You will swim in the sea of ignorance. ”
She said to the Master, “Your sea of wisdom has not given me any satisfaction. Let me at least try to swim in the sea of ignorance and see if it is really so bad.”
She left the Master, but by God’s Grace and the Master’s concern, she became disappointed in the swimmer. Finally she left him to go back to her old boyfriend, who was a married man with three children.From:Sri Chinmoy,They came only to go, Agni Press, 1976
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/tcg