142. Magical moments

Coming closer to the master is the path to becoming a master.

The most magical mom-

ents in life happen in the moments of love and trust from a disciple towards the master. It is the start of a relationship out of this world to the secrets beyond. It can become a grand celebration where the whole cosmos dances with you.

It is like how a river comes to the ocean, dancing, eager to become one with the vast ocean. Coming closer to the master is the path to becoming a master. It is the grand merger with the cosmic Whole.

The beauty in the relation with the master is that it is unpolluted by any expectations or give-and-take. The master accepts you just as you are. The purity in the relation with the master is that there is no attempt to make something else of you. You actually love the master because he gives you the complete freedom to be just what you are with no strings attached.

The love between the master and the disciple can never be 'satisfied'. Because first of all, the dissatisfaction is not a superficial or mental dissatisfaction. It is a deep dissatisfaction of the being that wants to break free from the false boundaries of the ego and love infinitely. So when the master happens, there is eternal freshness, eternal love and excitement, pure bliss that

Master is a promise, an assurance, a living ideal. He gives you the promise, 'Open, you will never die!'

arises from the being every single moment.

This will go on opening new doors as the relationship

reveals subtler and deeper aspects of love, devotion and merging into the Whole. This is the ultimate love affair. It is the love affair with Existence itself.

Sister Nivedita* describes the power of the relationship with the master, 'One's whole attitude to things was reversed. One took fire, as it were, with a given idea. Or one suddenly found that a whole habit of thought had left one, and a new outlook had grown up in its place, without the interchange of a single word on the subject. It seemed as if a thing had passed beyond the realm of discussion, and knowledge had grown, by the mere fact of nearness to him.'

Master – the living promise

It is like this: the seed is trying to break and become a tree. The seed says to the tree, 'Please! You come out first. Only then will I break and open. Who knows? After I break, you may not happen. I may just die and disappear.' But the tree says, 'No no, unless you open, I cannot come out. Open!' The seed says, 'No, no. You come out first, give me the assurance and the guarantee that you will happen and only then will I open'. The fight goes on.

The seed is afraid because if it opens, it may just die instead of becoming the tree. The tree says, 'Unless you open, I cannot come out, I cannot happen.' The fight between the tree's happening and the seed's opening continues.

The master is a person who was once a seed, and who later became a tree. We are like the seed. He assures the seed, 'Don't worry, I was like you. I had the courage to open up and I have become this beautiful tree. So just open! Just relax. You will only become a tree, you will never die.' He gives you the assurance, the confidence. Master is a promise, an assurance, a living ideal. He gives you the promise, 'Open, you will never die!'

Beyond ego and envy

The master's love is perhaps the only unconditional love there is, totally unselfish, without expectations, just giving, asking for nothing. The master's

Sister Nivedita - Anglo Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda.

love is detached and radiating all the time. It radiates whether you are there or not. All you need to do is to stand with your bowl and take your fill again and again.

Usually for a man, it is his ego that is the major block in receiving. By nature man is less given to emotions than a woman, and more prone to acting out of the intellect. To give into someone, to accept someone as a master unconditionally is almost impossible for the mind unless the heart takes over. When he is with the mind, giving in means loss of personality, loss of identity, death of the very ego. It becomes too much to lose. But with awareness, by seeing where one is missing, it is possible to melt and give in.

On the other hand, possessiveness and envy is the greatest danger for a woman to reach the master. A woman has to go beyond the form of the master to the formless, beyond the concept of possessing the form to the reality of sharing his love and compassion with others without envy, and growing spiritually. Initially it is alright to feel possessive and envious. In fact, only when these emotions surface in you, they leave you as well! If they remain deeply hidden, they cannot leave you. But as the relationship with the master grows, the intelligent one will allow the transformation of both into pure love. It is only then they experience the pure love of the master also! Until then their own possessiveness and jealousy act like filters in experiencing the pure love of the master.

The master is like the river. If you keep your hands open and let the river flow through you, the water is with you all the time. If you try to hold the water with your hands, you miss it! The master's love will flow through you without interruption as much as you need. The moment you close your hands hoping to contain the river within your tiny palms, you will lose the river, you will you lose the master. You just have to be a beautiful part of the flow of life and enjoy the love of the master.