Relationship With a Spiritual Master:-

A child living with his family who does right by his family in honouring his mother and his father reaps a reward--for that mother and father are going to gladly see to all his needs in the emotional, intellectual and material world. But if the child negligently begins to play with the emotions and intellect of his mother and father by not living up to their expectations, they will be relieved when he is old enough to leave home and be on his own. During the time he is still at home, they will, of course, talk with him and work the best they can with the negative vibrations he generates, as their natural love for him is a protective force.

As it is with the parents, it is much the same with the Spiritual Master. A devotee coming to his Master who is evolved, honest and able is first asked to do simple, mundane tasks. If they are done with willingness, the Master will take him consciously under his wing for a deeper, inner, direct training, as he fires him to attain greater heights through sadhana and tapas. This darshan power of the Master will then be constantly felt by the disciple. But if the disciple were to turn away from the small tasks given by his Master, he would not connect into the deeper darshan power of the Spiritual Master that allows him to ride into his meditations deeply with ease. If the devotee breaks his flow with the Master by putting newly awakened power into intellectual "ifs" or "buts" or--"Well, now I know how to meditate; I don't need you anymore. Thank you for all you've done. I've learned all you have to offer me and must be on my way"--or if he merely starts being delinquent in his efforts, then the Master-disciple relationship is shattered.

Still a certain darshan power goes out to him, but the Master no longer consciously inwardly works with him as an individual. He knows it is too dangerous to work with this fluctuating aspirant, for there is no telling how he might take and use the accumulating power that would later be awakened within him. The Spiritual Master makes such a one prove himself to himself time and time again and to the Master, too, through sadhana and tapas. Sadhana tests his loyalty, consistency and resolution. Tapas tests his loyalty as well as his personal will, for he does tapas alone, gaining help only from inside himself, and he has to be aware on the inside to receive it. A wise Master never hesitates to put him "through it," so to speak.

A Master may give tapas to a self-willed disciple who insisted on living his personal life in the ashram, not heeding the rules of his sadhana. He may say, "Walk through all places. Stay out of the ashram for one year. Walk through the Himalayas. Take nothing but your good looks, your orange robe and a bowl for begging at the temples." From then on, the Master works it all out with him on the inside for as long as the disciple remains "on tapas." Maybe the Master will be with him again, yet may be not; it depends entirely on the personal performance of the tapas.

This, then, is one of the reasons that it is very, very important for anyone striving on the path to first have a good relationship with his family--for the Master can expect nothing more than the same type of relationship eventually to arise with himself or between the aspirant and some other disciple. As he gets more into the vibration of the Master, he is going to relax into the same behavioural patterns he generated with his parents, for in the ashram, many of the same vibrations, forces and attitudes are involved.