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Acceptance of the Master Must Be From the Inner-Self
There are two types of abhyasis: One like the almond which is hard
on the outside and soft on the inside; the other like the mango, soft
on the outside, hard on the inside. We must accept the master from inside.
Everybody keeps on saying, "My Master, My Master! My Master is
good! My Master is wonderful! He is divine!" This is all superficial.
I don't say it is a lie. But it is a superficial level, like powder
on the face. It lasts so long and no more. The abhyasi's acceptance
of the Master must come from his inner state; more important, the Master's
acceptance of you must come from His inner self. It is a vital point.
Because you see, if you understand it properly, this excludes so many
anomalous situations, where we think, people who have been very close
to Him, are no longer close to Him. Their closeness was a superficial
closeness; perhaps they accepted from their superficial self and the
Master accepted them from His superficial self.
As long as the two bodies are present, the superficial connection exists.
When one body has disappeared, that eternity which it represents - the
Master of that eternity which He represented is still here; this loss
of inner acceptance makes us blind to that existence. It is like a rudderless
ship, every wave, buffeted by every wind. So, if we have to enjoy an
eternal connection with the Master, we must start with our heart; the
deepest, the innermost secret recesses of the heart must accept Him;
and in turn, He must accept us from His inner condition. Then it is
an eternal binding, an eternal bondage of love, something which can
never be broken through eternity. And then He meets with us in the internal
self, we meet with Him from the eternal self. No longer does my death
matter to Him, or His death matter to me. Because my inner and His inner
are bound. So, this is the thing that we have not achieved. Let us not
become self-satisfied, and smug and say, My Master liked me; My Master
admired me. He patted me on the back. He praised me, etc."
Yes, this is all at the superficial level. You build a house and He
says, "Very nice." You give some clothes and He says, "Very
beautiful." And I understood how deceptive it was, when one day
in our house He was having food. And according to our sampradayas
[tradition], we served Him first. He started eating. And He was praising.
Then when I started eating, I found that in one particular dish, there
was no salt. Yet He was praising it! So, that is His nature, you see
- that He will not criticise, number one; two, He is not interested
in the taste of what you give. He is only interested in the love with
which it is prepared. So, what is to us a lack or a deficiency, was
for Him nothing. Another person would have said, "What is this?
you have given this to me without salt. Please add some salt."
So His operation was always from His inner level. We are always operating
from the external level. Therefore, we sit for meditation and we think
we don't feel anything! Because we are striving for superficial things
- experiences, like feeling cold or hot, something crawling on the skin,
fear - these are superficial things! You see, they are either at the
mental level, or at the mortal level, or even at the physical level.
We are not prepared to go in and then see there where it matters: "What
is really happening to you?" Then how can we ever raise ourselves
to those levels, those highest levels of spirituality He has referred
to, where the truth resides, where the true experiences reside, where
the true proof of the process resides. We are not willing to dive deep.
And Babuji has put this in a beautiful allegory: "If you want pearls,
you must dive to the bottom of the ocean."
So the ultimate point is, that if you are really interested in spirituality,
anyone really interested in spirituality, anyone really claiming to
love the Master, is he prepared to sacrifice his life for that purpose?
If the answer is yes, you are an abhyasi. Then His heart accepts you
from the innermost level of His being. There is no more any question
of reward or punishment. "You are me, I am you." That is what
Lalaji said about Babuji: "I am thou, and thou art I; and that
no person can now say that there is any difference between you and me."
The life that we put into ourselves is the spiritual life of the Master
when we put Him in our hearts by an act of acceptance, by an act of
surrender. He becomes the seed which we sow in our own hearts. And then
from inside, He germinates, He flowers. And that is us, we become
the flowers coming out of the seed that He puts into us.
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