What does it mean to be a disciple?

When A Guru was dying, one of his young disciples asked him,

"Guru, who was your Master?"

He said, "I had thousands of masters. If I just relate their names it will take months, years and it is too late. But three masters I will certainly tell you about.

One was a thief. Once I got lost in the desert, and when I reached a village it was very late, everything was closed. But at last I found one man who was trying to open a door of a house. I asked him where I could stay and he said: 'At this time of night it will be difficult, but you can stay with me - if you can stay with a thief'. And the man was so simple. I stayed with him for one month! And each night he would say to me, 'Now I am going to do my work. You rest, you pray.' When he came back I would ask 'Could you get anything?' He would say, 'Not tonight. But tomorrow I will try again, Heaven willing.' He was never in a state of hopelessness, he was always happy.

When I was meditating for years on end and nothing was happening, many times the moment came when I was so desperate, so hopeless, that I thought to stop all this nonsense. Then suddenly I would remember the thief who would say every night, 'Heaven willing, tomorrow it is going to happen.'

My second master was a dog. I was going to the river, thirsty and a dog came. He was also thirsty. He looked into the river, he saw another dog there -- his own image -- and became afraid. He would bark and run away, but his thirst was so much that he would come back. Finally, despite his fear, he just jumped into the water, and the image disappeared. I knew that a message had come to me from Heaven: one has to take the leap in spite of all fears.

The third master was a small child. I entered a town and a child was carrying a lit candle. He was going to the temple to put the candle there.

'Just joking,' I asked the boy, 'Have you lit the candle yourself?' He said, 'Yes sir.' And I asked, 'There was a moment when the candle was unlit, then there was a moment when the candle was lit. Can you show me the source from which the light came?' And the boy laughed, blew out the candle, and said, 'Now you have seen the light going off. Where has it gone? You will tell me this first!'

My ego was totally shattered. And that moment I felt my own stupidity. Since then I dropped all my knowledge ability. It is true that I had no master. That does not mean that I was not a disciple. I accepted the whole existence as my master. My Disciple hood was a greater involvement than yours is. I trusted the clouds, the trees. I trusted existence as such. I had no master because I had millions of masters & I learned from every possible source.

To be a disciple is a must on the path. What does it mean to be a disciple? It means to be able to learn. To be available to learn to be vulnerable to existence.

With a master you start learning to learn.

The master is like a swimming pool where you can learn how to swim.

Once you have learned, all the oceans are yours."

Post thanks to Kavita Mohan Menda