July/August 2012 [Vol 23. No. 4] - Chinmaya Mission San Jose

10page
Chinmaya
Lahari
All students, at some time, walk slowly under the crushing
load of their own fatigue. Pilgrims, all of them, they
wander on looking for help in walking the path straight
to their goal. They search for ideas that can refresh them;
they search for the Teacher, who softly advises his beloved
disciples in the secret chambers of his own sacred retreat.
But rarely do they understand the crack whip style of the
Teacher without softness or delicate consideration in the
approach to correct the erring student. A few criminally
sweet lashes, with the kindly cruel whip of horrible
impatience, coming with a tough love for the welfare
of the beloved disciples still sleeping in samsara sorrows,
can do wonders.
The great Vedanta masters rebuke their disciple children
and send them out, because the Knowledge they seek
is something to think of, find out and realise alone.
Such Teachers never try to interfere with the intellectual
decisions of the student. Even to the student’s direct
questioning, the Teacher never gives a direct answer. The
Teacher knows he can turn, change and influence directly
the student’s mind because of the student’s love and
reverence for him. So great Teachers never say anything
and brutally push the students aside. They do not allow
the students’s adoration to warp itself into a personality
cult. To the students, the Master can give nothing more
than encouragement and some guidance from time to
time. Alone to the Alone, all alone.
~Swami Chinmayananda