A saint in India was wont to say, "I am like a drum: As you beat me, so I sound”. A master is not what he appears to human eyes. Yet his human appearance is an aspect of what he is. But he is infinitely more than what he appears. For those who see in him a great and wise teacher, he is that. Those who see him as a dear friend, he is also that.
A master is like a mirror: Whatever qualities we present to him, he reflects back to us: He is whatever each of us wants him to be; at the same time, he is beyond our mental concepts, unshakably centred in infinite consciousness.
Inevitably a master attracts people to him though his one desire is to draw them to God, not to his humanity. Indeed, it is his magnetism that carries the soul on a magic carpet up to the Infinite Light. The devotion a master receives is directed by him to God alone. And he patiently teaches others to direct their love to God also, viewing him as but a window to infinity.
Disciples often focus their devotion on the master as a catalyst for their love for God. By devotion to him as a conscious instrument of the Divine, they open themselves to the flow of divine love. The magnetic presence of a true master, far from impeding their spiritual progress, greatly accelerates it.
Much grace comes through association with a great master, even for people who are only vaguely aware of the gifts they are receiving. The benefits vary, however, depending on the disciples' understanding and receptivity. The disciples' attention can often be directed so much outwardly that they neglect to develop inward communion with him.
There are many ways of relating to a true master. Even a master's own disciples limit themselves in what they receive, as long as they define his greatness in merely human terms. Those who seek their inspiration outwardly receive what eyes and ears can absorb, but not the deeper understanding craved by the soul. This understanding comes only by deep communion in meditation.
The devotee ought to look not only to the master's physical form, but commune with his soul. To take inside the inspiration one receives from out-ward contact, however, is to discover that which truly expands consciousness.
The guru-disciple relationship is not only of inner communion and of receiving, but of self-giving. Only in a spirit of mutuality can divine love be developed. The way to know God is to still the mind by deep meditation. The way to know Him is to live consciously in His blissful presence. The way to know Him is to commune with Him in inner silence, and to fill the heart, with His love.
Superficial disciples make a show of devotion to the guru, but those who are spiritually deep hold his presence in their hearts, absorb his vibrations silently into their souls, and seek his guidance inwardly rather than outwardly in words.
Let us speak little, then, but love much. And let us ever commune ecstatically with the Lord, as the great masters do, in our souls.