A genuine disciple

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Light and Love

There is a story which points out the difference between a genuine disciple

and others whobehave in one way when they are with the preceptor and differently

when they are away fromhim. The preceptor, when he was nearing his end, sent

word to all his old disciples to come to theashram for a last meeting with them

before he passed away. All the disciples had arrived exceptone who had to come

from a long distance. While he was coming, he had to cross a river in

spatebefore reaching the guru's village. Despite warnings from the villagers

not to get into the swollenriver, he walked on, in his anxiety to reach the

guru, reciting the mantra the guru had taught him.Miraculously the river was

only knee-deep while he was crossing it. Everybody was struck bythe miracle. On

reaching the ashram, the other disciples felt that the guru had imparted

adifferent mantra to this disciple which had enabled him to wade through the

swollen river withease. They even accused the guru of partiality. The guru told

them that the mantra imparted toall of them was one and the same, but there was

a difference in the spirit in which it was utteredby the disciples and that

made all the difference in its protective efficacy. The disciple who hadcrossed

the river was saved by his faith in the guru. There was no difference in the

messageimparted to the disciples. (Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 24. "Ideals of the

Rama Avatar," Chapter 6).

 

Namaste - Reet