WESTERN MYSTICS
The New Alchemy 28
TwentyEighth Discourse from the series of 34 discourses - The New Alchemy by Osho.
You can listen, download or read all of these discourses on oshoworld.com.
Osho,
I am seeking and wandering. Tell me, how can I find a master? And how am I to be certain that he is the right master for me? What are the criteria? How to judge? How am I to know whether he is the man to lead me? How can one be certain?
This question may be the question of many. Everyone is searching. You can seek, but you cannot find. But seeking is necessary, because if you don’t seek, nothing will happen. Go on seeking, but know that just by seeking you cannot find, because it is impossible for the disciple to know who the right guru is. It is impossible for the lower to judge the higher. How can one judge “This is the master for me?” If you can judge and decide, then you have gone above the master.
The disciple can never find the master. Only the master can find the disciple.
So the disciple has to go on seeking and seeking and seeking just to be available to the masters, so that when the right man comes, he can choose you.
Only the master can choose you; you cannot choose him. In the ancient secret wisdom of Egypt it was said that when the disciple is ready the master appears. It is so. If you are ready, the master will appear. And your readiness is your availability – it is to be available.
Go on seeking. You will meet many teachers; be humble, learn with reverence and gratitude. But remember that not every teacher is your master. You will have to wait for the right master to appear. Go on, with deep humility, humbleness, receptivity. Move from teacher to teacher. You don’t know who the master is, but when you are ready, through this search the master will choose you.
And the moment someone chooses you, be courageous enough to be chosen. Don’t try to escape when someone chooses you, because that’s what happens: you may be in search of a master, but when the master chooses you and says “Okay, I accept you,” you may try to escape, because the master is like death.
I say, the master is like death. There is an old Indian saying: The master is death. Acharyo mrityuh – the master is death. He is, because he will destroy you as you are, just to create a new you. He will kill you just to give you a rebirth. He will restructure you. He’s going to give you rebirth, so death is necessary. So when the master chooses you, it appears as if death is coming. You may try to escape. Remember: you cannot find the master, but when the master finds you, be ready to die, be ready to surrender.
But there is fear: “If that man is not right… How can I know if this man is the right master for me? How am I to know if he is the right one for me and I should now surrender?” That you cannot know. To know the right man you first have to be the right man; otherwise, how can you know? You have no experience of being right, so how can you feel whether this man is right for you? If you are already a right man then there is no need for a master. Even that is not possible. So what to do?
I say it is not a question of the right man; it is a question of surrender. Surrender, even to the wrong man, is helpful.
You may not be able to understand what I mean. Even to a wrong man, surrender is helpful; you are not losing anything. The real thing happens not because of the master, the real thing happens because of the surrender. If you have surrendered to the wrong man, no harm is going to happen to you, because a surrendered mind is protected by existence itself. No harm can be done to you. If you have surrendered to the wrong man, even by your very surrender that wrong man may be helped and may become an authentic master – because a real disciple changes a false master into an authentic master. The very surrendering is such a deep phenomenon that when it happens you are transformed and the other person is also transformed. But that is not your worry. Remember, no harm is going to happen to you if you surrender. Surrendering, in itself, is a miracle. Even if you have surrendered to a false master, you may learn many things from him. In this existence, nothing is a wastage. Even living with a false master is a learning. You are growing, you are becoming aware of certain things that you would never become aware of with an authentic master. You are maturing, you are becoming adult.
And now, after learning from a false master, no false master will ever appeal to you again. At least you will now be able to judge who is false. You may not be able to judge who is right, but the step has already been taken: you can now judge who is false. And this is something worth learning! Now you can eliminate the false teachers, and the true teacher will be left. Now you know what is false, you will never again be magnetized by it.
So be humble, even with a false master. Be respectful, be grateful, because you have learned many things from him. And when you leave him, leave with deep gratitude. Under him, you have become more mature.
This is the right attitude for a disciple. The question is never of a right master or a wrong master. The question is always of right discipleship. Don’t think of the master at all. Just try to become a right disciple – the learning attitude, the receptivity to learn.
And be grateful. This world is a great school, and the divine force uses every way and every means to create understanding in you. This understanding is helped by both the true and the false. Remember this, it will be helpful to you.
Now get ready for the night meditation.
I am seeking and wandering. Tell me, how can I find a master? And how am I to be certain that he is the right master for me? What are the criteria? How to judge? How am I to know whether he is the man to lead me? How can one be certain?
This question may be the question of many. Everyone is searching. You can seek, but you cannot find. But seeking is necessary, because if you don’t seek, nothing will happen. Go on seeking, but know that just by seeking you cannot find, because it is impossible for the disciple to know who the right guru is. It is impossible for the lower to judge the higher. How can one judge “This is the master for me?” If you can judge and decide, then you have gone above the master.
The disciple can never find the master. Only the master can find the disciple.
So the disciple has to go on seeking and seeking and seeking just to be available to the masters, so that when the right man comes, he can choose you.
Only the master can choose you; you cannot choose him. In the ancient secret wisdom of Egypt it was said that when the disciple is ready the master appears. It is so. If you are ready, the master will appear. And your readiness is your availability – it is to be available.
Go on seeking. You will meet many teachers; be humble, learn with reverence and gratitude. But remember that not every teacher is your master. You will have to wait for the right master to appear. Go on, with deep humility, humbleness, receptivity. Move from teacher to teacher. You don’t know who the master is, but when you are ready, through this search the master will choose you.
And the moment someone chooses you, be courageous enough to be chosen. Don’t try to escape when someone chooses you, because that’s what happens: you may be in search of a master, but when the master chooses you and says “Okay, I accept you,” you may try to escape, because the master is like death.
I say, the master is like death. There is an old Indian saying: The master is death. Acharyo mrityuh – the master is death. He is, because he will destroy you as you are, just to create a new you. He will kill you just to give you a rebirth. He will restructure you. He’s going to give you rebirth, so death is necessary. So when the master chooses you, it appears as if death is coming. You may try to escape. Remember: you cannot find the master, but when the master finds you, be ready to die, be ready to surrender.
But there is fear: “If that man is not right… How can I know if this man is the right master for me? How am I to know if he is the right one for me and I should now surrender?” That you cannot know. To know the right man you first have to be the right man; otherwise, how can you know? You have no experience of being right, so how can you feel whether this man is right for you? If you are already a right man then there is no need for a master. Even that is not possible. So what to do?
I say it is not a question of the right man; it is a question of surrender. Surrender, even to the wrong man, is helpful.
You may not be able to understand what I mean. Even to a wrong man, surrender is helpful; you are not losing anything. The real thing happens not because of the master, the real thing happens because of the surrender. If you have surrendered to the wrong man, no harm is going to happen to you, because a surrendered mind is protected by existence itself. No harm can be done to you. If you have surrendered to the wrong man, even by your very surrender that wrong man may be helped and may become an authentic master – because a real disciple changes a false master into an authentic master. The very surrendering is such a deep phenomenon that when it happens you are transformed and the other person is also transformed. But that is not your worry. Remember, no harm is going to happen to you if you surrender. Surrendering, in itself, is a miracle. Even if you have surrendered to a false master, you may learn many things from him. In this existence, nothing is a wastage. Even living with a false master is a learning. You are growing, you are becoming aware of certain things that you would never become aware of with an authentic master. You are maturing, you are becoming adult.
And now, after learning from a false master, no false master will ever appeal to you again. At least you will now be able to judge who is false. You may not be able to judge who is right, but the step has already been taken: you can now judge who is false. And this is something worth learning! Now you can eliminate the false teachers, and the true teacher will be left. Now you know what is false, you will never again be magnetized by it.
So be humble, even with a false master. Be respectful, be grateful, because you have learned many things from him. And when you leave him, leave with deep gratitude. Under him, you have become more mature.
This is the right attitude for a disciple. The question is never of a right master or a wrong master. The question is always of right discipleship. Don’t think of the master at all. Just try to become a right disciple – the learning attitude, the receptivity to learn.
And be grateful. This world is a great school, and the divine force uses every way and every means to create understanding in you. This understanding is helped by both the true and the false. Remember this, it will be helpful to you.
Now get ready for the night meditation.