DEALING WITH FAILINGS

 
The Master takes infinite pains to win the disciple for spiritual life. Since progress is secured only if love for the Master is not allowed to decrease, he takes care to remove obstacles in the way of whole-hearted devotion. And sometimes he is seen to humour the disciple, even to feed the ego of the disciple; but this is to give a long rope to ignorance in preparation for the final extinguishing of the ego.

The Master is not perturbed by the failings of the disciple, which he tolerates with patience and infinite capacity to wait, knowing that when the disciple gets established on the Path, these failings will disappear.

Once the Master is satisfied that the disciple is firmly established, he cleanses the mind of the disciple of blemishes and often achieves this at the risk of appearing ruthless. The usual method of the Master, however, is as sweet and agreeable as it is effective.