Master

Please do not worry in the least. An initiate can never go out of the hands of his Master. His Master is always with him and is looking after his welfare.

Apparent progress in meditation depends on many factors. The disciple’s duty is to go on meditating as advised by the Master and not to bother about the results. That is not his concern. This is looked after by the Master. Sometimes a cycle of karmas comes when meditation appears to have become a dry sort of affair without any progress, and the disciple feels as if he has been forsaken or that meditation is not bearing any fruit. Neither of these things ever happens, as the disciple is never forsaken by the Master, nor has meditation stopped bearing its fruit. Every moment that you give to meditation stands to your credit.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Quest for Light}

Since the Master is the human manifestation of Shabd, and we too are part of Shabd, when we meet the physical Master he seems very familiar. We may feel we have known him forever or that we have met before. In reality, at a deeper spiritual level, he is us. How can anyone be more closely connected to us? He is our own true Self. The only difference is that the physical Master is aware that his real form is that of Shabd while we are not aware of this truth. With the constant practice of meditation, the layers of misconceptions and illusions that cloud our perception begin to dissolve, and we start to see that the outer and inner Masters are one and the same.
_{Living Meditation}