The Master and the Teachings

A Master would often repeat at the end of his discourse: “Remove the self, and realize truth.”

A disciple was compelled to ask one day: “Master, if this is so, why don’t you remove the self for us and just explain the pure truth?”

The Master smiled and asked the disciple to get him water to drink.

The disciple brought a glass of water and placed it in front of the Master. “What is this?” asked the Master.

“This is the water you asked for,” murmured the disciple. “But did I ask for a glass or water?”

The disciple was confused.

“Never mind,” the Master explained softly. “Just as you cannot bring water without a vessel, so too, the Master is required to express the Truth through the teachings.”

The teachings are of paramount importance – they were then, are now, and will remain so – even a thousand years from today!

The teachings remain constant, but the Masters change – yet the teachings can be taught only by the Master.

Now let us get a deeper clarity on this.

In every era, there is a Master to show the way to the truth. When one Master leaves the physical plane, another succeeds him, because it is imperative to have a Master to teach the truth. So even though the Masters continue to change, they continue to teach the same truth because there is only one truth.

The teachings cannot manifest in disciples by themselves; that is like trying to bring water without a glass. It is impossible. A glass is essential to hold water. Water needs a glass, a container, a vessel, a stream, a river, or an ocean – it cannot contain itself by itself. The teachings too, cannot contain themselves without a Master.

The Master is the glass, the container, the vessel; he holds the water and dispenses the water. The Master is the custodian of the teachings because of his inner experience. The Master is the glass holding the teachings and only he can teach the truth.

So the Master and teachings cannot be separated. They are bound together; they are inseparable. Teachings cannot be taught without the Master and the Master cannot teach without the experience of truth.

The Master is not greater than the truth, and the truth is not greater than the Master – they are blended into one, merged into a whole. It is like the water and the enormous pit that holds the water – together they are called an ocean. There is no ocean if the pit and the water are separated, but together they form a mighty ocean. Without each other they are incomplete. In the same way, the Master and the teachings cannot be separated – they are the ocean, they are merged together, they are one blended from two!
_{Concepts & Illusions ~ A Perspective}

Going to the saints and merely listening to their teachings is not enough. We must make these teachings a real part of our life. When we follow their directions, we will experience spiritual transport and transcend the earth plane.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Discourses, Vol. I}