Dear Biba,
I would like to share with our friends the following text that I wrote for the sake of clarity…
Comparison of Spiritual Masters and Several Paths to Liberation
As a seeker of Divine, I recognize that this subject is in the mind of most of us. That’s perfectly normal. I would therefore like to share with you the understanding that I have developed from various experiences with many Spiritual Masters.
There can never be comparison of Masters or the methods they prescribe for you to experience the Divine. The guidance you receive from the Master(s) is purely based upon the path your Masters have traversed before becoming ‘Realized’. It also depends on your connection with the particular Master at a subtler plane. The connection with the Master depends on your constitution, your past Sadhanas (spiritual practices), paths you had traversed and what you need now for further growth to experience the ultimate or Realization of God.
Two different persons with the same disease may not respond to the same medicine! This is because, though the disease may be the same (e.g. hypertension, etc.), the disease process may vary in two individuals. They are different in constitution and may require different dosages too. Similarly, different types of paths, forms and expressions are needed in the Existence to help human beings to progress on the spiritual path. Each individual is unique. Path required for each individual will also be unique. Different paths are needed – that is why they exist. Nothing is a waste. Whatever is waste cannot stay even for a moment in this Existence.
There are teachers of all kinds to cater to all categories of students like kindergarten, primary school, high school, intermediate, college, post-graduate & further on. A teacher of a post graduate level is not suitable for kindergarten. This is applicable to the level of Spiritual Masters as well. A Master who guides primary students in Spirituality is not valid for guiding those in the PhD class of spirituality! So why compare? All paths are valid. The Masters’ and seekers’ levels are just like your position on the education pyramid.
There can only be a handful of students at the top of this pyramid. Masters nurturing these students are like 24K Gold; in an extremely pure state and need to guide few disciples. These senior students are future masters getting ready to guide future students.
There are some Masters and seekers who are like 22 K Gold. Fully pure gold does not look good from the outside and a little impurity in gold is needed to mould it into jewelry and make it attractive. So the goldsmith does not purify gold to its purest form while making jewelry.
We are 24K gold by origin, but have become impure due to conditionings and afflictions. Masters who can take care of people at mass level are required to remove some impurity. The remaining impurity will be removed by Masters teaching at PhD level.
So these Masters and seekers are somewhere at the middle of the Pyramid. These Masters should reach out to more seekers and hence need some infrastructure to guide all such beings. The programs of such Masters then need to be designed in such a way to reach out to many such seekers.
At the bottom of the pyramid are many seekers who are just at the beginning stage, just like the gold coming out of mine. They need a Master who can address masses and impurities at a gross level. Such a Master will need a totally different style of expressing Himself or Herself and much bigger infrastructure to cater to. It’s like an 18K Gold deal – Truth cannot be delivered in its 100% pure form. Nobody will be able to digest it as they are not yet ready. So Masters guiding such beings have to be more expressive and articulate, and their methods will be mild and feel-good. They are doing a very fine job to push some beings to higher levels from here, preparing them to reach the Master at the top of the Pyramid.
However, the expression of a Master at the top of the pyramid will be more in Silence mode as he is established at the Being level, not at the doing level.
And so my friends, best is to reflect at your own development during your training with a Master and then decide on the next course for yourselves.
No comparison of Masters or analysis of their methods is really needed. It is a foolish act.
Sri Ananda Durlabha