THE TEACHER'S TEACHING.

Translated by ARIEL Magazine from the book: “Discípulos y Maestros, o los Factores de la Iniciación Espiritual”.  The Tibetan. Spanish original.

Discipleship has as its purpose the perfection of the being, the best orientation of life and spiritual exaltation, under the direction of a Master of Wisdom.

The indications which have been given in the preceding chapters clearly show what is implied by the status of Disciple, and we shall now add something which relates to the Master's own teaching.

The bond between Master and Disciple is indissoluble and eternal. Karmically the Master is responsible for the evolutionary progress of the Disciple, and this is what makes this bond so great and sacred. The Disciple is in turn responsible, physically, worldly, and mentally, for his own Karma, although the Master's sacrifices compel him to a devotion, gratitude, and veneration that surpasses all possible appreciation.

The Master does not save; he only illuminates and directs. The Disciple is the one who must make the indispensable efforts for his own improvement and exaltation. The true Path, as set forth in the preceding pages, is the whole basis, procedure, and orientation of Initiation.

If the Disciple turns away from it, preferring to follow his vain impulses, prejudices, or clumsy judgment, leaving them to enthrone themselves in his mind, the Master, in due time, must warn him of the dangers he runs; but if the former does not pay attention, because he imagines that he knows better what he is doing or because he believes he has the right to act as he really pleases, he is his own victimizer. The Master never gives tests to the Disciples, imposes punishments, or demands anything beyond their capacity, and even in his supplications, recommendations, and exalting teachings, the Master never intervenes against the Disciple's judgment, does not impose Himself on his Conscience, or demands from him attitudes that do not suit Him.

The Master's desires and indications are always for the good of the Disciple; hence he must consciously understand what attitude he must assume in all the circumstances of life. If he fails or makes serious mistakes, because he departs from the true Path, he must have the moral courage to face the consequences of his trifles, vanities, baseness, vices or defects that he has not been able to silence, liquidate or annihilate, because it is unworthy of a true Disciple to try to justify his own blunders to himself.

A clear mind, a pure conscience and a truly noble heart must be the foundations of the true Disciple and the cornerstone of his conduct in all the moments of his life, as well as the judge of his actions and the sacred fire that revives and illuminates all the phases of his existence. The Disciples can make mistakes, as the humans that they are, and in this the Masters are always very benevolent and compassionate, but when they act without conscience and to the vulgar detriment of the initiatory interests or against the most elementary foundations of Initiation that have been given to them as norms of conduct, they become guilty of a suicidal and very serious fault, which the Masters never forgive, although they immediately forget it.

Every Disciple must learn to absolve his own faults and suffer the full consequences of his mistakes and blunders, if he departs from the true Path. Each one is responsible for his actions and craftsman for his own becoming...

The light of the Master is immense and when he intervenes he does so for transcendental purposes; but ¡alas! of the Disciple who refuses to fulfill his moral obligations, once he has promised a Master to follow the Initiation with sincerity and fidelity. The covenant between Disciple and Master is sacred and eternal. The Master never fails in his duties; but if the Disciple fails his own, he must face the consequences with courage, and accept what is coming without cowardice or weakness, without abjection, resentment or grumbling, for he himself has sought and asked for it.

The Masters never use fear as an initiatory means. If the Disciple is cowed and fearful, it is simply because he has not studied and understood the teaching given above in its full value. The Disciple may also come to doubt his Master, but this is because he wants to subordinate Him to his personal or selfish interests, or because he believes that He is his equal, or because he has achieved such development or superiority that he feels entitled to esteem himself better than his Initiator. Such stupidity is always paid dearly, since it has no possible excuse and its importance is great, especially if it is borne in mind that when the Disciple becomes even equal to his Master, he himself will be a Master, and will naturally understand and act as such.

It is quite natural that the common people, as soon as they have learned something extraordinary or succeeded in using mental strength, should imagine themselves to be something superior and allow themselves to be intoxicated by the fumes that are incensed by easy and ignorant men. But such megalomaniacs are energumens, "poor in spirit" who live on presumptions and gross and coarse vanities, and whose end is invariably mystical madness or a series of blunders that create terrible difficulties for them.

The more advanced the Disciple is, the greater his moral responsibility on the spiritual Path, the greater his sensitivity, and therefore the greater his spiritual commitment. Hence the Disciple becomes more sensible, humbler, and more active the further he advances on the Path. If he fails in this, it is because he ceases to be sincere, and then his stagnation acquires such a fixity that it becomes very difficult to overcome it and the difficulties that present themselves increase terribly. It is only possible to avoid this whole sequel of complications by vindicating oneself by returning to the true and sacred Path, and by virtue of one's own Consciousness and greater spiritual consecration to Initiation, that is, the greater perfection of one's own being.

Other motives which compel the Disciple to abandon the True Path are his selfishness and stubbornness, and in other cases his haughtiness. This, of course, can occur in any person, no matter the degree of his evolution, since the abandonment of the initiatory or spiritual Path does not necessarily imply a regression, but simply a stagnation, as we have already said, that is, a temporary chain to depressing and gross conditions, which the Master always foresees and against which he never fails to warn the Disciple.

By assuming his own responsibility by forsaking the Master, the Disciple departs from the Path of perfection for pure self-satisfaction; and by strange irony of the case, the Disciple who thus fails with his own Conscience, always finds a way to justify to himself his unworthy course and disloyalty, and fails to realize his growing dullness and greater chaining in worldly and circumstantial illusions. He thus carves out his misery, but his pride becomes so great that it does not allow him to discover his own errors, and his wounded vanity does not grant excuses or admit superiority of anyone. In such circumstances the Disciple is a puppet of his own illusions, a phantom of his own erroneous, castrated and clouded Consciousness.

Naturally, the failure of the Disciple has a profound impact on the Master, because such an unworthy attitude immediately causes a shock in him that causes tremendous suffering. The classic crucifixion of the Liberator, according to legend; it allegorizes the tragedy that the unworthy Disciple promotes in the Master, when he fails to fulfill his moral commitments and spiritual imperatives, a historical truth that is often repeated and whose transcendence always assumes cosmic or ecumenical proportions for the Master. Hence it was said: "The best of the Disciples never deserves the vigilance, care and sacrifices of the Master." The Master has his great justification in suffering, for the Disciple, in failing, acts against the Eternal Word, to whom He promised, at first, to submit and bind Himself. The Master, as Karmically responsible, must answer for the Disciple, without prejudice to the fact that the Disciple, in due time, has to assume his responsibilities.

The Disciple who allows himself to be blinded by his passions or led astray by the evil and hypocritical interventions of others, believes that the Master will hate or despise him. There is none of this, for the Master is incapable of hatred or contempt. And precisely this belief shows how little he was united to his Master, when he disowned him, departing from the spiritual Path.

The Disciple who fails will return to the spiritual domain and to his Master when he succeeds in freeing himself from the worldly passions and interests that imprison him, freeing himself in the process from his discrimination or analytical reason, so that the universal Principles, the Eternal Word, may enlighten and channel him anew. In the depths of his being, the Disciple is always a disciple, and only his false mental attitudes inhibit him from any function of Consciousness and authentic spiritual realization.

Discipleship, as will be understood, is not an easy thing and requires an enormous strength of conviction as well as moral fortitude. Hence, one becomes a Disciple after many vicissitudes and after countless stumbles between various superstitions and a whole series of disconcerting fanaticisms.

It must be borne in mind, moreover, that the personality of the Master is too great, we might almost say supernal, to act in conjunction with ordinary mortals. That is why it should not mix with human conglomerates, and if it does, it is simply because it has exceptional motives. But whenever this occurs, the Master clashes with the amorphous and superficial views of the people, who conceive only of gross utility or emotional exaltation, neither of which leads to any form of true transcendence.