A master is one who fulfills the longing of your being. It is a very deep, delicate love affair. As you come closer to the master in your love, in your trust, there is born a deep silence. It is not the dead silence of a graveyard but the vibrant silence of life and love.

The more you awaken to the purpose of your life, the more your life becomes a celebration. A deep joy arises for no reason at all. You feel an ocean of bliss so deep that you can just share and give infinitely. You may have felt this harmony and connectedness in other relationships a few times, but the intensity when it happens with the master is on a different plane altogether.

The relationship between a master and disciple is the most intimate relationship. Even the greatest lovers cannot be that intimate because even they are two, there are two egos. And egos will always clash because they are independent individualities. But with the master, he is nobody. There is no ego in him. So there is only one ego and that is yours. His whole purpose is to dissolve it so you also become nobody.The strength of the connection is what will hold you when the ego is being dissolved by the intensity and grace of the master. Then there is no master, no disciple, just a harmonious Whole vibrating in tune with the entire cosmos.

Once the authentic experience flowers with a master, you will relate to everyone and everything with great sincerity and love. The fragrance of this exquisite flowering will automatically spread to all your relationships with people, trees, rocks, stars and the whole universe. The most magical moments in life happen in the moments of love and trust from a disciple towards the master. It is the start of a relationship out of this world to the secrets beyond. It can become a grand celebration where the whole cosmos dances with you.

It is like how a river comes to the ocean, dancing, eager to become one with the vast ocean. Coming closer to the master is the path to becoming a master. It is the grand merger with the cosmic Whole. 

The beauty in the relation with the master is that it is unpolluted by any expectations or give-and-take. The master accepts you just as you are. The purity in the relation with the master is that there is no attempt to make something else of you. You actually love the master because he gives you the complete freedom to be just what you are with no strings attached.

The love between the master and the disciple can never be ‘satisfied’. Because first of all, the dissatisfaction is not a superficial or mental dissatisfaction. It is a deep dissatisfaction of the being that wants to break free from the false boundaries of the ego and love infinitely. So when the master happens, there is eternal freshness, eternal love and excitement, pure bliss that arises from the being every single moment. This will go on opening new doors as the relationship reveals subtler and deeper aspects of love, devotion and merging into the Whole. This is the ultimate love affair. It is the love affair with Existence itself. 

Sister Nivedita describes the power of the relationship with the master, ‘One’s whole attitude to things was reversed. One took fire, as it were, with a given idea. Or one suddenly found that a whole habit of thought had left one, and a new outlook had grown up in its place, without the interchange of a single word on the subject. It seemed as if a thing had passed beyond the realm of discussion, and knowledge had grown, by the mere fact of nearness to him.’

It is like this: the seed is trying to break and become a tree. The seed says to the tree, ‘Please! You come out first. Only then will I break and open. Who knows? After I break, you may not happen. I may just die and disappear.’ But the tree says, ‘No no, unless you open, I cannot come out. Open!’ The seed says, ‘No, no. You come out first, give me the assurance and the guarantee that you will happen and only then will I open’. The fight goes on.

The seed is afraid because if it opens, it may just die instead of becoming the tree. The tree says, ‘Unless you open, I cannot come out, I cannot happen.’ The fight between the tree’s happening and the seed’s opening continues.

The master is a person who was once a seed, and who later became a tree. We are like the seed. He assures the seed, ‘Don’t worry, I was like you. I had the courage to open up and I have become this beautiful tree. So just open! Just relax. You will only become a tree, you will never die.’ He gives you the assurance, the confidence. Master is a promise, an assurance, a living ideal. He gives you the promise, ‘Open, you will never die!’

source: Living Enlightenment