1. Significance of a master
It is very difficult especially for the modern mind to understand the need for a master.
The master is the one who gives you a glimpse of the Real, the truth of who you are. He is not here just to teach. He is here to awaken.
The master is the only scripture that is alive.
Surrender towards god is difficult because you don't know where god is or who god is. God is a mere conc-ept to you. But the master is one with the Whole. He has reached the Ultimate. To him god is reality. He lives with god or Existence or whatever you wish to call it. And the master is real to you. He is tangible. So he can become your door to reach god.
Through him you can take the quantum jump into the arms of god.
The only thing standing between you and your true nature of bliss or god is your ego. The process of becoming a disciple is the process of renouncing your ego. The ego is very difficult to drop. Dropping the ego means losing the solid identity that you have been carrying all these years, thinking you need it for survival. Dropping the ego looks like death when actually it is the ego that stands between you and life!
Dropping the ego is possible only in a relationship of deep trust, love and reverence with the master. You gradually gather courage and then risk dropping the only thing you have clung onto throughout your life, your ego. You drop the ego only when you fully know that even if you fall, you only fall into the net of infinite love and compassion of Existence embodied by the master.
Bhaja Govindam - Collection of 32 (sometimes 34) devotional verses composed by enlightened master Adi Shankara. This is considered to be the essence of Vedanta and Advaita, nonduality.
As of now, most of the experiences that you add to your being bring in more and more fear or greed. Instead, any experience can add more strength and awareness to your being also. This is the cognitive shift, the psychological revolution the master does on you that results in your complete transformation.
1.1 Learning from master
You may ask, 'Why do I need a master? I can learn from life.'
Learning from the master is a very sweet experience, a very joyful experience. The master first puts you in his lap and gives you the anesthesia of love before he starts his operation on the tumor of your ego. Because he showers his love, you will not even experience the pain of going through the transformation. Even if it is mildly painful, you will endure it only with the joy and awareness of being with the master.
Master is intense life. Not only does he teach you, he also sees to that you go through the whole transformation blissfully.
A small story:
The father of a young boy was telling his little son to move a big stone. The boy tried his best, but he was not able to move it. He stood completely tired. The father said, 'You have not used all your potentiality. Use all your potential power.'
The son was completely tired. He shouted at his father, 'What are you talking about? You are saying I have not used all my potential power. I am tired. Are you not able to see?' The father said, 'Why, you could have asked me. I am also your power!'
In the same way, you can also use the master's presence. Please understand, you can ask me. You can take the master's help. You have never done that. You have never considered the master also as your potential. So much of help is available, you can have so much, but you never ask or you never take it!
Life itself can be your master. But then it will become difficult to know from where to learn, what we should learn and from whom to learn. Dattatreya , a great master says, 'I never had a master because life has always been my master. I learnt how to concentrate from the hunter who tries to concentrate on the bird. I learnt how to save money for the future by watching ants!' Life can become a master if you have the intelligence to pick up right things from it. But many times, you pick up the wrong things.
A small story:
King Harishchandra lived his whole life based on truthfulness. The story of Harishchandra says that he lived for the truth and at one point he even sold his wife and children to maintain his truthfulness.
Dattatreya - Representation of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in one incarnation.
Harishchandra - Legendary Hindu ruler who was renowned for keeping his word at whatever cost.
Once in a village, a preacher was narrating the story of Harishchandra. After the narration he asked a man, 'What did you learn from this story?' The man replied, 'I learnt that I should always speak the truth, no matter what happens in life.' The preacher was happy. Then he asked another man, 'What did you learn?'
The second man said, 'I learnt another important lesson. In an emergency, you can even sell your wife, nothing wrong!'
Understand, you can learn two different things from the same story!
You may not have the intelligence to always learn correctly from life, which is why the master happens in your life. He shows you the path because he has already tried it and succeeded.
See, by giving some medicines also, tumors can be removed. But it may take years and years. The master simply removes the tumor in no time. One more thing, the pain you will have living life with the tumors will be much worse than the pain you experience when master removes it. The pain with the master when he removes it is hardly anything. But living with the tumor is dangerous and difficult. That is why it is better to go to the master.
Life is too deep a mystery which cannot be captured by our desires. Our desires may appear big and worth a whole lifetime for us. Because of our narrow view of life, we attach so much more importance to insignificant things while there are so many significant and more meaningful experiences just waiting at our doorstep. But the problem is that we can't even imagine them because we have never seen the likes of these.
That is where the master comes in. He has seen the wholeness of life. He can see things which you cannot even imagine, leave alone desire. He is there just to help you move towards realizing that fulfillment in your life too.
All you need is the trust to move with him. Then as things start happening you will be convinced about this truth. Then you enter the virtuous circle. More trust leads to more experiences which lead further to more trust.
The master does not impose anything on you. He simply removes what is not necessary and what has been imposed on you and leaves you fresh and new. You become a beautiful empty canvas upon which you can create your own unique painting. You can compose your own song and you can dance your own dance. The master opens out the gates to the sweetest experience of life, the experience of your own uniqueness.
Understand the difference between technique and process. Technique can be done again and the effect will be the same. But with process, you can't get the same effect every time and you won't even be able to do it on your own.
Technique done with the master is a process. Process done without the master is technique.