Some Thoughts on Discipleship

by Stanley Shinerock

Nine years have passed since I was initiated by the Master, five of which I have had the inestimable privilege of residing at His Holy Feet. During this time, many changes have been wrought within me, most of them, I hope, for the better. One thing I have learned though, and that is to be a True Disciple is very difficult. I have also discovered that there are no miracles of transformation on this Path. Though loving and compassionate as only the Master can be, He is sometimes very strict in disclosing the Inner Treasures. A fair-minded disciple would of course agree that this is only as it should be, for the satisfaction of receiving would be all the greater when one knows that he has earned – to the degree that this is possible – what he has been given through honest sweat and toil.

To sustain one engaged in the task of self-purification – called man-making by the Master –, three things are most essential.

These are:

• Faith
• Perseverance
• Self-honesty

Even in worldly pursuits, a man needs an abundance of faith and perseverance if he is to succeed in his goal. On the Spiritual Way, these are even more essential and are to be supported by a self-honesty of the type that is a frank admission of our shortcomings. Without faith, a man cannot succeed in anything. While the Master gives us a proof, no matter how small, of the Divinity within at the time of initiation, we must still take on faith that we are indeed micro-gods, as Master terms it, and that the goal of Self- and God-Realisation is not beyond our reach, is indeed, our birthright. To sustain faith, we must have perseverance. Through the buffetings that life may deal us, through those dry periods of meditation that all must experience, whether at the beginning stage of discipleship or later on, we must persevere in order to sustain our faith. Perseverance is the quality that enables us to fall on our face, not on our back. Faith is the quality that will keep our faces turned always to the Master, through thick and thin. Faith and perseverance complement one another. We cannot succeed in one without having the other. However, unless we have self-honesty, we cannot have perseverance, and without either, we cannot sustain our faith. To be self-honest is to look within ourselves for the reason why we do not progress. Nearly always, the reason is that we do not give implicit obedience to the commandments of the Master; we take His words too lightly. In our hearts, we believe that the commandments of the Master apply to others, not ourselves, and so there is no progress. It takes a tremendous effort on the part of the disciple to put into practice the commandments of the Master. We have to live a blameless life in thought, word and deed.

Those of us who are familiar with the lives of some of the western mystics will recall the austere, disciplined lives that they led. They too had their ups and downs to go through and. to our knowledge, never had the blessing of having a Living Master to turn to for support and succour. They too went through those dry periods in their meditations, termed by St John of the Cross as The Dark Night of the Soul. Who can read the Imitation of Christ without being moved by the evidence of faith, perseverance and self-honesty that nearly every page bears witness to! Then why should we, even though we are disciples of the Living Master, expect to succeed without making some real effort? We are fortunate, because we do have the Master to turn to in our periods of trial and tribulation, but do we really care to turn to Him in supplication and in all faith that He will answer our prayer?

Not so long ago, the Master was talking to some western disciples on His porch, and a question was asked on Grace. The Master replied that we received the first Grace when God led us to the feet of the Master. We received the second Grace when Master granted us initiation. Now, the Master continued, it was up to us to give Grace to ourselves. We were all startled to hear Master say this. What did He mean by saying that we should give Grace to ourselves? If we think for a while, the answer is obvious. We have a Living Master, Who has granted us contact with the God within us. He too is within us. Further, He tells us the means whereby we can realise the Divinity within, after rising above body consciousness. All we have to do is to live the life and Spirituality will follow of itself, and for this, we need faith, perseverance and self-honesty. We must not only be patient and loving with other people, but patient and loving with ourselves. We have to place ourselves in the position of a lump of clay that is put on the wheel for moulding into a pot. In fact, we may liken the moulding of a disciple to that of a pot by the Master Potter. At first, the material is of a very crude clay, which is set spinning on a wheel. The clay has then to be pushed, pulled and kneaded into shape. If the clay were conscious, it would no doubt find the process a most uncomfortable one. However, assuming that our clay were a conscious being, how delighted it would be to find itself finally in the form of a pot. It would then appreciate the reason why the Master Potter had to use the moulding process that it received from His hands. It would also be grateful for the loving support that it received from one hand even while being pummelled by the other, as it was being formed on the wheel. But having reached the stage of the pot is not the end of the process. The pot has then to be decorated and fired in the kiln to complete the transformation from crude clay to a beautiful ceramic vase or receptacle.

We have all to go through the same process to become True Disciples. However, the pot of the true disciple will never forget his humble origin and will always know that it was the hands of the Master Potter that fashioned him, and further, he will always depend on the Master Potter to support and sustain him.