Once Ramdas made a mistake and his Master got furious. He struck the disciple severely and scolded him mercilessly. “You are a low-caste fellow! What can I expect from you? Spirituality is not meant for you. For God’s sake, leave me immediately!

But Ramdas only said to his Master, “Lord, beat me as long as you want to, beat me as hard as you want to, insult me as mercilessly as you want to, but grant me only one boon and that boon is that you will keep this eternal slave of yours always at your feat.”

Commentary:

The Master advocates oneness, conscious and constant oneness. The disciple tries to realise that oneness with the Master and with the rest of the world. Such being the case, scolding and insulting never indicate punishment. The Master is just adopting a method which will immediately awaken the disciple more fully to expedite the disciple’s progress. As outwardly he shouts and barks, inwardly he knows what he has for the disciple and what he is to the disciple. What he has for the disciple is oneness-delight. The Master feels it is his bounded duty to do the things that are necessary in order to accelerate the disciple’s progress, no matter how badly he is misunderstood by the world or even by the disciple himself. The Master always remembers the promise that he made to the disciple’s soul and to God that he would leave no stone unturned in order to make the disciple make the fastest progress in his spiritual adventure.

Sri Chinmoy