The following story was taken from the book entitled “Love Realised, Surrender Fulfilled, Oneness Manifested”, by Sri Chinmoy.

This incident took place fifty years ago. There was a great spiritual Master who had a small cottage at the foot of the Himalayas, where he lived. Although it was in a remote place, he had many, many disciples.

One day his disciples gathered together and he gave a talk on love-divine love. His lecture was excellent, simply excellent, and most soulful. At the end of the talk he said, “My children, nobody amongst you has any love for me. What you have is, rather, reverential awe. In the spiritual life what is necessary is real divine love, and not reverential awe. You may feel that you love me, but it is not true. It is absolutely wrong and false. True love is the love of oneness. You don?t have that kind of love for me. What you have is reverential awe.”

At this his disciples were terribly shocked. The meeting was over, and with sad faces all the disciples left the Master?s presence. Only seven disciples remained?three young men and four young women. They sat around the Master with folded hands and one of the young men said to the Master, “Master, how is it that you say that I don’t love you? I do love you.?”

The Master said, “You love me? What is the proof?”

“The proof is here. I will do anything for you. Whatever you want me to do, I will do gladly and immediately.”

The Master said. “Wonderful. Then tomorrow, early in the morning, at one o’clock, you have to get up and meditate for two hours

“Master! At one o’clock in the morning?”

“Yes.”

“Master, how can I get up at that hour? You know I only sleep for five or six hours at night. To get up at one o’clock in the morning and meditate for two hours? Oh Master, it is really a difficult task!”

“My son, indeed you love me.? With a smile the Master said, ?Here is your love for me. You can’t get up at one o’clock to meditate. My son, indeed this is your love for me.”

Then another young man said to the Master, “Master, you can feel my heart. I really and truly love you. I love you. You are my only concern.”

The Master said, “You really love me?”

“Yes. I love you.”

“Then what can you do for me?”

“I can do anything you ask of me, immediately.”

The Master said, “All right. Starting now, for three days you will not take a morsel of food, not even a glass of water. Nothing. For three days you have to remain without food, without drink.?

“Master, how can I do that? You know I am a greedy fellow. Daily I eat five or six times. This is such a difficult, difficult task for me. I can do anything else, Master. For me not to eat even once a day is impossible. Master, please give me something else to do.

The Master said, “Indeed. This is your love for me. You can’t do even this much for me. You can’t listen to me, and this is your love.”

Then the Master asked the third young man, “What do you want? Why are you here?”

“Master, my love for you is immense, spontaneous, most soulful. I will do anything you want. I will move heaven and earth to please you. I love you much more than I love my girl friend. Master, tell me what you want.

The Master said, “You love me so dearly? Look here, bring me a piece of paper.”

The young man brought the paper and the Master began to write. The name of the young man was Bharat. The Master wrote down: “MY NAME IS BHARAT. I WISH TO TELL YOU, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THAT I HAVE MORE COMPASSION FOR HUMANITY THAN GOD HIMSELF HAS. GOD HAS SENT ME INTO THE WORLD. I AM HELPLESS BUT I AM FIGHTING AGAINST IGNORANCE. GOD HIMSELF DID NOT DARE TO COME ONTO EARTH, BUT HE HAS SENT ME AND I FEEL THAT I AM GREATER AND MORE COMPASSIONATE THAN GOD HIMSELF!” Then the Master said, “This is what I have written for you. You have to read it out tomorrow when we have our meeting. There will be hundreds of people here and you have to read out this message.?

“Master, how can I read this? People will laugh at me. They will say, “He is greater than God?” They will think that I am a fool, I am insane. Master, I don’t want to be embarrassed.”

The Master said, “Oh, this is your love for me. Indeed, this is your love for me.”

Then the Master turned to the young women. The first young woman said, “Master, never did I imagine that you could be so cruel. You know how deeply I love you. All day and night I think of you with such joy, such sweetness, such affection, and you say that I don’t love you.”

The Master said, “You love me?”

“?Yes.”

?Then do something for me. Tomorrow, when the meeting starts, right in front of everyone you have to say that your Master is a fraud. He is a fake. He has not realised God. He has deceived you many, many times. He has done many wrong, immoral, absurd things, and he is not realised. He is deceiving us, failing us. We must never listen to him. You must say “We must all leave him, all at once. You have to say this tomorrow at the meeting.”

“Oh Master, how can I say this? I know you are a sincere man. You are so sincere and you are so compassionate. You are so divine and if I say this, then people will strike me there in the meeting itself. I can’t do this, Master. How can I, knowing that you are so good, so kind, and so affectionate?so divine? Master, why do you want me to do this kind of unthinkable thing? It is unbelievable, incredible. Master, I can’t.”

The Master said, “Indeed, you love me. My daughter, indeed you love me. You can do everything for me but not this. This is your love.”

Then he turned to another young woman, the second young woman in the row, and said, “Tell me, what do you want?”

“Master, God has given me a heart and that heart is for you. You know that I don’t care for anybody in the family. I have my husband; I have my children; I have my relatives, but all the time I think only of you. You only are the object of my adoration, love, concern, joy, and pride.”

The Master said, “Wonderful. Then what do you want? What can you do for me?”

“I can do anything for you immediately.”

“Early in the morning you usually kiss your children and say hello to your husband. Tomorrow you must not kiss your children, you must not say hello to your husband, and you must not say a word to the members of your family the whole day.”

“Master, how can I do that? When the children come back from school they will cry for food. They will cry, Ma! Ma! Ma!? How am I going to remain silent? I have to respond to them. What will they think of me? And when my husband comes back home from his office, dead tired, he will ask me for hot milk and he will talk to me. He will ask me quite a few things. If I don’t answer, he will say, ?What is wrong with you? He will even go to the length of striking me in front of the children. Master, please tell me to do something else This is impossible! One whole day not to speak to my children, not to say hello to my husband, how can I do that? What will they think of me; what will my husband think of me? He will think that I have gone crazy. He will take me to a mental hospital. Master, please, something else.”

“Yes my daughter, you really love me. Indeed you love me.”

Then the Master went to the third young woman. The Master said, “My daughter, what do you want?”

“Master, you know that only for you I left my husband, my children, the members of my family, to accept the spiritual life wholeheartedly. Just to please you have I taken to the spiritual life, and I don?t care for my children, I don’t care for my husband. I have given up everything, only to follow the spiritual life, and under your guidance I am making tremendous progress. Now Master, how can you say, when I have abandoned everything for you, that I don’t love you?”

“You love me?”

“Yes. You can feel it and you can see my sacrificethe sacrifice that I have already made only to please you.”

The Master said, “Well then, I wish you to go to the top of the temple, and from there jump off.

Master, you want me to commit suicide?

“I do not know what I am asking you to do, but I want you to jump from the very top.”

Master, I am ready to go, but I know that you will protect me. I will not die.

The Master said, “You are going there with the idea that I shall protect you”

Yes, Master. I am ready to go and jump.

My daughter, no, no, no. Your love for me is conditional. You feel that if you jump I shall protect you. That is why you can jump because you will escape death. My daughter, this is your love for me. Indeed, this is your love for me.

Then he turned to the last, the seventh one. The Master said, Now what do you want?

Master, I love you. I love you. I love you.

Do you?

Yes. I can do anything, anything you want, immediately.

Immediately?

Yes.

The Master said, You leave this place immediately and I don’t want to see your face again in this life. Never shall you come to me. Never will I see your face.

Master, if that is your choice, if that is your wish that you will never see me again in this life, and you will not allow me to come to your place?if that makes you happy, then I am ready. Master, I am leaving. I came into the world to please you. I came into the world to love you. I came into the world to adore you. I came into the world to worship you. I came into the world to fulfil you. By throwing me aside, if you feel that you will be happy, you will be able to fulfil yourself, then Master, I am ready. To give you joy is the sole purpose of my life. Master, I am eternally, outwardly, inwardly yours. I am leaving.?

Immediately the Master placed the palms of his hands on her head. He blessed this particular disciple with all his heart and soul, saying, “At long last I have seen someone who really and truly loves me. My daughter, you are the only one who loves me you and nobody else on earth. I do not need anybody else’s love. My daughter, your love is true, your love is genuine. You have me. Your spiritual Master is eternally yours. He is for you and he will remain for you for all time, through eternity.

Your Master will remain physically, vitally, mentally, and psychically closest, closest to your heart. You are his dearest disciple. You are his peerless pride. You stay. You are his very own.?

– Sri Chinmoy