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Disciple: A Rare Phenomenon

A disciple is a rare phenomenon. He is one who is so surrendered to the master that even if the Master gives death as a gift, he will receive it with great gratitude. Osho says that the whole art of disciplehood is to be able to disappear, to become absent, not to be. “when the ego is completely gone -- any moment the ego is gone -- instantly, something from the heart of the master jumps into the heart of the disciple. It is not that the master gives it; it is not a thing to be given. It is not that the disciple takes it; it is not the thing to be taken. It simply happens!”

Osho says that the whole secret of disciplehood is when the master speaks, the disciple listens, yet there is so much, which the master does not speak, and the disciple listens. When the disciple becomes ripe, there is a silent communication between him and his master. “When the disciple has blossomed into disciplehood and he understands completely the meaning of his guru's words and gestures, he is ripe. Then a silent communication, without gestures, without any linguistic symbols, is possible. This telepathic communication is the secret of the relationship. It is the most secret key of communion between guru and disciple. Only when this becomes possible has the disciple been accepted. Then there is no question of time and space. Then, wherever the disciple is, things can be communicated to him.”

Read on as Osho brings out the essence of a true disciple….

“A disciple is a totally different phenomenon. A disciple is not a student; he is not interested in knowing about God, love, truth -- he is interested in becoming God, in becoming truth, in becoming love. Remember the difference. Knowing about is one thing, becoming is totally different. The student is taking no risk; the disciple is going into the uncharted sea. The student is miserly, he is a hoarder; only then he can gather knowledge. He is greedy; he accumulates knowledge as the greedy person accumulates wealth -- knowledge is his wealth. The disciple is not interested in hoarding; he wants to experience, he wants to taste, and for that he is ready to risk all.
The disciple will be able to find the master. The relationship between a student and a teacher is that of the head, and a relationship between a disciple and a master is that of the heart -- it is a love relationship, mad in the eyes of the world, utterly mad. In fact, no love is so total as the love that happens between the master and the disciple. The love that happened between John and Jesus, the love that happened between Sariputta and Buddha, Gautama and Mahavira, Arjuna and Krishna, Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu -- these are the real love stories, the highest pinnacles of love.
The disciple starts melting into the master. The disciple destroys all distance between himself and the master; the disciple yields, the disciple surrenders, the disciple effaces himself. He becomes a nonentity, he becomes a nothingness. And in that nothingness his heart opens. In that absence his ego has disappeared and the master can penetrate into his being.

The disciple is receptive, vulnerable, unguarded; he drops all armor. He drops all defense measures. He is ready to die. If the master says, "Die!" he will not wait for a single moment. The master is his soul, his very being; his devotion is unconditional and absolute. And to know absolute devotion is to know God. To know absolute surrender is to know the secret-most mystery of life.

The word 'disciple' is also beautiful -- it means one who is ready to learn. Hence the word 'discipline' -- discipline means creating a space for learning. And disciple means being ready to learn. Who can be ready to learn? Only one who is ready to drop all his prejudices. If you come as a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan, you can't be a disciple. If you simply come as a human being, with no a priori prejudice, with no belief, then only you can become a disciple.

A disciple is the rarest flowering of human consciousness, because beyond the disciple there is only one peak more -- the master. And one who has been totally a disciple one day becomes a master. Disciplehood is a process of becoming a master. But one should not start with the idea of becoming a master; otherwise one is going to miss, because then it is again an ego trip. One should come simply to evaporate.”

The Dhammapada: the Way of the Buddha
Vol-3
# 8, A Good Belly Laughter
Q-2

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