To be accepted as a disciple by a great master is not a small thing

Maneesha has brought one anecdote:

Our beloved Master,

On one occasion, a monk came to Isan’s monastery to be taught, and, seeing him, Isan made as if to get up.

“Please don’t stand up!” Exclaimed the monk.

“I have not sat down yet!” Said Isan.

When you are in the middle, it is very difficult to say whether you are going to sit down or you are going to get up.

Mulla Nasruddin used to suggest to his followers that if you don’t want to be bored by anybody, just take your umbrella and stand in the door.

If the fellow is alright and you would like to welcome him, you can say, “You came at the right time; I was just coming in.”

And if the fellow is a bore, you can say, “Excuse me, you came at a wrong time. I am going out.”

But just standing at the door with the umbrella, now it is very difficult to decide where the man is going, whether in or out. He is standing in the door, in the middle.

The same was the position: the man has come to be taught, and seeing him, Isan made as if to get up. It was a strategy to know his response, how the other man will behave. Isan was not getting up; he just made as if he was going to get up.

“Please don’t stand up!” Because you stand up to give honor to someone, the man naturally thought that Isan was going to honor him by standing.

“Please don’t stand up!” Exclaimed the monk.

But such was the subtle way of Isan to know about the inner mind of man. This man looks perfectly right in saying, “Please don’t stand up!” But on what grounds has he assumed that Isan should be standing up to welcome him?

“I haven’t sat down yet!” Said Isan. “What about standing up? – I was just going to sit down. Why did you assume…?”

Perhaps that assumption is a deep expectation that he should be honored. Perhaps it is unconscious, but Isan has brought it to the surface. The man could have thought that Isan was going to sit down. He was in the middle – both possibilities were available to him – but the man had chosen the possibility that Isan was going to stand up. That shows his mind – a deep longing, a desire to be honored, although he has come only as a student to be taught.

Isan said, “I haven’t sat down yet!” – the question of standing does not arise.

But the poor monk did not understand the subtle way: “I haven’t bowed yet,” the monk said.

“You rude creature!” Commented Isan.

Very strange encounters! When Isan said, “I have not sat down yet!“, that was the moment to bow down and touch his feet, and to offer himself for the discipline, for the meditation, for all his teachings.

Rather than taking that, he retorted – he thought as if Isan was making a fool of him – “I haven’t bowed yet,” the monk said.

“You rude creature!” Commented Isan. “This is not the way to be with me. You have to be grateful to be allowed to see me. Instead of it you are showing your ego.”

“I haven’t bowed yet,” he is saying. “Don’t consider that I am your disciple or I am your student; I have not even bowed yet.” And he has come to learn, but ego is such a subtle phenomenon that without your knowing, it immediately asserts. The ego simply retorted, “I haven’t bowed yet.”

Now, this has to be understood. There are things which should not be said; the very moment you say them they lose all their grandeur, gratefulness. You have to behave in a way that shows your gratitude, not your words.

Bowing down is a gesture of saying, “I am ready. You can trust that I will not misuse the time that you will give me, or the meditation or any kind of discipline. I will not misuse it. I have come to you whole-heartedly.” It is just a way, without words, of saying, “I am available.”

But the man said instead, “I haven’t bowed yet.”

As if a man like Isan is in need of your gratefulness! By being grateful to a person like Isan, you are not making him in any way richer; on the contrary, you are becoming richer. You are learning a new way, a new gesture and its significance.

In the West it never evolved that the disciple should touch the feet of the master, and even today the Western mind thinks it really strange – one human being touching the feet of another human being. But they don’t know the significance of it, they don’t know the esoteric significance of it.

When the disciple touches the feet of the master, it is not only what you see, something else is happening. When the disciple touches the feet, the master touches his head. A circle of energy is created that is not visible to the eyes – because no energy is ever visible to you. You only see the gesture: one is touching the feet, the other is touching his head.

But the East, for at least ten thousand years, has come to know this secret way of approaching a master. And the master will put his hand on your head only if he feels your energy is worth it. By touching his feet…

You should remember that energy moves only from the fingers of the hand or from the toes of the feet; energy moves from points which are dead ends. When somebody touches his feet, the master immediately recognizes the kind of energy. If he feels that the person has to be accepted, is worth being worked upon, then he touches his head, and with his hand he gives a taste of his energy, and then both energies become a circle. And if the circle becomes smooth great possibilities can happen.

But for the outsider it seems simply that one person is touching the feet of another person. The West has not been able, even today, to understand. Life is not what it appears from the outside; it is much more, immensely more, on the inside.

The man showed an egoistic pattern of his mind. That’s why Isan had to comment, “You rude creature!” He was not accepted as a disciple.

To be accepted as a disciple by a great master is not a small thing. In that very acceptance your enlightenment has come miles closer, your liberation has taken a tremendous quantum leap. You are just on the verge, ready, just because the master has accepted you. He accepts only when he sees the possibility, the vulnerability, the openness. It is an inner drama which is not visible to the eyes.

Osho, Isan: No Footprints in the Blue Sky, Ch 3 (excerpt)