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Your father has gone fishing, he must be coming back. He is your neighbor."
But even a computer can do things which the human memory cannot do. A single computer can contain a whole library. There is no need for you to read; you can just ask the computer and it will give the answer. And it is only very rarely that things will go wrong, if the electricity goes off or the battery runs down.
The master is not interested in making you into a computer. His interest is in making you a light unto yourself, an authentic being, an immortal being -- not just knowledge, not what others have said, but your experience.
As the disciple comes closer and closer to the master, there comes another point of transformation -- the disciple becomes, at a point, a devotee. There is a beauty in all these steps.
To become a disciple was a great revolution, but nothing compared with becoming a devotee. At what point does the disciple turn and become a devotee? He is so much nourished by the energy of the master, by his light, by his love, by his laughter, just by his sheer presence -- and he cannot give anything in return. There is nothing that he can give in return. A moment comes when he starts feeling so immensely grateful that he simply bows down his head to the feet of the master. He has nothing else to give except himself. From that moment, he is almost a part of the master. He is in a deep synchronicity with the heart of the master. This is gratitude, gratefulness.
And the fourth stage is that he becomes one with the master.
There is a story about Rinzai. He was living with his master for almost twenty years, and one day he came and sat in the seat of the master. The master came; he looked at Rinzai sitting in his seat. He simply went and sat where Rinzai used to sit. Nothing was said, but everything was understood. Everybody was puzzled -- ``what is happening?'' Finally Rinzai said to the master, "Are you not offended? Have I insulted you? Have I shown ungratefulness in any way?"
Rinzai laughed. He said, "Now you have become a master. You have come home; from the student to disciplehood, from disciplehood to devotion, and from devotion
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