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used to say to newcomers, to new inquirers, "Just sit down by my side. When the right time comes, I will ask for your question. You can ask anything, but let the right time come." And sometimes it took years ... a man would be sitting there in silence, every day from morning till evening. All this time, Buddha's grace is falling as a shower on the silent disciple. The master becomes almost a breeze, continuously blowing away all the dust that has gathered on the mirror of the disciple.
The day that all thoughts have ceased, when the disciple is just a silence and nothing else, when there are no ripples on the lake of his consciousness, the right time, the ripe time, has come. Only now can something which is not visible be transferred. In these silent moments, without saying anything, a flame passes to another flame. Have you ever thought about it? One candle is aflame, and you bring another candle, unlit, close to it. There comes a moment when suddenly the flame jumps to the unlit candle.
Asking the learner to come closer is asking him to bring closer the unlit candle which has every potentiality. The master's flame has just to trigger the hidden splendor of the disciple. A certain closeness is needed, a certain trust, a certain love, a certain intimacy. The student can remain far away from the teacher, but this is the difference between a student and a disciple. The student does not drop his barriers; he has come to collect some knowledge, to accumulate a few more concepts. He is a scholar, he is trying to know through his mind; but the mind can only borrow knowledge, it cannot know on its own. And any knowledge that is borrowed is no more knowledge.
The moment you borrow it, it has lost its life, it is no more alive. It will not bring a transformation to your being. And knowledge that does not bring a transformation to your being is not worth calling knowledge. A teacher can teach the student, the distance does not matter; but the master is not a teacher. The master is the source of a certain energy, and you have to come closer to share in the energy. You have to enter in the fire of the master and become a fire also.
Suddenly you
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