TV Channel

Merely sitting, meditating, and reciting mantras is insufficient in this world. You must become chetan—awakened, alert, and conscious. Consider what the master wants. Why does he send me somewhere? Why does he ask me what is happening, how I am, how the āshram is? Why do I phone and ask you questions? There must be a reason. What does the master want from me? Why did he send me? What should I do there? If he calls and asks me something, there is a reason for it. Once, a master was very ill and wished to test his disciple. The master said to the disciple, "I have a great pain here." The disciple was deeply saddened, for he loved the master dearly and was a great devotee. He asked, "Master, what should I do?" The master replied, "I need a heart." The disciple said, "Then wait a moment." He quickly ran toward the village, saying, "Teacher, wait a little; I need some time to go to the village." On the way, a man was sitting under a tree—a poor man, a beggar, playing his guitar with his hat laid down, as you see in every town. The beggar said to the young sādhu, "Why are you running so quickly? What happened?" The disciple answered, "My master is ill. He needs a new heart immediately, and he asked me, so I must run and find someone who can give their heart." The beggar said, "Oh my God, it will be too late. Where will you search? Let us go and take my heart. If it saves the life of the master, if it will prolong the life of the teacher." The disciple said, "Yes, please, come quickly with me." So the beggar waited outside. The disciple went in and said, "Master, I have brought a heart." He left the beggar in front of the teacher and said, "I found one heart. Only I do not know how to take your heart out and the other heart out and put it in." The master asked, "Whose heart is that?" The disciple told the story. The master smiled and said, "My son, but you also have one heart." The disciple replied, "Yes, Master, I did not think of this. Please take my heart. Yes, Master, I did not think of this. Please take my heart." The master said, "My heart is okay. I do not need another heart." But the disciple insisted, "But please take it." The master said, "Okay." The disciple was ready to give, though he had not initially thought to do so. To bring the disciple to think and to impart a lesson he would remember for life, the master had to lie. To make the disciple conscious of something—to become conscious that "I have pain in my heart"—when there was no pain, the master had to lie in order to teach the disciple the right things. Therefore, when Gurudev has given you a duty, then your main concentration and your primary duty is to fulfill what he or she said. Of course, the master will never give you a duty that is bad. So we have to understand. We have to understand the sense, the essence, of what is being said. Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Summer seminar