108
The Guru and the Disciple
Dadashri: Now where will dispassion (vairagya) arise?
From what kind of speech? Dispassion will arise in that speech
which is the truth; it will come from speech that is not being used
for the wrong path; it will come from speech that leads to the Self;
it comes from that which has vachanbud (speech with special
spiritual powers and energy). Otherwise, how can dispassion arise?
These are all ‘speaking books’! Just as dispassion does not arise
from books that talk, it does not arise from the gurus who recite
books. These gurus have become like books. If dispassion does
not arise within you, then know that the guru you are listening to is
a book. The energy of speech has to be there, does it not?
If the listener does not develop faith, the guru is at fault
Questioner: Often, when about twenty-five people or so
sit together to listen to a spiritual talk, five of them are touched by
it while the other twenty remain unaffected. Who is at fault here,
the listener or the preacher?
Dadashri: How can the poor listener be at fault here? The
one giving the sermon is at fault. The listeners are that way, to
begin with anyway. They openly declare, ‘Sir, I don’t know
anything and that is why I have come to you.’ But the preachers
have found a way to escape and save themselves. They will say,
‘You are not doing this or that.’ They cannot speak this way.
People come to you for help and you say this in response? The
fault lies with the preachers. This situation is not like that of a
schools where the children don’t do any work. Here people
come for the benefit of their Self and they do not have any b