Guru and Disciple Guru and Disciple | Page 82

The Guru and the Disciple 71 Dadashri: The disciple is needy and greedy for sure. What I mean to say is that the disciple is generally greedy. That poor fellow has the greed of, ‘It would be good if I could get this Gnan.’ His greed is to gain gnan from the guru; there is that much greed on his part. But is the guru not greedy also? How can we afford to have that? Not only does he not progress himself, but he also makes it difficult for his disciple to do so. This is what is happening in India now. Exploitation by the guru There are no other problems if the guru is good. To find a pure guru in this era of current time cycle, a guru that is not business-minded; is considered tremendous punya (merit karma). What do the gurus do otherwise? They will find the disciple’s weaknesses and then play on them, making life miserable for him. Whom can the poor disciple disclose his weakness to, if he cannot even disclose them to his guru? Questioner: Right now, there are certain gurus, considered gurus in the eyes of the world, but in reality, they are actually exploiting their disciples. Dadashri: Maybe one or two gurus are for real, but despite their honesty and sincerity, they have limited skills. Deceitful gurus on the other hand, are very clever and they employ all kinds of guises. Questioner: Any man who wants to be free takes support of a guru, but then he is not able to free himself from that guru. Therefore, eventually he will have to be free from that guru too; don’t you think so? Dadashri: Yes. I came across a businessperson in Surat who asked me to save him from his guru who told him that he would destroy him. He was afraid of what might happen to him and came to me for help. I asked him, “What sort of dealing do you have with him that he used such strong language towards