WHEN an aspirant becomes voluntarily affiliated with a Master, he is said to have become a disciple. But if this affiliation is merely formal, it does not constitute true discipleship. Discipleship is vital relation The relationship between disciple and Master is utterly different from the legal relations which create rights and liabilities through verbal transactions or formal agreements. Discipleship is one of the fundamental features which characterise the life of the advanced aspirant, and it does not come into existence through any artificial procedure. It arises out of the basic laws of spiritual life. It is therefore much more significant than the mundane relations which arise within the context of ordinary social life as a result of incidental associations or temporary contracts. Many of these mundane relations do not enter into the spiritual fabric of the life of the aspirant but remain superficially attached to his being. Thus it is not of any great consequence whether you purchase a thing from one shop-keeper or another as long as you pay the price for it; and it is immaterial whether you travel by one ship or another so long as you arrive at your destination. Even such transactions are no doubt inwardly determined by sanskaric ties and karmic laws, and therefore are not entirely devoid of spiritual significance. But
these relations are in their very nature provisional and superficial, and are in no way comparable to the vital bond of discipleship which gives substance and direction to the life of the aspirant.
The relation between Master and disciple is an inevitable outcome of intrinsic conditions in the life of the aspirant. It is primarily a relation between the lover and his Divine Beloved. Love implied in discipleship is unique From the spiritual point of view it is the most important relationship into which a person can enter. The love which constitutes the core of discipleship stands by itself among the different types of love which prevail in ordinary social relations. Mundane love is an interplay between two centres of God-unconscious; but the love implied in discipleship is the love of God-unconscious for God-conscious. Everyone is God, but some are unconscious of their divinity, some are partly conscious of their divinity and a few are fully God-conscious. Those who are unconscious of their divinity can have no idea of the God-state; they are only conscious of the body-state. In order that they should inherit the God-state they have to love, worship and be guided by the Master who is constantly dwelling in the God-state.
The love which the aspirant has for the Master is really the response evoked by the greater love which the Master has for the aspirant. Supremacy of claim of the Master It is to be placed above all other loves. Love for the Master naturally becomes a central power in the life of the aspirant because he knows the Master to be an embodiment and representation of Infinite God. All his thoughts and aspirations, therefore, come to be woven around the personality of the Master. The Master thus has unquestioned supremacy among the claims recognised by the