QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men"
-- Edmund Burke

NRIs Playing the 'MAD' Game

-- Kul Bhushan

Quietly and without fanfare, many hundreds of NRIs fly to India for an important appointment on Friday, 18 July. This is an important commitment for all those on the path of spirituality on the Full Moon of the Master or Guru Purnima. No matter who is one's guru, this full moon evening is the most auspicious time to be in the presence of one's master to be blessed by him or her personally. India has thousands upon thousands of spiritual masters with disciples all over the globe who travel to be with them or pay homage to them at their shrines.

But why the full moon in July? July is the month of the monsoon. July is the month of cooling showers and piercing thunderstorms after long months of cruel heat. For brief moments between the showers, the sudden clap of thunder shakes and lights up the earth. In between showers, the heat is prickly. Hidden among the rain-laden clouds, the full beauty of the moon is hardly seen.

So is The Master.  Like the rain-laden clouds, the Master is laden with wisdom and experience he is willing to shower upon those who surrender to him. Without warning, his counsel electrifies us like lightening. Its radiance makes us tremble and quiver. Once in a while, when we are receptive, his insights light up our world. Everything is brilliant and clear for a few moments. Then we plunge again into our thorny darkness.

The disciple cannot see the Master in his totality like the full moon in July. One can never see the total wisdom, the brilliance and the aura of the Master. Or, perhaps the eyes of the disciple are so full of his/her tears of gratitude that he/she cannot see the Master properly.

It is the time to be open – fully and totally receptive to the cool, fresh and pure blessings that rain upon us. The rain continues to fall on everything.

If an earthen pot is upside down, no amount to rain can fill it. If the pot has holes, all the rain will flow out. And if it already full with its old and dirty water, it cannot accept any fresh and pure rain. So the disciple should be like the pot that is open, upright and without conditioning of the past that act like holes. Only then can the Master flow into his/her being.

The full moon in July presents us with a special moment to be thankful for the blessings showering down from the Master. The full moon in July is a time to immerse in the roaring torrent of our emotions and seek the Master's blessings for our inner journey - unknown and chartered.

These people are playing a game with no rules. It is a game with a beginning but no end. No referee. No prizes. No wonder it is called the MAD – Master And Disciple – Game. It starts when a disciple questions the master. It can be out of just curiosity or information. Or it can be a challenge to the master about what he is saying. It can develop into a debate or an argument. Or a confrontation as and when the ego is hurt.

As the contest has no holds barred, every weapon comes into play. No quarter is given until the disciple is exhausted sometimes with theory and sometimes with the taste of the master's experience. A point is reached when the disciple can take it no more, lays down the arms and surrenders.

The opening round is over. Now the real action begins. The true master strikes again and again demolishing the ego of the disciple. The situations created and the tests imposed become more stringent as time goes by. Like the potter, the master fashions a pot from wet clay and lets it dry in the strong heat of the sun. Holding the pot securely from inside, the potter hits it from the outside to see if there are no cracks and it is leak-proof.

Now it is time for the big test. The potter places the pot in the oven so it becomes strong. When the over is fired, the pot screams thinking that the heat – or the MAD game - will never end. Can it survive the intense heat? At last a time comes when the oven cools down and the pot is taken out. Again, it is hit from the outside to ensure that is worthy of storing water.

Every test is a blessing by the master showing that he cares. Now what will be the master's next move in this MAD game? Only he knows. But if the master is not devising more and bigger tests for the disciple, the game is over, otherwise it continues…

A media consultant to a UN Agency, Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad as a newspaper editor and has travelled to over 55 countries. He lives in New Delhi