The reply is very simple – empty yourself. You know how a flute is made and you know how each note can be played. I at least, think it is the best of musical instruments, the simplest. Every musical instrument has two parts, but the flute has no parts. Nothing has to be added to it. The bamboo must be made hollow; only then can each note be produced.
In the life of a disciple the most important thing is to empty oneself. You have your own desires, choices, difficulties and problems. So you are not empty. They should become my problems but when you have problems they are your problems and when I have my problems, they are my problems. Therefore, I am one and you are two. Where there is duality there is no medium.
A disciple need not be an idiot. He can be a very intelligent man. He can be a very funny person also, but before guru he is nothing, like an Alsatian dog, he has one master. There are many other things that a disciple has to learn to become a medium, but to become a good medium you have to become a good conductor otherwise the electricity cannot be conducted through the cable; it can only be conducted through a good conductor like copper. In the same way, the guru can flow through a disciple only if the disciple is a good conductor.
You must have heard many old stories of disciples who have attempted to be mediums but have failed. My guru was Swami Sivananda. He had many disciples. Many of his disciples are outstanding and very good people. I am not that good. I have my own way of thinking and my own way of living. I could get angry also. Still, they became mediums and I became a medium, because I completely surrendered to guru. There came a point in my spiritual life when I was completely exhausted, tired and fed up with myself.
When you try to control your mind for years and months and you are not able to control it, when you are trying to control your passions and you are not able, when all your personal efforts have failed, you are fed up with yourself. At that time, you completely lay down your arms, ‘Oh I don’t know, do what you like. I am bad, that is all. I am going to be bad. I have tried my best and I have lost. I can’t do anything without you.’ Then there is an awakening and this awakening only comes when you have totally laid down your arms.
Many people say, ‘I am a good man.’ That is ego. ‘I am a pure man.’ It is ego. ‘I am a brave man.’ ‘I speak truth at all times.’ It is ego. ‘I eat only once a day.’ It is ego. Your goodness can be a product of your own ego. Many people say, ‘Oh, I don’t speak lies.’ They say it with pride. That is a result of ego. You have to be humble and say, ‘I can do nothing; I can’t renounce; I can’t control the mind; I am hopeless. My mind is full of terrible thoughts; I have got bad habits; I can do nothing!’ You see, this is the humility where you accept yourself.
Many disciples and many people think these things about themselves. It is not good. A disciple of a guru or a devotee of God have to be as humble as a blade of grass and they should not boast of their qualities. Then they must devote at least two hours a day in meditation. Ten minutes of meditation is just to begin with. In ten minutes nothing happens. It takes at least fifteen minutes for the disturbances of the body to settle. It takes almost half an hour for the brain to settle. For another half an hour you have to fight with the mind and after one and a half hours that mind will be sleeping, isn’t it? I am not making a joke, it is right.
If you put water in the fridge, it takes time before it becomes ice. In the same way, if this mind is to be transformed into a peaceful mind it has steps. When you meditate for two hours you become empty. Empty means empty of all thoughts, empty of duality. I am meditating on that; that is duality. I am meditating on him, but I am aware that I am meditating. This is duality. When the idea of meditator and the object of meditation is forgotten, that is called dhyana, meditation.
In meditation there is a threefold process – meditator, object of meditation and the process of meditation. While you are meditating you are aware of these three things. This must drop. That means you become empty. Don’t be afraid of becoming empty because in all religions this is the exercise, ‘Empty thyself like a flute’, ‘Empty thyself like a drum.’ When you become empty energy flows through you.
It can flow through your mind, your intuition, your speech, your palms or your eyes. You do not know what is going on. There are some people who can look at you and everything is finished. When Mahatma Gandhi used to look at the eyes, the man was under his control.
Energy flows through the eyes. There are people who bless or touch anybody’s forehead and they start jumping. Then the energy flows through the fingers and in some people the energy flows through speech. When they speak everybody is hypnotized. Somebody’s energy flows through intuition and it is perfectly accurate judgement.
So when you become the medium of your guru, it is not your choice what you want to become. His wish will be done through you. So, to begin with, drop your choices. That is the beginning of discipleship. This relationship is only with guru, not with anybody else. If you have this relationship with others they will keep you away. With other people you should behave just like a normal person. Before God and Guru, you are nothing!