Great souls are rare in any given period of history, and therefore, it is not always possible for all people to come in contact with perfect Masters. Even when we come in contact with them, it is extremely difficult to recognise their greatness and tune ourselves fully to them. We are apt to misunderstand the great Masters as inconvenient entities.
Many of the Masters have been whipped, crucified, and destroyed by the general stampede of the foolish with their many material preoccupations. Even though such perfect Teachers are rare, and if we happen to meet them it is difficult for us to recognise them. Yet when we do come under their beneficial influence, the effect is infallible.
We see saints and sages in all conditions—Janaka as a king, Jaḍabharata as a lunatic, Dattātreya as a wandering man with no sense of the world outside—some in clothes and some in mauna (silence), some exhibiting powers and others proving themselves as useless as an idiot. So don’t try to estimate a great spiritual Teacher with reference to the past patterns known to you. In their external behaviour and so on, they all are a law unto themselves.
But watch their face. Is there an extra glow? Watch them in all conditions. Are they equanimous? Have they unbroken love, endless tolerance, limitless cheerfulness, patience and endurance?
Are they kind and benign? Do they radiate a warmth of the soul? Do they calm silently the agitations in your hearts? Do you feel divinised, enlightened, encouraged, enlivened, comforted in their presence? Then they are real masterminds merged in God-consciousness.
Purify the equipment (body, mind and intellect) and the Guru, necessary for the next stage of growth, will reach us.
