The spiritual master is our best friend

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 September 2016, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Initiation Lecture)

When we speak about the third offence to the holy name, we speak about disobeying the orders of the spiritual master. But let us think about it in a different way – instead of disobeying orders, one can talk to the spiritual master. The spiritual master can always change the instruction if it can be changed. If the order is unchangeable then he can help us by giving us inspiration to carry on. So really, if the order is too difficult, then one must simply take shelter.

But if somehow, one disobeys the order of the spiritual master, even then we still turn to the spiritual master because the spiritual master is our best friend and therefore he cannot be surprised, in terms of our behavior, it is not possible. If that happens, the spiritual master will very patiently say, ‘Alright, you broke everything, what to do… Let’s pick up the pieces and let’s put your spiritual life back together.’

So he is not going to condemn us for whatever we have done, for whatever mistake we have made. No! He will simply say, ‘Okay, now we have to deal with this.’  Of course, sometimes one gets entangled very much. I remember someone got entangled in a drug habit after initiation. Then the spiritual master said, ‘Well, we have a problem here! It’s going to take some time and it won’t be easy to solve it, but anyway we are in this together.’  In that way, the spiritual master is always with us.