Everything Comes From Within

Sri Ramana Maharshi

9-1-1946 Afternoon

D: What is the difference between a devotee and a disciple? A friend here told me I should not call myself a disciple of B and that I can only be a devotee."

B: If we worship an object or person then we are devotees. If we have a Guru then we are disciples.

I added that his friend must have told him so, for the reason that B takes no disciples, i.e., formally initiates none, and so it may be misleading if anyone says, 'I am B's disciple.'

D: But what if I accept his teaching and regards myself as his disciple because I try to follow his teaching?

I replied, "Of course you may do that, as Ekalavya learnt archery from an image of Drona."

B then added, "After all, as in the above case everything comes from within. First the man feels that he is bound, in the bondage of samsara, that he is weak and miserable and that unless he leans upon and gets help from God who is all-powerful and can save him, he cannot get out of bondage and misery. Thus he makes bhakti to Ishvara. When this bhakti develops and the intensity of his devotion is so great that he forgets his entire self and becomes Ishwaramaya and complete surrender has been achieved, God takes human shape and comes as Guru and teaches the devotee that there is but one Self and that That is within him. Then the devotee attains jnana by realizing the Self within him and then he understands that Ishwara whom he worshiped and had bhakti for, the Guru who came in human form and the Self are all the same."