The Dog and the Bone
the “method” of the Siddha-Guru is to undermine the search in every one who seeks him, and to elevate only those who live with him in the stable elegance of really intelligent peace.
Introduction to ‘The Method of the Siddhas – 1973
Many so-called spiritual seekers are just Narcissus in drag. They don’t have enough gut for spiritual life. They are not interested in the demand that is the Guru. They are dogs coming for a bone. Such dogs only come to the master for a bone. A dog whose mind is set on the bone his master possesses will do any ridiculous thing to acquire it. He rolls on the ground and he whines, he barks and jumps through hoops. He does whatever he must, until his master gives him the bone. And then he runs away with the bone. He wants to see nobody. The dog doesn’t want anybody around him when he is chewing his bone. He doesn’t want to be touched. He doesn’t want to be approached. He makes a vital circle around himself, and he just works on his bone. And if it is a good, big bone, so that he can’t do it all in one sitting, he usually hides it somewhere, to protect it, after he has finished his chew. And he doesn’t go back to his master again until he’s out of bone. He does not go to his master in order to be with him, to delight in him, to be mastered by him. He only goes for another bone.
Such is the ordinary spiritual seeker. “Give me initiation into your yoga. Give me the mantra. Give me the breathing exercise. Teach me the kriya yoga. Give me Shaktipat. Give me the Divine Vision.” He always asks for the bone! And should he in fact be granted one of those things (any one of the traditional forms of initiation will do—mantras, shaktis, beliefs, whatever), the guy goes. He leaves to play his game with that technique or consolation. He consumes it in solitude. He doesn’t want to be touched. He doesn’t want to be interrupted. He doesn’t want to be reminded of what is outside, in relationship. But the Master waits for his true disciple to come and submit to him. Satsang is the relationship between the disciple and the Guru, not between the disciple and his “bone.”
Text taken from the book
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Walking the Dog
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