or seeing the results of that teaching, this is what has to be done to learn, to improve, to master the instrument.

Similarly, when an aspirant comes to a teacher, a sheikh, a guru, the disciple has to accept the totality, everything the master offers, if the instrument which is the self is to be mastered and played in tune. In part from listening to what the teacher says, from experiencing the sanctity, the purity of the teacher's presence, and in part from the mystery of his or her fusion in the divine, the disciple chooses or, more accurately, is chosen. Here the similarity to the music teacher more or less ends because the soul and the self are more subtle than an instrument and more difficult than an orchestra.

The relations between master and disciple will vary from disciple to disciple as the teacher determines what each student requires; to some he will seem to be aggressively demanding, to others generous and lenient, but this has nothing to do with favoritism or preference, this has only to do with the needs of each soul. To the extent we push ourself, make demands on ourself, do more than is required of us, the master will look on benignly, guiding us when we ask, correcting us gently if we make a mistake. However, if we continue to duck and hide, if

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