The Path of True Discipleship - Dr. M W Lewis

Extracts from a talk at the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple, Hollywood California.

According to the dictionary, a disciple is one who accepts and follows a teacher or doctrine. But what is a true disciple? There is quite a difference between ordinary discipleship and true discipleship.

I can illustrate this point by an incident that occurred when Paramahansa Yogananda was in India in 1935. While there he met a Dr. Mukherji, who was a disciple of Bhupendra Nath Sanyal, one of Lahiri Mahasaya’s direct disciples. Learning that Dr. Mukherji was going to America, Paramahansaji gave him a letter for me. After Dr. Mukherji arrived, we were talking about Lahiri Mahasaya and Paramahansaji, when he asked me, "Are you a disciple of your Master?" I answered, "I think I am." "Well," he said, "someone in India asked him that, and he didn’t have much to say."

So far as I knew, everything was all right between me and the Master, and although I didn’t quite understand, I was not unduly disturbed. Years later, when the book Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda was published in 1952, I found this passage:

"One of the disciples said to Paramahansaji, `Master, Dr. Lewis was your first disciple in this country, wasn’t he?’ The Master answered, `That’s what they say.’ Seeing that the questioner was a little taken aback, he added, I never say that people are my disciples. God is the Guru. They are His disciples". So in this way I received the answer to the question of true discipleship. A master, even in all his greatness, humbly recognizes that the disciples are not his, but the Heavenly Father’s. So true discipleship means to follow the path that takes you back to God, the path of a true guru.

© "Dr. M W Lewis : The Life Story of one of the Earliest American Disciples of Paramahansa Yogananda" published by Self-Realization Fellowship, 3880 San Rafael Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90065-3298, USA. Website: www.yogananda-srf.org. Reprinted with permission.

Click here to view the full content of the articles.

<< Back