Theo. – During our conversations, you either use the terms meditator, aspirant or disciple. Can you explain the nuances in their meaning?
Meditator
The Elder – Meditators will practise meditation. They sound the practice to see whether it agrees with them, does them any good and answers their expectations.
Theo. What expectations?
The Elder – Whatever: wellbeing, relaxation, personal understanding or development, a religious quest or even a spiritual one.
Theo. – That is what Heartfulness proposes: a purely secular and experimental meditation.
The Elder – What you need to know is that, whatever the meditator’s motivations, whether they are conscious or unconscious, the person’s true nature is there, aspiring to be itself and to recover its own expression.
Theo. – Do you approach the notion of the soul?
The Elder – I do, whenever it is possible, but some people do not support a religious range of view or even the idea of God. Words don’t matter. Aspiration is in them. I can use the words soul, God, Self or any other corresponding concept if it helps. Once the soul has been connected to the ultimate Source, it will enjoy it and want to return there.
Theo. – I imagine that the mind and its prejudices may discourage it.
The Elder – It is its destiny. Sooner or later, the soul will get its due. Don’t forget that God has plenty of time. He is both beyond and in time, because He is the initiator of the Creation.
Theo. His patience is infinite…
The Elder – For God, there is no journey of the soul: whatever the soul does, wherever it lies, it is always within Him. It has always been His and will be His forever.
Theo. – When can we use the word aspirant then?
Aspirant
The Elder – During the introductory meditations, the connection is re-established. It reminds the being of its true nature. The soul is set in motion. The journey of the soul (yatra) is beginning and for me, the meditator has then become an aspirant.
Theo. – Does he yearn for God, for the Ultimate?
The Elder – That is what we have to keep in mind and never forget, whatever problems or other initiations he/she will have to go through.
Theo. – It makes me think of the labours Hercules had to complete.
The Elder – The ‘Labours of Hercules’ symbol is very inspiring indeed. There are moments when the aspirants will doubt and think of giving up their quest, and they get discouraged as they do not see any significant progress being made. As for you, you must never doubt that the Divine wants the aspirants to come back, that He will attract them and absorb them into Him, in the very depth of His heart.
Theo. – It is the great journey of the soul…. The word ‘soul’ comes from ‘anima”, meaning the breath.
The Elder – Like the word ‘initiation’, it means that the soul is set in motion.
Theo. – What will our role consist in?
The Elder – It mainly consists in accompanying the aspirant in all kinds of ways concerning the being.
Theo. – What sort of link is there between the aspirant and the spiritual Master?
The Elder – Both their hearts are connected. They trust each other. The aspirants will receive the Master’s transmission as well as all the help that they will accept.
Theo. – So the aspirants could just say no to it?
The Elder – At any moment, they can stop working with their guide. They can even decide to cut off that spiritual and human connection if they want to.
Theo. – Then what will the Master do?
The Elder – He will accept it. He is serving. As we have already said, when the work is done with love, there can be no constraints, no obligation.
Theo. – I understand. And what is the difference between an aspirant and a disciple
Disciple
The Elder – An aspirant decides to join a Master of Wisdom, to follow his teachings and receive his transmission. As for the disciple, he/she is co-opted by the Master.
Theo. Is it the next step?
The Elder – You have been fully accepted in the Master’s heart. All his spiritual treasures are yours. He takes charge of you entirely. He is totally responsible for you and for your evolution. I call it an eternal link, a link that will never be cut off.
Theo. It makes me think of a mystical union similar to the marital love described in the Song of Solomon.
The Elder – It is a rare and important step. Full light is not shed on it. So the path the soul has to follow takes another dimension within the secret of these united hearts.
Theo. – What will happen to the disciples?
The Elder – It’s all opened to them. They will have to go through many initiations that will lead them to mastership.
Theo. – What mastership?
The Elder – In Yoga, it is the mastership of the Self, but the Self is infinite and many initiations are in store for it.
Theo. – It is somewhat like at university: master 1,master 2, except that in our case, the masters will continue… infinitely.
The Elder – Until they merge with God.
Theo. – What is it that has really merged then?
The Elder – Everything has merged: the being, the soul, the aspirant, the disciple and the master. They have all absorbed themselves into the Lord. At that very moment, we can call them Lord, because there is nothing left in them but The Lord.
Theo. – And what about the ego?
The Elder – It does not exist anymore. It has no access to that divine dimension.
Theo. – It does not have any grip on anything then, does it?
The Elder – That is the only moment when, having attained such a condition, the being cannot fall anymore. Now, how could God possibly fall but in Himself?
Theo. – It is the return of the lost soul to its beloved.
The Elder – Actually, the soul has never been separated from God, at no time while it existed. Separation is an illusion created by our ego and we believe in it. Once the Divine has operated, the illusion disappears all by itself and there remains nothing but God.
Theo. – And that is when the eternal journey really starts, is it?
The Elder – It is a motionless journey, one that no human mind can conceive.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogues with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation