This post concludes the very helpful text by Hazrat Inayat Khan on discipleship, begun here and continued here.  In the first two instalments, we learned of the need for consideration and confidence.

The third lesson on the path of discipleship is imitation; this means imitating the teacher in his every attitude, his attitude towards the friend, towards the enemy, towards the foolish, and towards the wise. If the pupil acts as he wishes and the teacher acts as he wishes, then there is no benefit, however great the sacrifice and devotion. No teaching or meditation is as great or valuable as the imitation of the teacher in the path of truth. In the imitation of the teacher the whole secret of the spiritual life is hidden. No doubt it is not only the imitation of his outward action, but also of his inner tendency.

The fourth lesson that the disciple learns is different again. This lesson is to turn the inward thought of the teacher outward, until he grows to see his teacher in everyone and everything, in the wise, in the foolish, and in all forms.

Finally, by the fifth lesson the disciple learns to give everything that he has so far given to his teacher–devotion, sacrifice, service, respect–to all, because he has learnt to see his teacher in all.

One person will perhaps learn nothing all his life, whereas another will learn all five lessons in a short time. There is a story of a person who went to a teacher and said to him, ‘I would like to be your pupil, your disciple.’ The teacher said, ‘Yes; I shall be very glad.’ This man, conscious of so many faults, was surprised that the teacher was willing to accept him as a disciple. He said, ‘But I wonder if you know how many faults I have?’ The teacher said, ‘Yes, I already know your faults, yet I accept you as my pupil.’  ‘But I have very bad faults,’ he said, ‘I am fond of gambling.’ The teacher said, ‘That does not matter much.’ –’I am inclined to drink sometimes,’ he said. The teacher said, ‘That does not matter much.’ –’Well,’ he said, ‘there are many other faults.’

The teacher said, ‘I do not mind. But now that I have accepted all your faults, you must accept one condition from your teacher.’  ‘Yes, most willingly,’ he said. ‘What is it?’ The teacher said, ‘You may indulge in your faults, but not in my presence; only that much respect you must reserve for your teacher.’ The teacher knew that all five attributes of discipleship were natural to him, and he made him an initiate. And as soon as he went out and had an inclination to gamble or to drink he saw the face of his murshid before him. When after some time he returned to the teacher, the teacher smilingly asked, ‘Did you commit any faults?’ He answered, ‘O no, the great difficulty is that whenever I want to commit any of my usual faults my murshid pursues me.’

Do not think that this spirit is only cultivated; this spirit may be found in an innocent child. When I once asked a little child of four years, ‘Have you been naughty?’ it answered, ‘I would like to be naughty, but my goodness will not let me.’ This shows us that the spirit of discipleship is in us. But we should always remember that he who is a teacher is a disciple himself.

In reality there is no such thing as a teacher; God alone is Teacher, we are all disciples. The lesson we all have to learn is that of discipleship; it is the first and the last lesson.