Discipleship. 237
Jesus and His disciples; theyquarrelled with
each other about precedence, they ran away
when their Masterwas attacked,one of them
denied Him with oaths, and later on showed
muchduplicity. The truthisthat discipleship
impliesapasttiebetween Masteranddisciple,
and a Master may recognise that tie, growing
outof past relationship,with onewho hasstill
much toachieve; the disciple mayhave many
and serious faults of character, may by no
means-thoughhis facebeturnedtothe Light
- have exhausted all the heavy karmaof the
past, may be facing manya difficulty,fighting
on many a battlefield with the legions of the
pastagainst him. Theword "disciple" does
notnecessarilyimplyinitiation,norsaintship; itonly asserts a position and a tie—that the
person is on the probationary path, and is
recognisedbyaMasteras His.
Amongthepeoplewhooccupythat position
intheworldto-dayaremanytypes. Forthose
whoareperplexedregardingthemitiswellthat
thelawshouldberecalled, thata man iswhat
hedesiresandthinks,notwhathedoes. What
hedesiresand thinksshapeshisfuture;whathe
does is the outcome of his past. Actions are
theleastimportantpartofaman'slife,fromthe