After three years the master looked at him for the first time. That was the recognition that he was not a student, but a disciple. A student would have got lost in three years; no student can stay that long waiting just for a look. Then another three years passed and he never looked again.

After three years the master looked again and smiled too, and his smile went almost like a sharp sword into the heart of Junnaid. Why had he smiled? — but the master did not give him a chance to ask. He started talking to other disciples.

Three years passed again, and one day he called him close and kissed his forehead and said, “My son, now you are ready. Now you can go and spread the message.”

But no message had been given to him.

For nine years he had been there. The only message was that once he was looked at, once he was smiled at, and once he had been kissed on his forehead.

But if the master is saying you are ready, it must be so. Touching the feet of the master in gratitude he left.

He used to tell his disciples, “I met a very strange man. In nine years he prepared me without even looking at me — but on each change he made the indication. When he became certain that I was a disciple and whatever happened I was going to stay there, he looked at me. But his look was such a shower of love… I could have waited for it for three lives; three years were nothing. The way he looked at me, with such deep love and compassion, I was immensely glad. I was bathed almost in a new experience.

“Without telling me anything… in those three years my mind had stopped functioning. I just went on looking at the master, his every gesture, and slowly, slowly there was nothing to think about. I even forgot for what purpose I was sitting there — and that was the day he looked at me. I knew the purpose and I was fulfilled immensely.

“But then three years again passed, and when he smiled the whole existence smiled. Every fiber of my being felt his smile — such a soft touch, but it went deep into my heart. I knew something had happened, but I was not aware at that time what had happened. I had passed from disciplehood into devoteehood.

“The day he kissed my forehead, he sealed my certificate as a master. His kiss on my forehead was his only final message. It took me years to figure out slowly what he had meant.”

The kiss of the master to the disciple, to the devotee, is a declaration that the merger has happened, the melting has happened and now you are ready to spread all around the fragrance that you are filled with.

The student is unconscious. The disciple starts becoming conscious. The devotee is so conscious that he cannot be conscious of his consciousness. It has to be a recognition from the master, because from the devotee the distance between himself and the master is absolutely nil. From the devotee one grows into a master, but it is a spontaneous and natural growth.

Osho – “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”

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I am reminded of a case — it happened in the life of a Sufi mystic, Junnaid. A man came; he wanted to be a disciple. Junnaid looked at him for a long time. The man started feeling a little nervous: Why is he looking so long and so silently?

Finally Junnaid said, “To be a disciple is very difficult.”

The man said, “Then I am ready to be a devotee.”

Junnaid said, “That is even more difficult. The only thing that is not difficult here is to be a master.”

The man said, “If that is the case I am ready to be the master.”

Junnaid told his disciples and devotees, “This is a case of unconsciousness. He is not even a student, but the longing is to be a master if it is easier.”

The student comes almost accidentally. Perhaps he reads a book, perhaps a friend talks to him and he becomes curious. But curiosity is so superficial; it cannot make you committed and devoted for a long journey. It is very momentary. Hence the student is not accepted in the mystery schools. He is too unripe; he has to wander a few days more or perhaps a few lives more before he can be accepted by a master as a disciple.

Osho – “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”

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