Could you please speak about the relationship between master and disciple ? 

There is no relationship because there is no master.  In the East, the name of “master” is conferred on someone who makes not the slightest reference to himself.  To think of oneself as a master introduces separation; thus, free of any image of himself, he does not consider someone who comes to visit him to be a disciple.  Because he does not project an image on the visitor, the disciple abandons the idea of being a disciple.  The image of master is connected to that of disciple and that of disciple to that of master.  The image is a limitation.

When the disciple is not seen as a disciple, when he no longer takes his master for a master, when he is free from these images, he senses the basic non-differentiation, the unity; no relationship is possible.  The master-disciple relationship is a romantic idea.  Obviously it is present in the teaching of yoga, painting or music.  In the art of yoga, there is transmission.  Information, a helping hand, energy and capacities are transmitted.  When teaching piano, poetry, painting, the master gives advice.  You are born a musician, but you must acquire knowledge and skills so as to express and deepen your original gift. Born as a poet you must study, practice, over and over again to discover what impedes the perfect expression of your inner feeling.  It is truly an art: learning to undo what prevents us from expressing beauty !

As far as our true being is concerned, there is nothing to transmit because there is nothing but it.  On this level the master/disciple relationship is impossible.  The master lives with the conviction that he is nothing, knows nothing and wants nothing.  When someone comes to see him with a whole list of projections, the master will gradually shine light on the different stages of the disciple’s life from a point of view void of reference.  The disciple will refer less and less frequently to his own opinions, his limitations.  A situation when it arises is seen as referring to the whole.  What the disciple unknowingly wants from the master is none other than his own self.  Thus nothing can be transmitted.  This has nothing whatsoever to do with the romanticism, emotions, tears and babbling to be witnessed in modern so-called spiritual teachings.  The teacher highlights the student’s autonomy, non-differentiation, the silence between perceptions, between thoughts, between states.  In those moments the student takes note that he is not the body, nor the mind, nor the senses.  The teacher will remind him that body and mind live within consciousness, within space.  This explains why a true student cannot consider himself the student of a master.  A true student does not know that he is the student of a master; if he thinks this is the case then he is not a true student for he is still referring to something.  A true master has no students because he does not consider himself to be a master.  A master who has students, a student who has a master, is nothing but a merry-go-round.  That is of value in art, in yoga or in the teaching of music, but not in the search for truth.

However, experiencing the sacred can give birth to a natural flowing from the heart, a devotional attitude towards perhaps a master ?

The sacred is a non-experience that is the origin of all experience.  You can never experience the sacred, because it is the essence of all things.  You can experience what is not sacred, but not what is.

You can knowingly see every profane manifestation within you: intention, avidity, every future plan, but you can never see the fundamental element, the sacred because it is not an object to be experienced : it is the light that illuminates all experiences.  This is why you can never say : « I know, I understand ! »  In not knowing, you refer to this deep, inner knowledge that can never be objectified.  But when you say, « I know », it is an insult to the sacred which cannot be known objectively.  Devotion is an expression of the sacred but it is not a means.  Once you have experienced this silence deep within you, you are struck by its manifestations.  On the phenomenal level of course you will observe that certain manifestations seem to resonate as clearer expressions of this silence than others. Certain places, people or pieces of music allow us to more readily experience this silence.  Your preference for these places, people or pieces of music could be called devotion.  It stems from the background within which these elements arise.

What you say is true but it is not a personal relationship.  When you are struck by wonder before a temple, a piece of music or a work of art, you are struck by what is behind the music or the temple.  If you meet a teacher, you are not touched by his person, but by the Truth that is beyond the person.  In India, when you touch the feet of a guru, you are not bowing before a teacher but before the Truth.  There, that has meaning.  To bow before Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ananda Moyi, Gopinath Karivaj had meaning.  On the other hand when I met my master in Europe such a gesture would have been totally out of place.  The way respect is expressed totally depends on the cultural context.  True respect is to feel you are « one » with what is respected.

In that moment everything becomes your master, for all perceptions are a prolongation of consciousness: everything you hear, see, touch, is none other than that.  At a certain point, the devotion you feel towards a master, a temple, a god, a piece of music will detach itself from the object; and you will feel this devotion for all beings, for all gods, for everything you perceive, because deep down there is no difference.

Is respect an aspect of adoration ?

It is respect for life, for the silence which has been felt and not for the object itself.  When you respect an object, it is not the object itself you respect but what is behind it, what is eternal.  Respect can only be directed towards the fore-feeling of silence.  Following on from this you respect all realms of life, animal, vegetable, and human.  They are manifestations of life.  Treat your neighbour as you do your master; otherwise something is askew.

When you mention the discovery of the Self however you say « my master ». What sense is there in that ?

None whatsoever.

Is using the « witness » to observe emotions in anyway connected with the master and disciple?  Is the Self to be found behind the emotions ?

If you give the emotion total freedom, sooner or later it will point back to silence.  The relationship between master and student cannot be put into words.

You cannot explain love ; it is a feeling of unity that refers to nothing, neither a context, nor a situation.   The master leads you to feel this non-differentiation, frees you from the idea of being someone.  When you go to see him, believing that there is something that must be awakened, something from which you must free yourself, the master shows you that your fundamental being is not in the future, is not in front of you.  Wherever you might go, whatever steps you undertake, you will always find an object, you will always find memory, you will always be turning your head to look back at what is behind you.  It is not through words and explanations but by his silence that the master takes you there.  It is his silence that will strike you first, and his silence will become your silence.  Thus it is within this silence that there is transmission : nobody transmits anything, nothing is transmitted but transmission takes place.  When a teacher speaks, or gives advice, explains, then it’s a boon, for his true role is to stimulate your inner silence. Sometimes he will use gestures or words but when you leave him you remain in silence.  And at some point or other you will realise that you no longer need to see him so as to feel the presence of this silence.  You sit in your room and the silence is there.  Your master is there too, not as a person but as the silence.  You sense this without naming it.

When you are a student, you are not aware of it on an objective level.  A master will never say to you :  « You are my student ! »  That would be totally artificial.  He never turns things into objects.  He is your friend.  You don’t necessarily need to talk, or even know one another; it all takes place beyond the physical plane.  He is never surprised to meet you.  You may leave him, but on a certain level, he never leaves you.  What appears and disappears does not bind him.  You are not obliged to recognise him.  When you place his photo on your desk and say: « Here is my master ! » it is no more than a psychopathic fantasy born of fear just to help you claim your idea of having a separate identity.

Such fantasies lead you nowhere.  To belong to a tradition, to receive a teaching, is all part of an illusory plan.  There is nothing to receive and nothing to follow.   Go home ; you are nothing.  In this nothingness, everything needed will manifest itself.  There is no such thing as an accident.   You need not seek anything; everything you need is right there in front of you.  Allow silence to manifest itself.

How can one have confidence in oneself when confronted with everything that is happening in society around us ?

You must have confidence but not in yourself, just be confident.  It is our opinions, our constant evaluation that leads us to believe that society is oppressive, limits us.  We create society, every second of the day.  When we feel anger, fear, anxiety inside ourselves, in one form or another we project it onto the society around us.  Confidence is a fore-feeling of divinity.  You cannot have confidence in yourself.  A « yourself » constantly lives in doubt.

To have confidence in yourself is a misguided outlook.  Just be confident, just like when you go to bed.  When you give yourself to deep sleep, you are totally confident, you abdicate totally.  When you get up in the morning, you are confident; not about the way the day is going to go according to some pre-determined plan but just confident that whatever should happen is part of the flow of life.  You are open, free from the desire to change anything, free from the slightest compulsion.  In this way you come to realise that what seemed unjust is simply what is, and is in no way the emotional drama you had imagined.  It does not bring into question the facts of the situation; on the contrary facing reality allows an ocean of vibrating clarity, as intense as the most dramatic situation ever experienced, to be the space in which facts are encountered.

How can I express what I am ?

You can not possibly do otherwise.  Your whole body, psyche, being constantly expresses silence.  As a general rule, we block this expression.  Health is the natural condition of the body ; tranquillity is the natural condition of the psyche.  Admiration, adoration is the natural condition of the senses.  When you place the accent on the person instead of adoring the essence, you fall into focusing on objects, beings, and situations, thus distorting them.  Instead of respecting apparent objects, respect their essence.  Once you free yourself from the idea of being anything whatsoever, once you give yourself over to being absolutely nothing, without a future, without expectations, then true devotion, true adoration, which is the natural state of body and mind, spontaneously springs to life within you.  You endlessly express wonderment, love in all its forms, for all forms celebrate the formless.  All sounds, all music celebrates silence.  The evidence of having no future frees all possible expression.  Otherwise you adore objects, situations, which is somewhat perverted.  Celebration is the natural state of the body and mind.  When you breathe out, it is an offering, a dance.  You offer up what you are not to silence.  And this silence bursts into life within your whole being.  In this way breathing is a constant offering and receiving.  Your whole being echoes this exchange.  Thinking free of all intention, this thinking that truly arises from silence, is adoration and this is why proponents from all traditions have always written songs of praise, even non-dualistic masters such as Shankaracharya and Abhinavagupta.

The major proportion of their work has always been a hymn to what IS, for in the world of form this is the highest expression possible.  We must cease singing the praises of what is relative and limited so that this hymn can become conscious.  When we project a future we sing the praises of objects, we sing of situations; in that moment there is no room to express what we truly are.  When you are truly nothing, then you express your true nature.

In the past you have stated that everyone has a role to play, whether it be that of hangman or philosopher.  How can we know what role we should play ?

You can never do anything other than play your role.  What you do at any and every moment is totally appropriate.  You do not choose the body you have, nor your face.  You did not choose your sicknesses, nor your successes, nor your failures; all that was given to you.  It is the same with the role you are given to play.  You cannot become this or that.  The more you live in harmony with your capabilities, the freer you will be from modern society which is only interested in turning its members into money making robots.  The more you open yourself up to these inner senses, the freer you will be of the dictates and whims that make up modern society. In this way you will discover unknown abilities beyond your dreams.  These capacities will unravel at their own pace.  Listening to facts, to your mechanisms, opens you to stillness.

You must make yourself available to yourself, feel your body, not the body you would like to have nor the one you reject, but the one that is here right now.

Lie down and allow the body to tell you about itself.  In your silence the body will speak.  In that moment, you will see everything that has been blocked, everything that has been stifled by the habits, dictates and sicknesses of our society.  It is only in listening free from preconception that your true potential can emerge.  If we live on the surface of things then our potential remains exactly that, a potential.

On the metaphysical level, the energy of the whole world is available to us, but not on the practical level.  Your constitution has given you a certain number of unique qualities.  Your role is to open yourself to these qualities.  You become aware of your vitality but not by comparing it with the vitality you would rather have.  In this way you will give your body the nourishment it requires.  You will give your body the music, the odours, it requires, because you make yourself available to what is there.  You will no longer project what you ought to be, you will no longer want to be this or that.  Thus you will come to see whether your potential is to be a hangman or a banker.

You do not choose your abilities.  You reflect a whole that resonates through all aspects of itself.  There is no role hierarchy: the servant and the master fulfil the same role; the one only exists because of the other.  When the body leaves you, the servant and the master find themselves on the same level.  On the physical plane, the ultimate role is that of servant.  So as to make it possible for some to be servants then others must fulfil the role of master.  It's not a matter of choice.

You must accept your crown or your poverty; only then is clarity possible.  When you strive to become this or that, you live on a superficial level.