throw stones or filth at others or abuse and bite them. Yet, he is essentially different from mad persons, since all that he does has a radically different motivation and effect. The actions of mad persons can be distinguished from the actions of real Masts even as they can be distinguished from those of a drunkard. The difference between a drunkard and the mad person is that while the drunkard always totters while walking the mad person does not so totter. It is by means of this single movement that a mad person can be easily distinguished from a drunkard.

In the same manner, there are some outward signs by means of which it is possible to distinguish between the real Masts and the mad persons, though in many respects, the Masts behave like mad persons. The Mast might sometimes behave like a mad person or like a child or a ghost. But his action is never meaningless. It is always charged with some deep spiritual import; and almost always, it hits its target unfailingly and effectively. But though the state of the Mast is often very exalted and his powers great, he often gets dazed and loses his balance. He then needs the care and help of a Perfect Master, as much as and sometimes even more than ordinary seekers.

In most Masts, the heart is all right, filled with divine love. But the mentality is completely undermined, with the result that they are inca­pable of rendering any useful service to others on the Path. They also get stuck on the Path for lack of any inward steering. In such cases, the Master fills the Mast with mentality, rendering him susceptible and responsive to environmental reactions, and thus giving him an opportunity to advance further through discriminative acts of service to less advanced persons. He has to come down in order to go higher up; and he could not have come down without the help of the Master.

Some Yogis can perform miracles like creating gold out of lead or iron. Others can even shake the whole world, if they want it. But they are not necessarily perfect. Such Yogis, though really far from perfec­tion, get caught up in their own unmanageable powers. They become like a deer for a real Master to hunt. The Master of perfection, as it were, hunts them in the woods, in which they roam about missing their way and whiling away their time in ignorant pursuits. And when the hunted ones pray for the right Path, the Master shows it to them, thus saving them from rounds and rounds of lives, which they would otherwise re-quire to arrive at the further stages of the inner Path. The Master can subdue the Yogis into the right course, because his powers, unlike the powers of the Yogis are unlimited, though he seldom uses them. He is interested, not in the exercise of powers, but in the imparting of spiritual knowledge, which is far more difficult and is the only thing of real value.