The wine of the master

Once there was a man who occupied himself with the science and art of making wine. It took him decades of studies and practical work but in the end he had cultivated the most precious wine people could imagine. This special wine was perfect in all aspects. It was the crown of wine. Due to this, he was called simply master, the master of wine.

His wine was very rare and precious as he used only the best ingredients. And certainly he kept the recipe secret but as usual there were people who had a great desire to get initiated into his art. So the master had invited a few possible students to test them.

The master took one bottle of his precious wine and spoke to the aspirants: “Dear aspirants, I will offer you now my precious wine which is perfect in nature. We will see if you are mature enough to receive it and to become my student.”

The master took the bottle and poured the wine into a wonderful, precious decanter made of crystal glass. Here the wine could unfold its full flavor. Some aspirants watched this while others were busy with themselves.

Now the wine was ready and each aspirant was asked to choose a glass and to take some wine.

The first aspirant took the decanter and filled a glass. He was not really focused and so he lost some drops of the precious wine. The second one had a glass filled to the half with water. So the wine got watered down. The third one had a dirty glass with traces of tea and coffee but he didn´t care. So the wine was mixed with the flavors of coffee and tea. The fourth aspirant had a normal mug which he used for the wine. The fifth one poured so much wine into his glass that it overflowed and spread on the table. The sixth aspirant thought that the wine was like all other wines and drunk it one go without consciously appreciating all its flavors. The seventh aspirant was the only one who had a precious crystal chalice, perfectly clean and brilliant in its shape. Before he took the wine, he showed his appreciation, gratitude and humbleness to the master. He filled the wine perfectly into his chalice in the right amount and tasted it consciously to become aware of all its facets.

The master watched all the aspirants and he chose only the last one to become his student. All others had failed the test.

In conclusion, this was an example pointing at spiritual teachings, the teacher and the students. The spiritual teacher takes decades of refining his knowledge and experiences which make his teachings very precious. Such refined teachings have no need for adding, changing or ignoring anything and they need a worthy vessel to be received in the right way. The student must be mature. If the student is not mature, he will ruin the original teachings of the master. So it makes sense for the student to withdraw his ego, his experiences and philosophy, and to focus completely on the perfect understanding of the teachings of the master. Only then he will make real progress.

The student must be like the perfect crystal chalice, cleaned, pure, ready to receive and to embrace the most precious wine, the spirit, the teachings of the master. If this is not the case, the immature student causes damage, problems and misuses the gift.

This must be clear for all spiritual students.

And in fact, this is the reason why so many students are not able to make progress, to gain real wisdom. They are simply too busy with their own ideas and desires, mixing all up with the pure teachings to have wine with the taste of water, tea and coffee.

Therefore it is said that one should not throw pearls before swine.

In conclusion pay great attention for introspection and how you handle high teachings.