Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov continued:

“Personally, I would love to make you happy, but my work and my responsibilities have also to be considered. Moreover, a Master who shuts his eyes is not useful.”

The typical disciple will always want to hear pleasantries from the teacher, be flattered and adored, and given preferential treatment. This is the way in which the unenlightened, egocentric personality habitually operates. The master’s sacred obligation is to undermine all such expectations and always to remind disciples that spiritual life is about transcending the ego, not massaging and pampering it.

For the teacher-disciple relationship to bear fruit, both master and student must be equally committed to the truth. He compared his role to that of a dentist who must sometimes hurt a patient to stop a nagging toothache. He saw it as his duty not to leave disciples alone but to stir them up and remind them of their higher destiny. It was his mission to be “a pain in the neck,” so that his disciples would have to work on their character and change their way of life. He said:

“My principle is precisely not to satisfy your personality. This makes you annoyed and discontented with me, does it not? Too bad. What I want is to feed your spirit, your divine side which is lying in a corner half dead because no one takes care of it.”

In our Western society, which celebrates the ego-personality above all else, the task of a spiritual teacher is extremely risky. He was quite aware of this. One day he noted:

“I know perfectly well that each time I shake somebody up, I am running enormous risks … If they work for the radio, they will broadcast a talk against me… If they are a journalist, they will write an article criticizing me … If they are a painter, they will caricature me. I know all this, but I accept it all in order to help them see things more clearly.

I am not concerned with what happens to me: they may become my enemies, and that is unfortunate; but I am doing this for their own good. Many years later, events will show that I was right; they will remember and will understand that I wanted what was best for them.”

Extract from The Mystery of Light by Georg Feuerstein
Chapter2. Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov: Visionary, Teacher and Healer