Watchfulness
An essential quality in a disciple
September 7th 2012
Jesus said, ‘If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.’ This verse tells us about one of the greatest qualities a human can acquire – watchfulness. Since we do not know at what time the thief will come (and the thief represents those circumstances where we are inwardly threatened with losing something valuable), we must never relax our attention.
And so, you should know that when someone wants to become the disciple of a spiritual Master, it is not their intelligence or kindness or devotedness the Master considers so much as their watchfulness. For if they are watchful, they will avoid the dangers lining their path, whereas, if they lack watchfulness, what they gain at the cost of much effort they may lose just as quickly.