The Water Diviner & The Spiritual Master
Meher Mount
Avatar Meher Baba gave these comments about spiritual masters and the spiritual path using the analogy of a water-diviner — a person who locates where a well should be dug.
"There are five types of men: those who are water-diviners, those who know the water-diviners, those who use a machine to test for water, those who begin digging a well, and those who, in order to drink water, go to a well.
The water-diviners are the Perfect Masters and God-realized beings; they know that water (love) will be found in a particular area and they lead others to the spot.
Those who know the water-diviners are their disciples and lovers, and they eventually find water by following the instructions of the water-diviners whose knowledge is sure.
There are others who rely on machines (their minds) to try to find water. Still others begin digging a well with no test at all — first in one place and then in another — following one Master and then another from place to place. Still others do not even begin to search for water. They only drink water when they find it in a well; in other words, they don't even try to look for it.
Therefore, to be sure to strike water (gain true love and knowledge), find the water-diviner who is certain to lead you to it, and stick to him."
Source
Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 1074, accessed November 23, 2016. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.