The Water Diviner & The Spiritual Master
AVATAR MEHER BABA with His men disciples mid-1939 at the groundbreaking of the Sahavas Well in lower Meherabad, India. (MSI Collection. Used with permission.)
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.