gospel of Thomas 90

Jesus said, "Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves."

Every master – every enlightened spiritual teacher – is unique. But they can be categorised in one simple way. There are some masters who accept disciples, and there are others who refuse to do so. Jesus accepted disciples. In recent times, Osho, for example, was a master who accepted disciples. He referred to them as his people. A contemporary of his, J. Krishnamurti, refused to accept disciples, on the basis that the disciple becomes a follower. He puts himself beneath the master. And the master becomes the greatest obstacle to enlightenment for the disciple.

There are pros and cons to both approaches. But Jesus accepted disciples, and this little saying of his indicates this so clearly. He says, come unto me…my yoke is easy. A yoke is that which joins two bullocks together to draw a plough or a cart. So by his yoke, he means that you will be joined to him, if you come to him as a disciple. And you don't have any choice. Just as the bullock is tied into that yoke, once a disciple has surrendered to a master, he is tied in – no choice.

But Jesus claims that his yoke is easy. It's not too much of a burden. It's not going to be too painful. And he says, my lordship is mild. But look, he is claiming lordship. He will tell you what to do and expect you to do it. That's the way a master works when he accepts disciples. He takes the decisions for the disciples. They can relax and just do what he says.

And Jesus says, you will find repose. You can rest. Some masters work their disciples very hard. But even in those circumstances, there is a certain rest that comes from having surrendered your sense of free will. You don't need to think about things anymore. And that's one great advantage of the master–disciple approach. The disciple doesn't need to think. And the less we think, the more we can become sensitive to the present moment, which is a great step in the right direction.

So you can find repose by becoming a disciple. You can rest: the mind doesn't need to do any work anymore. It's just a case of following whatever the master says. And if you're lucky – if you happen to choose your master well – all will be well. But even in that situation, eventually you will need to break free from that master. Otherwise he will always be above you, and in that way you will be holding yourself down.

In any case, this is the invitation that Jesus is making here: come and be my disciple.