This is a beautiful Buddha story.
One of Gautam Buddha’s very close disciples, Sariputta, became enlightened, but he did not tell Gautam Buddha about it.
On the third day, Buddha said, ”It is too much; I have been waiting for three days. Why are you not saying it to me?”
Sariputta had tears in his eyes. He said, ”I am not saying it because the moment I say it you will send me away. You will say, ‘Now you don’t need me, you have attained. Now go and spread the message to those who are still asleep’ – and I don’t want to go anywhere.”
Buddha said, ”But you don’t need me.”
He said, ”That is true – I don’t need you, but you are the man who has brought me to this state: that I don’t need you. My gratefulness is such that I would like to live and die sitting at your feet.” Yes, there is a relationship of need, but there is a greater relationship of gratitude. So I can say to you that you can manage to drop the need, but you cannot manage to escape from it. The moment the need disappears, a tremendously powerful energy grips you, and that is of gratitude.
The master takes nothing from you and gives you everything. If he takes anything from you it is only the lies, falsities, with which you are surrounded. If he gives anything to you, it is what you have already but you are not aware of it.
