Sundero was so attuned with the master’s life that it used to happen sometimes that he would speak in Dadu’s name. And he was told by people, “You are not Dadu!”

Then he would say, “Yes, forgive me. I forget. But if you ask in reality, then I am Dadu – I have become one with my master.”

That is the ultimate state of disciplehood: when the disciple becomes one with the master. He used to say that he was Dadu. He has written songs in which his name is not given but Dadu’s name – and people think that is not good. And the scholars go on discarding all that has been written by Sundero; they think that is not from Dadu.

But I say to you: it is from Dadu. Sundero has become just a hollow bamboo on the lips of Dadu. Sundero no longer exists as a separate entity. That is the ultimate goal of a disciple: when the disciple and master meet and merge and become one. Sundero has become one with the master, hence he has every right to sign “Dadu.” He signs his poems as Dadu, not as Sundero – and I totally agree with him. And I would like the scholars to be a little more sensitive.

These things are not for scholarship, these things are not for learned people. These things are for lovers. Only lovers can understand these things. Such a beautiful phenomenon, that a disciple cannot sign his name, he has forgotten.

Sometimes people would come to invite Dadu and Sundero would say, “Yes, I will come.”

And they would say, “But we have not come to invite you, we have come to invite Dadu.”

Sundero would say, “But who am I? Why give trouble to the old man? I can come – I am his younger form. I can travel long distances more easily – why create trouble for him?”

And Dadu sometimes used to send Sundero. People would invite Dadu and he would send Sundero. And people were very puzzled: “We have invited the master, not the disciple.” But they were not able to understand that the master and the disciple, at the ultimate peak of their love affair, disappear into each other.

Hence, the day Dadu died, Sundero did not say a single word about his death, did not go to the funeral at all. Everybody left for the funeral. Thousands of disciples had gathered, and they were crying and weeping and they were in great misery. And what did Sundero do? He entered into the bed of the master, covered himself with his blanket – became Dadu. When people came back they thought, “This is sacrilegious.” They told Sundero, “This is not right – you are going mad. Have you gone crazy or something? This is the master’s bed – you get out.”

He said, “But I am no more. Sundero has died. Have you not gone to his funeral? You have gone, you have burnt him. I am Dadu. Now Dadu will function through me.”

That’s why he never left the bed, not even for a single moment. He lived on the bed, he died on the same bed – because he had become the master.