There are three types of masters. One is not exactly a master; rather a teacher. A teacher is one who teaches, who helps people to know about things without realizing them himself. Sometimes teachers can attract thousands of people. The only thing needed is they should be good teachers. They may not have known themselves but they can talk, they can argue, they can preach, and many people can get attracted through their talks, their preaching, their sermons. And talking continuously about God, they may be fooling themselves. By and by they may start feeling that they know.

When you talk about a thing, the greatest danger is that you may start believing that you know. In the beginning when you start to talk, to teach…. Teaching has some appeal because it is very ego-fulfilling – when somebody listens to you attentively, deep down it fulfills your ego that you know and he doesn’t know. You are the knower and he is ignorant.

It happened: a priest, a great priest, was called into a madhouse to say a few words to the inmates of that house. The priest was not expecting much, but he was surprised. One madman listened to him so attentively – he had never seen any man listen to him so attentively. He was just bending forward; each word he was taking into his heart. The man was not even blinking. He was so attentive – as if hypnotized.

When the priest had finished his sermon, he saw that the same man reached to the superintendent and said something to him. He was curious. As soon as possible, he asked the superintendent, “What was that man saying to you? Was he saying something about my sermon?”

The superintendent said, “Yes.”

Asked the priest, “Would you mind telling me what he said?”

The superintendent was a little bit reluctant, but then he said, “Yes: the man said, ‘See? I am in and he is out!’”

A teacher is exactly in the same place, in the same boat, as you are. He is also an inmate. He has nothing more than you – just a little more information. Information means nothing. You can accumulate; ordinary, average intelligence is needed to accumulate information. And one need not be a genius, one need not be very talented – just average intelligence is enough. You can accumulate information, you can go on accumulating; you can become a teacher.

A teacher is one who knows without knowing. He attracts people if he is a good talker, a good writer, if he has personality, if he has a certain charisma about him, magnetic eyes, a forceful body. And by and by he becomes more and more skillful. But the people around him cannot be disciples, they will remain students. Even if he pretends that he is a master, he cannot make you a disciple. At the most he can make you a student. A student is one who is in search of more information and a teacher is one who has accumulated more information. This is the first type of master – who is not a master at all.