Thanks for not just leaving my question hanging, POV.  Uh huh.  I believed he was my lord and saviour too for 20 some years.  

But where the difference is now is the one step further I took when I decided I can no longer remain proud of a lord with such a spineless character.  You’re right – we shouldn’t be taking what he says so seriously.   He’s a curious combination of being drunk and/or deluded.     One thing he did say that I do give him credence for is that he never gave us anything we didn’t already have – the experience is within us, always will be.

So it was time for me to claim responsibility for the experience myself.    I’m happy to report that without not only the crutch of all the Indian concepts and the master-student relationship, but without himself as well, my experience remains just fine.   

Someone used this example before – in the Close Encounters movie where the truckload of visitors to the rendez-vous point were all wearing masks because the air in the area was believed to be contaminated.  But one guy didn’t buy it, pulled off his mask and was relieved to discover the air is okay.