When a jewel is lost, one goes to a clairvoyant who takes a betel leaf and smears a black paste on it. On that he sees the thief and describes him. He can say whether the jewel will be restored or not. This is subtle vision. Subtle vision is subtle, not necessarily spiritual. All spiritual visions are necessarily subtle. People seek a saint for the redressal of their grievances. As a rule, saints bless people and most of their problems, except karmic ones, are solved. The clairvoyant whose vision extends into the past as well as the future does not have the capacity to relieve people of their problems. That is a greater power of the Spirit.
Saints initiate their disciples into spiritual seeking. This is a higher order of power which has its own limitations. They may not come forward to initiate shishyas whose seeking is for a higher quest. A man sits on the Himalayas and dreams of Freedom for mankind and a revolution is started in France, said Sri Aurobindo. Of course, he is greater than a saint or sage. He is one who guides the course of the world energies. Once, during a conversation, Mother entered into meditation for some time. On coming out of it, She said She had gone into the future a thousand years hence to see the Force of Sri Aurobindo acting in the world then. Avatars bring down Forces that change the course of mankind.
We very much desire to know how great the Master is at whose feet we long to live for the rest of our lives. It is not a commendable thought that wishes to evaluate a guru, especially after initiation. There are times when one is anxious to decide one way or another. People generally evaluate the Master by the complexity of their problems solved by his Touch. Subconsciously, an evaluation is going on as to how prosperous he is, if he is a householder. The loftiness of the ideas, the effectivity of the Master's personality on one's own problems, the Master's impact on the wider population are all right measures of the spiritual height of the Master. For purely spiritual purposes, the right Master is one to whom one is taken and in whose Presence one is unable to think, as it is a spiritual communion.