I was asked which role describes Master as the best: the role of a friend, parent, or educator?
Well, when you choose your friends, you choose those who comfort you, when you feel bad, and tell you what you like to hear, who take your side, even if you're wrong. But Master will tell you things that you may not want to hear, and he may remain silent when you want to talk. He will not give you what you want, but what you need. So no! Although Master could be the best friend a disciple could ever have, he is not his friend.
Does Master take on the role of the parent? Not really. Parents have their own agenda with children. They usually see a child as an opportunity to reach their own unfulfilled goals, and are often too busy pushing a child in the direction they want to go, to see if that is in child’s favour too. An enlightened Master does not follow his own agenda and has no ambition. He only cares about enfolding of the disciple’s nature and although he may be the best parent one can have, he does not take a parental role.
An educator is someone who tries to give you knowledge and who fills you with information that is relevant to life in this world. But the Master works in the opposite direction, trying to liberate you from all information that prevents you from living up to your own potential. So no, even though a master may educate disciples to become the best version of themselves, he is not an educator.
Master is only there to brighten your path and help you see the essence of life more clearly. So perhaps his role is best explained by the meaning of the Sanskrit word Guru: “the one that dispels darkness and ignorance”, nothing more and nothing less.