The following talk was given by Swami Vishnudevananda on one of his tours in India in the 1950s. It was recorded and edited by Swami Venkatesananda, a fellow swami and disciple of Swami Sivananda and shows the deep devotion Swami Vishnudevananda held for his master.
Swami Vishnudevananda never faltered in his devotion to his master. At every opportunity he would refer any of his own personal achievements back to the master’s feet. If he ever accepted praise, he would say that it was because his ego was manifesting. He would say that all that he ever learned had come from his master.
“Gurudev Swami Sivananda Maharaj is all to everybody. Everyone who approaches Gurudev feels that he is their all, father, mother, friend, God and child.
Like the fond mother, he offers the warm and loving security of his omnipotent arms, security from the onslaughts of maya, security from the dangers and pitfalls that lie on the path of the sadhaka. This love can only be compared to the mother’s love for her newborn babe. It would be saying very little when I say that he has sacrificed his all in order that we may evolve. Just as the mother has but one thought of the child’s welfare, he has only one thought—the thought of our spiritual progress.
When, on our path, we stumble and fall down he lovingly lifts us up. He does not scold us or find fault as an unwise father does. But he sympathises with us, he gives us new hope, fresh encouragement and infinite consolation, as every wise father should do. He asks us to brace ourselves up and plod on.
But do not for a moment think that Swamiji Gurudev is all butter and honey, all soft as a rose. When we kneel before him in utter humility, when we approach him as we approach God, when we crave for the higher things of life, he instantly appears to us as God Himself, in all His majestic, awe-inspiring grandeur. From his high throne of Self-realisation he blesses us, enlightens us.
If Gurudev Swami Sivananda were all the time so high and beyond our reach, we would be held at a distance. We would not be able to follow him. We would look upon him as a super-divine being, to be kept aloof and worshipped. So, in the twinkling of an eye, he transforms himself into our very dear friend; and this sage, this God, this embodiment of the Supreme Being, plays with us, cuts jokes with us, makes us laugh merrily and laughs himself, listens to us as though we are wiser than him, asks our advice as though he is perplexed. In an instant we find that we are close to him at heart. We are drawn to him. We are conquered. He conquers us so that we might conquer ourselves and attain union with him.
Treat him as your own. Feel that he is yours. He is your child. He is completely child-like, simple, artless, godly. Thus is he, the great sage of the Himalayas. But I may sing his glories before you for centuries; all that would not enable you to understand him truly as a day’s actual life at the ashram, in his own divine presence, within his divine aura, would enable you to.”