Swami Vishnudevananda’s devotion to Guru is clearly seen in this excerpt from a talk given to his students in the 1980s.
“If I did not have love for my master, I would not be able to do all the things I am doing now, even the simplest of things. God gives me strength because of my devotion to my master. To stay with him, to look at him, to be at his service, was the most magnificent thing I did in my life. Some mysterious energy flowed from him to me. I was able to do things which I never thought I would be able to do. You must have that feeling of surrender and love and that is the way you must serve. It must come from the heart, and then you receive the energy. Don’t expect anything in return, thinking that by serving the guru you will receive special treatment.
Master never gave me any special treatment and I did not worry. We can draw so much strength and energy from higher sources—the master—if we have a positive attitude, but we have to walk on the spiritual path on our own two feet. Many students do not understand this. They say proudly, “I am a disciple of so and so…. I have been initiated by a great master.” So what? Becoming a disciple of a great master is nothing. Being initiated by a great master is nothing… what is needed is discipline. Most disciples are lazy, lethargic, and expect something to be done by the guru, not by themselves. If the guru is not behaving as he thinks the guru should be, the enthusiasm wanes and devotion disappears.
In fact Master Sivananda revealed himself to very few students. Few actually understood his actions. Though he initiated hundreds of swamis, only a dozen actually stayed with him. Most of them found fault and left. He gave them the opportunity but they were unable to appreciate the teachings and take them on. To surrender does not mean that you become like a robot. A teacher never makes the student into a robot. A teacher makes a student. If you pass a piece of iron over a magnet, what happens to the iron? It becomes magnetised. In the same way, the purpose of the guru-disciple relationship is to magnetise the student, who will eventually become as powerful as the teacher. The teacher never thinks he is superior to the student in any way. Not even in the remotest corner of his mind will he ever think that.”