Swami Rama has said,

“The relationship between the Guru and disciple is the purest, with unconditional love. There is absolute selflessness. The Guru wants nothing from the disciple. The Guru’s only wish is that we become a little more regular in our practice and he waits for the disciple endlessly, incarnations after incarnations after incarnations. The Guru never leaves the disciple. Everything in life leaves us at some time or other. Nothing will stay with us forever. All our wealth, all the name and fame, good health, beauty, parents, spouse, children, etc., nobody stays with us, even in one lifetime, forever all the time. The relationship with the Guru extends beyond lifetimes, provided we are a worthy disciple.” (Sacred Journey, p. 84)

In my limited understanding, there are three most important pillars in the Guru disciple relationship.

1. First S – Shraddha is absolute faith and belief with sincerity and receptivity.

The Bhagavad-gita (Ch. 4, v. 39) says, śhraddhāvānllabhate jñānaṁ. Śhraddhāvān—somebody who’s endowed with Shraddha. Labhate—gets or is benefited with. Jñānam—wisdom.

The disciple must possess the first essential quality shraddha—faith and receptivity—to be able to benefit from the Guru’s guidance. The disciple must trust that whatever the master does is for their ultimate good.

If I am truly a disciple, I don’t decide. If I am sick, I don’t decide the medicine. I go to the doctor, whatever the doctor prescribes, that’s what I do. If I say, ‘doctor, I don’t believe you, I doubt you’, then I should go to somebody else. I cannot take a medicine without trust. I have to trust. That’s the first step—shraddha. If there is no trust, no progress can happen. The Guru is the one who personally guides us on the spiritual path. The Guru knows all the pitfalls that may come up on this path and knows our mind, our samskaras, tendencies, vasanas, and even our past lives. So, the Guru knows what kind of practice would be suitable for each of us. The disciple thinks, ‘I may not fully understand why the Guru is giving this specific instruction (a particular mantra, a seemingly mundane task), but I trust his wisdom and the map of the Tradition enough to practice it sincerely.’

At the same time another importance and often overlooked aspect is that the disciple must have faith in themselves, that they are capable of transforming themselves. The disciple is not meant to ignore their own intellect and intuition, otherwise faith in the Guru becomes a dependency. True shraddha begins with a trust to try.

As we all know, doubt is the enemy of faith. Shraddha is challenged by doubt. The disciple will inevitably face doubts about the path, the Guru or their own capacity. We have seen many examples of that in Swami Rama’s autobiography—Living with the Himalayan Masters. The way to overcome doubt is to be open about it and bring it to the Guru for clarification.

Another challenge that prevents us from having shraddha is the ego of knowing. The disciple must cultivate humility and remain open as a beginner, letting go of the need to already know or understand everything. Do I have faith in my Master? Am I receptive? Then, personal guidance is received.

So the Guru-disciple relationship is based upon the foundation of shraddha, that is the first pillar.

2. Second S – Sadhana

Sadhana is disciplined, daily effort, practice, and commitment. Continued commitment towards our ultimate goal. Sincere commitment is called sadhana. We may fail a thousand times, but we must remain committed towards our practice. Which practice? The practice given by the Master.

In the Guru-disciple relationship, practice is non-negotiable. We must practice the guidance we receive. Sometimes a kick, sometimes a blow, sometimes a hug where we feel that there is heaven in that hug, sometimes a slap where you feel that there is destruction of ego, as if we are being destroyed.

Once we go to the doctor, we sincerely, diligently follow the doctor’s prescription and advice. We need to practice diligence and sincerity in following the prescription that has been given to me by my master, no matter how many times we fail. If I do not live the teachings that have been given to me by my Guru, nothing else would count and I would not progress far. The best that a disciple can offer to the Guru Force is by living the teachings of the Masters.

There are two wings of sadhana:

1. abhyasa, diligence in our practice, and
2. vairagya, dispassion, detachment.

When we start one practice which is leading us towards something higher, naturally we are detached from something else. It could be anything. For example, if I take the principle of eating sattvic food. That means I have to detach from rajasic and tamasic foods, I have to detach myself from those kind of foods that excites my nervous system, that gives excitement to my mind or that brings dullness for the sake of something that is easy to digest, keeps me fresh, alert, and is nourishing etc.

Sadhana is challenged by laziness and procrastination where our lower mind always find excuses. There could be periods where our practice feels mechanical, empty, and devoid of progress, as if we are stuck. The ultimate test of Sadhana is not how calm we are in meditation, but how we respond to a traffic jam, a criticism, or a personal loss. This is the phase where our faith and discipline is challenged. Leading to the importance of the third pillar of Samarpana.

3. Third S – Samarpana is self-surrender.

Samarpana is not slavery. We can think of it as progressive surrendering of my lower mind onto the higher self. Samarpana is a conscious choice to merge my individual will with the Divine Will. This allows the disciples to receive the Guru’s grace.

A disciple must learn to surrender the need to control and see/realize that our mind is limited and very often misguided by the preconceived ideas, past samskaras, conditionings etc.

It is not that we are new to the concept of surrendering. Sometimes when we listen to this word surrender, we get frightened.

When we go to a barber, we have surrendered ourselves to the barber. We trust that the barber will only cut my hair, and not my neck or ear. When we board a flight, we surrender ourselves to the pilot.

Absolute surrender is a big thing. It is about surrendering everything that is “Me” and “Mine”. It will come eventually but we can practice progressive surrender. Let me surrender one aspect of my life to my Master, whatever it could be. Let me surrender a particular thought, let me surrender an emotion to my Master, let me surrender the attachment to wealth, whichever it is, in our own ways—let us spend time to contemplate what we are ready to leave. Every time we choose to purify and overcome one of the many weaknesses—it could be a jealousy, or a fear, or anger/resentment—and offer that struggle at the feet of the Master, that is a small yet powerful act of surrender. Samarpana to the Guru therefore is never an act of suppression, it is an act of expansion.

When we start our journey/relationship upon the foundation of a little shraddha, it leads us to begin our sadhana. Regularity in sadhana provides us with direct experience which then deepens our shraddha in the Guru and as our sadhana deepens we inherently feel the burden or our own ego that needs to be surrendered making us more willing to practice samarpana and eventually the samarpana removes the final block of our Ego making our sadhana fruitful and shraddha more profound.

These three qualities [shraddha, sadhana, samarpana] are the most essential between the Guru and the disciple.

Gurudeva Swami Rama’s entire life was an example of these pillars. His unwavering shraddha in his Master allowed him to endure unimaginable sadhana which led to the ultimate samarpana.

Om Shreem Gurave Namah.

Om Shreem Gurave Namah.

Om Shreem Gurave Namah.

Om Shantih Shantih Shantih.

Editor’s Note:

This is an excerpt from Rabindra Sahu’s class on the same topic during the Guru-Disciple Relationship Retreat from 19-25 October, 2025.