Swami Vishwananda says often that God gives us everything served on a silver platter. The Divine may even put the food from the silver platter into our mouths, but we each must choose whether to swallow or not. About this, a devotee told me that: "Swami Vishwananda is ever ready to create the right circumstances for people to grow spiritually. Through many lessons given by Swami, I have uncovered deep layers of negativity that I never dreamed existed within me. With Swami’s grace I have learned to face the darkness within myself without fear, and I have overcome it. I do not believe that I would have been able to eliminate negativity and fear without my guru’s immense inner support. Moreover, I feel that the burden of karma I am working through currently is just a tiny fraction of the whole burden that my guruji is carrying for me. In his great humility, I know that Swami would never reveal that to anyone, but my inner experience knows. The greatness of a guru can be comprehended at the end of a lesson successfully learned, and each lesson may provide more clarity. When the lesson has been learned, then many of the guru’s words and actions regarding it can be understood more clearly."
