A devotee who is not doing very well sits before his Master.

"How are you doing in your spiritual practice?" the Master asks his mentally-scattered initiate.

"I’m doing fine, Master, just fine," the young man or woman replies, "all I need is your blessings, more and more of your blessings."

"You have God’s blessings. You have my blessings. But what you do not have is your blessings!" the Guru replies. "For you to succeed spiritually, all that is missing is your blessings!"

When this same dialogue occurred in the ashram (home) of the great Master, Paramahansa Yogananda, he added that the Master/devotee relationship involves fifty percent the blessings of God, twenty-five percent the blessings of the Master, and the remaining necessary twenty-five percent from the initiate himself toward his own life and path.