Aren't Ashram and Being with a Mahatma Safe?

Question: Is it true that people who move into an ashram to live with a mahatma are spiritually secure?

Answer: What we may not recognise is that fundamentally an ashram life can still be a worldly life. If there isn't sufficient purification, the same desires for self-satisfaction --- even though they may come in a more noble guise such as service --- can be our objectives in an ashram just as they were in the world. So then, to develop a dispassion at a more subtle level, and to see that there is no lasting happiness in simply living an ashram life becomes essential. (pg. 101-102, Trust God by Swami Atmaswarupananda [Divine Life Society: Rishikesh)

Question: It has generally been said that being in the proximity of a Mahatma is sufficient for one's liberation. Isn't it true?

Answer: Many disciples think that all that is required is to (go) to a guru's ashram, and (their)  spiritual lives will look after themselves. This doesn't seem to be borne out by experience. If we want our spiritual life to advance, then, more is required than surrender to the guru and service of the guru. (pg. 164, Trust God by Swami Atmaswarupananda [Divine Life Society: Rishikesh).

The seeker has to realise that in the ultimate analysis, "It all depends upon me." There are so many cases of people spending years in the close proximity of a great spiritual teacher and yet not changing at all. The reason would seem to be that in those circumstances they never took responsibility for their own spiritual life. (pg. 133, Trust God by Swami Atmaswarupananda [Divine Life Society: Rishikesh)