by Swami Prabhavananda (Edited from "Living Wisdom")

The grace of your own mind is needed to set the sail to catch the breeze of grace.

The most important thing necessary for a spiritual aspirant is a longing for God and the desire to seek and find him. There are many religions in the world, innumerable sects with their varied theories, beliefs, and doctrines, but these are helpful to us only in so far as they create in us the desire to realize God and show us the ways to reach him. They are of no avail if we simply believe in them and give an intellectual assent to their philosophical or theological doctrines. Creeds, theories and beliefs alone cannot transform character; hence they cannot give us the stability of inner piece.

Sri Ramkrisna tells us the following parable:

A pundit hired a ferryboat to take him across the river. He was the only passenger, so he began to talk to the ferryman.

"Do you know the Samkhya or Patanjali philosophy?" he asked the man.

"No sir, I don't," he replied.

"Do you know Nyaya, Vaiseshika, or Vedanta, or any of the systems of thought?"

"No sir, I don't. I am just a poor man who earns his living by ferrying this boat. I know nothing of all these things of which you speak."

The pundit felt sorry for the man's ignorance, and in a somewhat superior manner he began to teach him some of the various doctrines. He was very proud of his learning, and was glad of the opportunity to air it. Suddenly, however, a storm arose, and the small boat became unmanageable. The waters became more and more turbulent, until finally the boatman asked his passenger: "Sir, can you swim?"

"No, I cannot," the pundit said in alarm.

"Well then, good-bye, sir! I am afraid your learning and knowledge of the scriptures will avail you little now in your hour of need if you cannot swim!"

In the same way, when we are battered by the storm and stress of life, our knowledge of theological doctrines is of no avail if we have not fortified ourselves by learning how to enter the kingdom of heaven, the heaven of peace where God dwells.

According to the Chandogya Upanishad:

"The self within the heart is like a boundary which divides the world from That. Day and night cross not that boundary, nor old age, nor death; neither grief nor pleasure, neither good nor evil deeds. All evil shuns That. For That is free from impurity. By impurity it can never be touched. Wherefore he who has crossed that boundary and has realized the Self, if he is blind, ceases to be blind. If he is wounded, ceases to be wounded; if he is afflicted, ceases to be afflicted. When that boundary is crossed, night becomes day; for the world of Brahman is light itself."

Therefore, the only struggle must be to reach the light, the world of Brahman. Our sufferings and tribulations are direct and immediate experiences, and it is only the direct and immediate experience of the Kingdom of God that can overcome the tribulations of the world.

"Erudition, well-articulated speech, wealth of words, and skill in expounding the scriptures -- these things give pleasure to the learned, but they do not bring liberation," says Shankara. "A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words `come forth.' You must follow the right directions. You must dig and work hard to remove the stones and earth covering it, then only can you make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, buried under maya and the effects of maya, can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines such as knower of Brahman may prescribe -- but never by subtle arguments."

Longing for God, longing for liberation from tribulations of life, is the most important thing for the spiritual aspirant. Of course everyone wants to be free from sufferings and misery. But like some lower animals, our vision does not range beyond a few feet, so we see our immediate troubles and sufferings and struggle to free ourselves from them only. Our vision is limited so that we do not try to get at the root, the source of all our tribulations. The root cause of all suffering is ignorance, and to free ourselves completely from all suffering is knowledge -- knowledge of God, the one reality.

Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (7:16-18):

"Among those who are purified by their good deeds, there are four kinds of men who worship me: the world-weary, the seeker for knowledge, the seeker for happiness, and the man of spiritual discrimination. The man of discrimination is the highest of these. He devotes himself to me always, and to no other. For I am very dear to that man, and he is dear to me."

It does not matter how the longing for God first arises, for Sri Krishna also says, "certainly all these are noble." The important thing is that with whatever motive we begin spiritual life, if our only purpose and goal is God, we will find that all other thirsts and cravings leave us. Gradually, as our hearts become purified, intense longing for God arises, and that one desire becomes the one paramount thing in our lives. That is the one and perhaps the only condition needed to become a true spiritual aspirant.

How is this longing satisfied? How do we find God? Those who have realized Him declare in no uncertain terms that it is only by his grace that God becomes known. I have known a few such blessed souls, the illumined ones, and they all unequivocally have asserted that it is through his grace and his grace alone that they realized God.

Christ also tells us:

"Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you."

And the Upanishads say:

"Whom the Self chooses, by him is He attained."

Yet again, these very great souls urge us to exert ourselves. They do not teach us to sit quietly and wait for grace. They insist that we ourselves strive strenuously to find God.

Sri Krishna says:

"What is man's will, and how shall he use it? Let him put forth its power to uncover the Atman, not hide the Atman. Man's will is the only friend of the Atman. His will is also the Atman's enemy (Gita 6:5-6)."

This seemingly contradiction is resolved in one of the sayings of Sri Ramkrishna:

"The breeze of God's grace is always blowing; set your sail to catch this breeze."

This is further explained by the following saying:

"A man may have the grace of his guru, he may have the grace of God and his devotees but if he has not the grace of his own mind, the others will avail him nothing."

The grace of your own mind is needed to set the sail to catch the breeze of grace. God is not partial; neither his grace is conditional. He is like the magnet which draws the needle. When the needle is covered with dirt, it does not feel the attraction of the magnet. But wash away the dirt, and at once the needle feels the drawing power and becomes united with the magnet. One of God's names in Sanskrit is Hari, which means "one who steals the heart." God is the one attraction in the universe, but in our ignorance and because of the impurities of our hearts, we do not feel this attraction.

Sri Ramkrisna used to say:

"Weep! Weep for the Lord and let your tears wash away the impurities in your heart."

But again, this yearning of the heart for God does not come suddenly. That is why we need to exert ourselves. Those who practice spiritual disciplines and regularly pray and meditate will come directly to the experience of divine grace. It is a psychological experience, almost exactly like the magnet drawing the needle. For example, you are trying to concentrate your mind on God with great regularity, yet the mind still remains restless. Through regular practice there grows yearning in your heart to see him yet you seem to be striking your mind against a stone wall. You see nothing but darkness. Then suddenly -- whether from within or without -- you feel another power drawing your mind inward, and you find yourself diving deeper and deeper within, in spite of yourself. You seem to be in another domain, the world of light, where no darkness enters. Many spiritual visions and ecstasies follow this experience, you come face to face with God. But whenever you are lifted up into this higher consciousness, it is your experience that God Himself by His grace is lifting you up, attracting you unto Himself and giving you ineffable joy and vision.

This then is a direct experience of God's grace, which comes only when your heart has become purified through the practice of spiritual disciplines. Vyasa, the commentator on yoga aphorisms, compared the mind to a river flowing in opposite directions. One current of the mind flows towards the world, and the other flows toward God, toward the attainment of liberation from the bondage of the world. First there must arise a struggle in our life through the awakening of spiritual discrimination, to dam the rush of downward current that flows toward the world and worldly enjoyments. When we have been victorious in this struggle, we are completely drawn into the Godward current and experience the grace of God. And when we at last realize this race, we enter forever into that kingdom which no storm or strife can ever reach.