Is Grace Essential?

Sri Ramana Maharshi

The conversation turned upon the question as to whether Ishvara prasAd (Divine Grace) is necessary for the attaining of samrAjya (universal dominion) or whether a jiva's honest and strenuous efforts to attain it cannot of themselves lead him to That from whence is no return to life and death. The Maharshi with an ineffable smile which lit up His Holy Face and which was all-pervasive, shining upon the coterie around Him, replied in tones of certainty and with the ring of truth, "Divine Grace is essential for Realization. It leads one to God-realization. But such Grace is vouchsafed only to him who is a true devotee or yogin, who has striven hard and ceaselessly on the path towards freedom."