When a person is crushed by events and falls to his knees in prayer, his ego is temporarily crushed at the same time. After the prayer has been formulated, whether aloud or mentally, there are a few moments of complete exhaustion, of complete rest, which follow it. There is then temporary stillness and it is in this stillness that the Grace which is always emanating from the inner Being is able to do its healing and helping work. At the same time there may also be a corresponding external activity of a beneficial character.
Ascending to a higher level and studying the case of the aspirant on the Quest who by the practice of meditation deliberately brings about such moments of stillness, we see that he too opens a door to Grace. At this point it is necessary to clear away some confusion which often makes its appearance in spiritual literature and most especially in Indian literature. There we find an insistent and reiterated declaration of the absolute necessity of finding a guru so that by his Grace the aspirant may be helped towards enlightenment. When I say Indian literature I mean of course Indian Hindu literature, because in the Buddhist literature this insistence is generally absent and the aspirant is told to do the necessary work and he will get the natural result. The aspirant who has silently called for help may find that his call is answered by the appearance of a book or a person or a circumstance from whom he receives the help needed at the time. In the case of the appearance of a person, this may or may not be his destined guru, but it will be someone sufficient for the moment. The point is that what is called the guru helps prepare the right conditions which allow the inner Presence to make itself felt or which let it do its gracious work. The real help comes from this Grace--from the aspirant's own spiritual being, from himself. Saswitha, the Dutch healer, once said that he used his patients' own healing energy in order to treat them. Where did this healing energy come from? It came from their own subtler bodies, that is, from themselves; but Saswitha created the necessary conditions which enabled it to be released--when he was successful.
-- Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life > Chapter 5 : Grace > # 40
