The question is, do you really want spiritual illumination or is it only a passing hobby?  Are you ready to go through all the practices of disciplines, austerities and sacrifices for the attainment of the state you say you want?  If so, you are to be considered a real student.  No cleverness or miracle is necessary.  Only genuine and sincere thirst for truth makes the student ready, and when he is ready he receives the leadership and guidance of a Guru.  Let me tell you again, it is not the disciple who has to find the Guru.  It is the Guru who discovers the disciple. So do not worry yourself about finding a Guru. Just make the soil ready, so that when the seed comes it will not be wasted. It will sprout and produce rich harvest.

                                                                                                                Swami Gnaneswarananda

The few existing photographs of Ramakrishna show us a slender, bearded man of medium height.  They were taken while he was in Samadhi; the lips are parted and the eyes half closed.  In one picture he stands supported by a devotee, with the right arm raised and two fingers of the left hand rigidly extended; an attitude which somehow suggests the concentration of an intense, mysterious delight.  The figure has an eager poise, a childlike unselfconsciousness.  There is no trace of egotism here; no hint of a desire to dominate, to fascinate, to create an impression.  What attracts us is precisely that absence of demand, that joyful openness, in a face which seems to promise the love that makes no reservations, and is without pathos or fear.

Christopher Isherwood

As long as you do not find anyone to talk to about things spiritual, learn to talk with the Lord.  It will be a source of great blessing to you, you will see.   Try to have contact with the Indwelling Spirit in you.  He is the Soul of our souls and the Real Guru. Whenever you feel the need of holy company, please think of the Lord, and also repeat His Name if you wish so. He is the Power behind us all, and without Him we all are nothing.

 Swami Yatiswarananda

The river of Atman is filled with the water of self-control; truth is its current, righteous conduct its banks, and compassion its waves.  O son of Pandu, bathe in its sacred water; ordinary water does not purify the inmost soul.

By worshipping a holy man who worships in the sacred shrine of Atman, the seeker obtains the result of pilgrimages.  A visit to holy men bestows merit, because they may be regarded as moving holy places.  The Lord, dwelling in their hearts, renders holy the place where they live.  A river filled with sacred water is no doubt sacred; an image of stone or clay is no doubt a deity.  After worshipping them a long time, the aspirant becomes pure.  But by mere visit to a holy man one attains purity.

Mahabharata

Meditation is only possible when one can subdue the unseen enemies like lust, anger, greed, infatuation and so on.  Spiritual life demands austerity.  It is easy to sit surrounded by fire as an austerity, but the real austerity is to control the onslaught of lust and anger.

Without meditation the mind cannot be calm, and again, without calmness of the mind, meditation is not possible.  If you think that when the mind is calm you will practice meditation, you will never get a chance for meditation.  You must strive for both simultaneously.

The desires of the mind appear and disappear like bubbles.  During meditation, think of them as unreal.  The more you eradicate your bad tendencies, the more your good tendencies will fill the mind.

Swami Brahmananda

Each soul is potentially divine.

The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.

Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy, by one, or more, or all of these – and be free.

This is the whole of religion.  Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.

Swami Vivekananda

“He who wishes to think upon the Lord after all his engagements have been finished, is like the fool who wishes to bathe in the sea after the waves have subsided.”

 One wishing to bathe in the sea waits and waits, with the idea that one would have a plunge when the waves would have subsided.  Nonsense!  Will that moment ever come! Instead of doing so, you buffet against the waves, have your bath and come out.  The sea remains always the same.  So in this world, you must manage to call upon the Lord in the midst of these waves.  It is a wild-goose-chase to be on the lookout for opportunities.  Now or never!  Apply yourselves to it, and disadvantages will turn into advantages.

 Swami Turiyananda

Vedanta claims tat man is divine.  To quote the words of Vivekananda: "Man is like an infinite spring, coiled up in a small box, and tat spring is trying to unfold itself."  All struggles, individual or social are the result of this attempt to unfold.  When the struggle becomes a conscious effort, it is spiritual.  As long as the ideal of life and of life's struggles remain unknown, we waste our effort and go round in a circle; and whosoever may attempt to find happiness or freedom in our individual lives, or to bring the millennium on earth, the result is failure and disappointment.  Through our failures and disappointments, however, we at last wake up to our spiritual heritage."

Swami Prabhavananda

Arise, My child, and go forth a man!  Bear manfully what is thy lot to bear; that which comes to thy hand to be done, do with full strength and fear not.  Forget not that I, the giver of manhood, the giver of womanhood, the holder of victory, am thy Mother.

Think not life is serious!  What is destiny but thy mother’s play?  Come, be my playfellow a while, - meet all happenings merrily.

Murmurest thou of need of purpose?  Think’st thou the ball is purposless with which the Mother plays?  Know’st thou not that her toy is a thunderbolt, charged with power to shatter the worlds, at the turn of Her wrist?  Ask not of plans.  Needs the arrow any plans when it is loosened from the bow?  Such art thou.  When the life is lived, the plan will stand revealed.  Till then, O child of time, know nothing!

 Sister Nivedita – Kali the Mother

It is the nature of water to flow downwards, but the sun’s rays lift it up towards the sky; likewise it is the very nature of the mind to go to lower things, to objects of enjoyment, but the grace of God can make the mind go towards higher objects, toward Him.

Faith, faith in the words of illumined souls!  They have trodden the path.  You have no other way but to follow their footsteps.  Our Master (Sri Ramakrishna) saw God directly and immediately.  His words are the words of God.

Why can’t one meditate if one has a pure mind!  Why should one not be able to see God!  When a pure soul repeats the name of the Lord (japam), he feels as if the Holy Name bubbles up spontaneously from within himself.  Give up lethargy; practice japam and meditation regularly.  Your heart will be purified and you will see God.