Sadhana (spiritual practice) is most required to control the mind and the desires after which it runs. If you find that you are not able to succeed, do not give up the sadhana but do it more vigorously, for it is the subject in which you did not get passing marks that requires special study, is it not? Sadhana means inner cleanliness as well as external cleanliness. You do not feel refreshed if you wear unwashed clothes after your bath, do you? Nor do you feel refreshed if you wear washed clothes, but skip the bath. Both are needed, the baahya and the bhaava (the external as well as the internal) purity.

- Divine Discourse, Vijayadasami, 1953.

It is only purity that attracts Divinity. If the iron filings are rusted,
even the most powerful magnet will not attract them. - Baba