Life is not a simple affair! You cannot attain happiness (sukham) through comfort (sukham). The joy of release can be won only through travail and trial. It is grief that makes joy worth its while, a precious possession! Through pain, a woman achieves the joy of motherhood. Through toil, the farmer earns the coveted grain from the field. Through long days and nights of steady study, a student passes the examination and obtains a degree. It is pitch-darkness that prompts the seeker of light; it is death that lends zest to life. Deprive yourself of luxury and comfort, detach yourself from what you hold dear and near through sheer ignorance of your mind. Pine, struggle, strive ceaselessly and then you are blessed with the inexpressible Bliss of the merger of the Individual with the Universal; you win the gift of Union with the Divine (Sakshathkara).

- Divine Discourse, Mar 16, 1966.