When the disciple invites the attention and the grace of a Master, it is not without reason. Sometimes the Master seems to impart spirituality to a disciple without there being any apparent effort or sacrifice on the part of the disciple. But these are always cases in which the disciple has earned the right to this favor by his associations and endeavors in past lives. The love and devotion the disciple may have felt for the Master in his past lives have formed a deep connection between him and the Master, so that the awakening of spiritual longing in the disciple has its counterpart in the grace and help that flow to him from the Master. It is through his own past nonbinding karma that a person invites the grace of the Master; just as it is through his own binding karma that he invites upon himself the pleasure and pain, as well as the good and evil, of which he is the recipient in this life.
–Discourses 7th Ed., p335