Emancipation is not a matter of mere accumulation of virtue; it requires intelligent adjustment of sanskaras.
Each center of consciousness is unconsciously gravitating toward the final emancipation of Truth realization, and there is a natural tendency of the mind to invite to itself just that opposite which would meet the spiritual requirements of the situation.
But it is not a mechanical and automatic process that can be left to itself, independent of intelligent and right effort on the part of the aspirant. More often than not, the aspirant finds it impossible to strike upon the really needful unless he has the good fortune to have the unfailing help of a Perfect Master, who alone has a direct and unerring insight into exactly what is necessary in a specific case.
-Extracted from “Discourses”, 7th Ed, p64
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“The various religions are like patent medicines. Just as it is necessary to approach a specialist for a speedy and radical cure, so it is imperative to approach a spiritual Master in order to become spiritually perfect.” (Sparks of Truth, p91)