When the desire will arise to have a peaceful, quiet life, that shall come where everything shall be propitious for the development of the mind—you may take that as my experience. It may come after thousands of lives, but it must come. Hold on to that, the desire. You cannot have the strong desire if its object was not outside for you already. Of course, you must understand, there is a difference between desire and desire.
The master said, ‘My child, if you desire after God, God shall come to you.’
The disciple did not understand his master fully. One day both went to bathe in a river, and the master said, ‘Plunge in’, and the boy did so. In a moment the master was upon him, holding him down. He would not let the boy come up.
When the boy struggled and was exhausted, he let him go. ‘Yes, my child, how did you feel there?’ ‘Oh, the desire for a breath of air!’
‘Do you have that kind of desire for God?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Have that kind of desire for God, and you shall have God.’ (CW, 5:250-51)