“A person who considers himself an atheist may sometimes, in fact, be closer to God, because of his love for other people, than many who believe in God, but whose actions towards their fellowman are uncharitable. God, again, watches people’s deeds, not their words.
Of course, it is always good to give money to a spiritual cause. One creates good karma by doing so. It is also better to believe in God than to deny Him, for without belief you won’t make the effort to find Him. But don’t imagine that God can be birthed or flattered into giving you His grace. The only thing that can win Him is your love.
What, then, is grace? It is God’s power, as distinct from any lesser power. Because God is the only Reality, His also is the only power in existence. Seen in this light, our merely human efforts are illusionary. It is His power, even when we draw on it unconsciously, that accomplishes everything that we achieve in life. And our failures are due to lack of attunement on our part with that power.
God’s grace flows into us, the more we open ourselves to Him. It doesn’t come to us from outside. It is the operation, from within, of our own higher reality. Grace comes, the more we live in soul-consciousness, and the less we live centered in the ego.”
The Essence of Self-Realization, The Wisdom Of Paramhansa Yogananda, Recorded and Compiled by his disciple, Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters), p. 102.