Question: How important is aspiration in the seeker's journey towards realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: If you have aspiration, realisation is bound to take place eventually. If you have no aspiration, then you can go to a Guru, you can do anything, but realisation will not come to you. Aspiration is the money-power of the higher realms. If you have money, you can go to the supermarket and buy whatever you want. If you do not have money, you can wait there for hours and still you will not get even a biscuit to take home. If your aspiration is really intense, if you are a multimillionaire in the spiritual world, then you can stay right where you are and order everything brought to you. If you have aspiration, God is bound to come wherever you meditate. But if you have no aspiration, you can enter into every church, synagogue, temple and mosque in the world, but still you will not see the Face of God or feel His Presence.