The Inner Cry

Aspiration is the mounting cry, the climbing cry inside our heart. We can enter into the divine consciousness through our inner cry. This cry is not for name and fame. This cry is our total, unconditional, unreserved oneness with God, who is the Inner Pilot of our life-boat.
We have to make God a living reality in our day-to-day lives. We have to feel that God's presence is of paramount importance. If we do not eat every day, we starve our body. Similarly, we have to feel that if we do not pray and meditate every day, then we are starving our spiritual body. When we aspire with our heart's tears, we see that God is coming down to us, descending from above. It is just like two persons meeting; one is on the first floor and the other is on third floor. We go up to the second floor. There we meet and fulfill each other.
The stairway to the second floor is created by our heart's cry. This is the cry of aspiration; it is not like shedding tears when you do the wrong thing. The heart is crying and yearning like a mounting flame burning upward, always rising. God descends with His Grace, like a river running downward. When aspiration and Grace meet together, we come to experience the divine fulfillment of union with God.

-Sri Chinmoy, The Wings of Joy-