GOD CAN'T BE BOUGHT

In his book My Guru and His Disciple, Christopher Isherwood records how Swami Prabhavananda was talking to him about grace.  He said that Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna) had told him that there are some people who just get it. 

"God can't be bought," Maharaj went on to say.  Even if you do all the japam, that is the repeating of one's personal mantra, and spiritual disciplines, you still can't command enlightenment.  It's always given by grace.