Once Bhagavan was asked whether it was true that by the grace of the guru the highest state is reached in a moment. Bhagavan replied,
“Yes. If the disciple is in a ripe state, the ajnana (ignorance) will be removed only by the avalokana (look) of the guru.”
He added,
“The kripa (grace) flows towards one in proportion to one’s merit. If the vessel is small, the kripa received will be small; if the vessel is big, the kripa will be proportionately more.”
Once, going through an English daily as usual, Bhagavan read somewhat aloud a sensational report of a new invention and smiled. After a pause he gently remarked, “One may acquire any number of powers, but without realising the yathartha (truth) one cannot acquire mano shanti
(peace of mind).
When someone asked,
“What is yathartha?”
Bhagavan replied,
“That which exists always,”
and added after a pause,
“Peace is our swabhava (nature). Just as a person who keeps a number of things in a
room and complains that there is no space in the room, we say there is no peace. Is not the space obtained automatically when the things are removed?”

~ Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi Selected Excerpts from K.R.K. Murthi(140)