You know that you can draw cheques upon a bank when you need money, provided you have enough money deposited therein. If the bank goes bankrupt, it will be a disaster. The educational system is the bank on which the nation draws a cheque whenever it wants strong, reliable and skilled workers. If it goes bankrupt as it has very nearly gone today, it is a national disaster. If the system is overhauled and lubricated, the next generation is assured of good leaders and, what is equally important, good citizens. (UD, p. 6)

You can draw cheques on a bank, only when you have deposited therein; or, you can mortgage your property and take a loan; or the bank may grant you an overdraft. The property on which you can take a loan is the ‘accumulated merit consequent on the good deeds of previous lives’; the overdraft: on which you ca draw in times of emergency is Grace which God showers, when you are sincere and steady enough to deserve it. You must give some surety or something as security, to get a loan; the surety is Divine Grace; the security is the fixing of your faith, the fullness of your surrender. The security and the surety can also be the Guru, who knows the disciple and his attainments and possibilities.

But, about the extent of ancestral property, (accumulated merit), you have no information; you cannot count on that. Also, you do not know where to get a Guru who will be a reliable surety or an acceptable security. Such are rare indeed. So, win Grace and earn overdrafts, against a lean day. That is the best source. The more systematic and successful your sadhana, the more useful you will be for yourself and society. (SSS Vol.9, p. 102)