Shantideva says, “The human body is the vehicle for longevity, while the spirit is the vehicle for immortality.” He wrote on the results of yearning for liberation.
“The soul yearns to be free, and through our becoming aware of this we undergo what the mystics call awakening where we then begin to center our life on a high spiritual ideal. A new aspiration is born in the soul, which frees the need of a larger draught of air, a more expansive horizon, and which desires direct contact with the indefinite existence. In order to attain the highest illumination we all have to pass through a spiritual birth. Man as a creature, brought into being out of nothing, certainly is at the mercy of his creator. Man as a spirit, by becoming spiritually conscious he can control his destiny.”
Swami Muktananda in THE PERFECT RELATIONSHIP, published by Syda Foundation, 1985, (Muktananda, The Perfect Relationship, 1985) writes,
“When the virtues of many lifetimes have accumulated, one is filled with a burning longing to know that, and this great fortune makes one set out in search of a Guru. Through the grace of the Satguru [1], a person comes to know his own self and is transformed.”
This yearning for liberation which leads one to the master or Guru, who makes him realize and bring him to the understanding that all that is being seen, sensed, heard, touched and felt is not permanent. He then must look for ‘that which is permanent’. He then discovers that that which is permanent is the bliss derived through devotion to God.
[1] Satguru, or Sadguru, does not merely mean true guru. The term is distinguished from other forms of gurus, such as musical instructors, scriptural teachers, parents, and so on. The satguru is a title given specifically only to an enlightened rishi/sant whose life's purpose is to guide initiated shishya along the spiritual path, the summation of which is the realization of the Self through the realization of God, who is omnipresent. A Satguru has some special characteristics that are not found in any other type of Spiritual Guru. (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)