“The continuous efforts to lead the life of discipleship disentangle the soul from any remaining ties that may knit it to the world of sense, for the withdrawal of the soul’s attention from lower objects gradually exhausts the attractive power of those objects.
They “turn away from an abstemious dweller in the body”, and soon lose all power to disturb this balance. Thus he learns to move amid them undisturbed, neither seeking nor rejecting any.
He also learns balance amid mental troubles of every kind, amid alternations of mental joy and mental pain, this balance being further taught by the swift changes already spoken of through which his life is guided by the ever-watchful care of his Master.
These six mental attributes being in some measure attained, the probationary chela needs further but the fourth qualification, the deep intense longing for liberation, that yearning of the soul towards union with Deity that is the promise of its own fulfillment.
This adds the last touch to his readiness to enter into full discipleship, for, once that longing as definitely asserted itself, it can never again be eradicated, and the soul that has felt it can never again quench his thirst at earthly fountains;
their waters will ever taste flat and vapid when he sips them, so that he will turn away with ever-deepening longing for the true water of life.”
Annie Besant
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 