VII: 3

Chapter 7, Verse 3

"How many care to seek
For this wholeness and freedom?
One, perhaps, in many thousands.
Of those who strive
At any one time,
Perhaps one or two
Know me in truth."

Paramahansa Yogananda:

This verse points out that most people use their free will to choose to give in to the storms of the outward-seeking mind.  Out of many thousands, perhaps, only one desires to re-enter the divine ocean.  Even that one, obstructed by past conditioning, cannot easily merge into the freedom of the joyful sea.  Out of these many seekers, one or two here and there will succeed in overcoming the outward thrust to plunge headlong with faith and devotion into the divine deeps.

What a paradox it is that in spite of so much suffering and misery, only one among thousands is motivated enough to seek God.

Among such true seekers, perhaps only one or two will cultivate the necessary tenacity to neutralize the effects of Karma and thus experience wholeness once and for all.  The great majority of students do not gather themselves sufficiently to seek him with ever-increasing intensity in meditation, nor are they persistent in their search for him.  That is why they have only meager, fleeting inspirations and do not realize him continuously.  However, a persevering student, in spite of a storied Karmic past, will certainly rest in unbroken unity with God by and by.