Swami Mukundananda
Why does breaking free from the world take effort, and how is God-realisation attained?
Effort pulls the mind from the world to God
The mind is pulled towards the world, which is made of maya (God's material energy), so escaping needs force, like a satellite needing escape velocity. Sadhana (spiritual practice) is this effort of forcing the mind away from the world and into God.
To escape, you need escape velocity, which is required to counter the earth's gravitational pull. In the same way, the mind is being pulled towards the world.