To be elevated to the spiritual position, one should not act for any material gain. Acts should be performed for the ultimate gain of being transferred to the spiritual kingdom, back to home, back to Godhead
( Bhagavad-Gita---17:25---purport).

By the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master, a living entity can know of his spiritual position, his material body, his senses, how he is entrapped, and how he is under the spell of the material modes of nature.
( Bhagavad-Gita---14:19---purport).

As we have fallen into this material existence because of our lust and anger, the same two qualities can be utilized for the purpose of advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and one can elevate himself again to his former pure, spiritual position.
( Srimad Bhagavatam---3:31:29---purport).

This understanding of one's pure spiritual position is called svarūpopalabdhi, and when one attains that stage he can understand how he is related with the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a servant or friend or as a parent or conjugal lover.
( Srimad Bhagavatam---4:23:18---purport).

If one tries to advance by other means—by karma-yoga or jñāna-yoga—one will fall down, but if one is fixed in bhakti, he never falls down. Thus from bhakti-latā the son Dṛḍhacyuta is born, and from Dṛḍhacyuta the next son, Idhmavāha, is born. The word idhma-vāha refers to one who carries wood for burning in a sacrifice when approaching a spiritual master. The point is that bhakti-latā, the cult of devotion, fixes one in his spiritual position. One so fixed never comes down, and he begets children who are strict followers of the śāstric injunctions.
( Srimad Bhagavatam---4:28:32---purport).

If we accept the devotional service of the Lord, the Lord will gradually reveal Himself. In this way the progressive devotee will gradually realize his spiritual position.
( Srimad Bhagavatam---4:29:79---purport).

Generally people think that one should act very piously in order to be relieved from misery, but this is not a fact. Even though one engages in pious activity and speculation, he is nonetheless defeated. His only aim should be emancipation from the clutches of māyā and all material activities. Speculative knowledge and pious activity do not solve the problems of material life. One should be inquisitive to understand his spiritual position.
( Srimad Bhagavatam---5:5:5---purport).

When one is self-realized, he is sufficiently satisfied due to being situated in his original spiritual position.
( Srimad Bhagavatam---5:6:19---purport).

Any so-called religious process that interferes with this unadulterated spiritual position of the living being must therefore be considered a pretentious process of religiosity.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta---1:1:91---purport).