Stick to any rule that, appeals to your reason. Follow it with faith and attention. You will
 evolve and reach the abode of eternal happiness. Performance of one’s own duties brings happiness,
quick evolution and freedom.
Events occur in succession or order. There is perfect harmony. The three things viz., desire,
thought and action always go together. It is thought that moves the body to action. There is thought
behind every action. If you entertain bad thoughts you will do bad actions.
Learn to beco
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Worry does great harm to the astral body and the mind. Energy is wasted by worry. It causes
 inflammation and drains the vitality of man. Nothing is gained by the worry-habit. Be vigilant.
Keep the mind fully occupied. The habit will be eradicated. Keep the Divine Flame burning
steadily. Have strong determination and strong will. Have courage, fixity of mind and a definite
purpose of life. Be not wavering.
Wake up now from the deep slumber of ignorance. Never become a fatalist. Think rightly.
Act righ
Spiritual pursuits, and practice of Yoga are really sweet, but appear to be bitter; sensual
 pursuits, which are really bitter, appear to be sweet. This is due to the perversion of intellect caused
by Avidya.
Select some good songs or Dhwanis and repeat them during night along with your friends
and relatives. Even during day while working, you can sing the select Dhwanis of your Ishta
Mantra. By this you will have continuity of Divine thoughts.
May you always shine with the divine splendour and inexha
Know things in their proper light. Do not be deluded. Emotion is mistaken for devotion;
 violent jumping in the air during Sankirtan for Divine ecstasy; Rajasic restlessness and motion for
divine activities and Karma Yoga; a Tamasic man for a Sattvic man; Tandri and deep sleep for
Samadhi; Manorajya or building castles in the air for meditation; physical nudity for the Jivanmukti
state.
Understand the laws of the universe. Move tactfully in this world. Learn the secrets of
Nature. Learn to discriminat
Mere hearing of eloquent valuable spiritual lectures will not do in the spiritual path. You
 will have to act according to them. You will have to give your whole heart, mind and soul to
practice. Then only you will have progress in the path.
Follow the instructions of your master and the teachings of the scriptures to the very letter.
Give no leniency to the mind. Exact, implicit, strict obedience to the instructions is expected of you.
Do not fight for rights. Think more about your duties and less a
Understand fully the aim and purpose of life. Yield not to temptations. Develop virtuous
 qualities like humility, forgiveness, tolerance, etc. Wish eagerly and fervently to attain
God-consciousness. Have faith, interest and attention. You are bound to succeed.
Conserve all energy and utilise it for higher spiritual achievements in life. Purify. Be just.
Be true. Be sincere in your attempts. Respect all prophets and saints. You will shine as a dynamic
Yogi.
Keep the mind fully occupied. Sing the name 
Destroy the Sankalpas or imagination of the mind. Discipline the mind in a perfect manner
 through discrimination, enquiry, dispassion and regular meditation on Atman.
Have a wide outlook on life. See God in everything, in every face. Give up all that is false
and untrue. Pray fervently. Lead a life of virtue and happiness.
Renounce all your sorrows, fears and anxieties, and walk in the path laid down by the
scriptures. You will attain supreme peace and eternal bliss.
From "Light, Power and Wisdom" by
Purify your mind. Withdraw all the senses from their objects. Bring the mind under your
 control. Introspect. Direct your attention towards the knowledge of God.
Become a true Brahmachari. Get established in mental and physical Brahmacharya. Take
Sattvic food. Develop Vairagya. Have perfect faith in God.
Put on the armour of discrimination. Wear the shield of dispassion. Blow the conch of
courage. Kill the enemies of doubt, ignorance, passion and egoism and enter the illimitable
kingdom of the blissfu
Courage, power, strength, wisdom and joy are your Divine heritage, your birthright from
 the Absolute. You are the centre of thought, influence and power. Never forget this.
The world is assailed by death. Days and nights are falling incessantly like bolts. When one
day passes away, remember that a part of one’s life wears away with it.
Apply yourself diligently to Yoga. Remember the Sages and Saints. Be sincere. Develop
mercy, love, friendship, feeling of brotherhood. You will become one with all. Y
Try your best to keep cool and calm in difficulties, adversities and trying conditions of life.
 Pray fervently from the bottom of your heart and wait. Help is bound to come. Have firm, perfect
and one-pointed faith in God.
Develop universal sympathy and cosmic love of pure nature. Lead a life of oneness and
unity. Have deep concentrated right thinking.
Forget not the goal. Everyday place a step further towards the goal. Maya will assume
various forms. Watch, pray, conquer obstacles.
From "Light, Power
Remember the goal and the purpose for which you have taken this physical body. Do not
 give indulgence or leniency to the mind. Watch the Vrittis or thoughts. Drive them. Just as the
soldier kills his enemies with his sword when they enter the fort, take the rod of Viveka when the
mind raises its hood or Vritti and strike indiscriminately. Annihilate the thoughts.
From "Light, Power and Wisdom" by Swami Sivananda (1987-1963). More Informations on Swami Sivananda: on the Website of Divine Life Societ
The goal of life is God-realisation. All desires are gratified by realising God. God can be
 realised by pure, subtle reasoning. There is not an iota of happiness in objects, because they are
insentient. There are mental uneasiness, discontentment and restlessness even in multi-millionaires
and kings.
All sorts of fears, miseries and troubles will melt away when the knowledge of God dawns.
You will be freed from the Samsaric wheel of births and deaths with all its concomitant evils. Form
a strong habi
Do not think of the past, nor plan for the future. Live in the present. Believe in the glory of
 the Self. Regard all alike. Help the Self in all.
Tear into pieces the veil of ignorance. Catch the fickle deer mind with the snare of enquiry
and Brahma Chintana. Ride the elephant of Self-knowledge and reach the highest peak of Supreme
Wisdom of the Self.
Melt all illusory differences. Remove all barriers that separate man from man. Mix with all.
Destroy the sex-idea by constantly thinking on the Self or
Attachment is the first child of Maya. This whole Lila of the Lord is kept up by the force of
 attachment. There is in the mind gummy substance which is like a mixture of castor oil, glue,
gum-arabic, mucilage of tragacanth, gluten paste, honey, glycerine, jack fruit’s juice and all other
pasty substances of the world. The mind is glued, as it were, to the objects with this mixture.
Therefore the attachment is very strong.
Selfishness causes attachment. Attachment is the root-cause for all the miseri
Look out for an unchangeable, infinite and Supreme happiness which must come from a
 Being in whom there is no change. Search and find out such Being, and if you could only succeed in
your quest, then you can get that unalterable happiness from Him.
Sensual enjoyment is attended with various defects. It is attended with various sorts of sins,
pains, weaknesses, attachments, slave mentality, weak will, severe exertion and struggle, bad
habits, cravings, aggravation of desires and mental restlessness. 
Let not your heart give way to trials. Be ever intent on your spiritual Sadhana. Learn to
 discriminate. Develop true lasting Vairagya by association with wise people.
Make the mind understand about the unreal nature of objects and the defects of a sensual
life. Talk to your mind. Coax the mind. It will hear your words. Gradually the mind-wandering will
cease. Then the mind will abide firmly in the centre of the source.
Become a Yogi. Yoga will put an end to all sorts of pain. Yoga will destroy all K
Though the cow grazes on the pastures having been separated from the calf, her mind is
 always fixed on the calf only. Similarly you should fix the mind on God when you do Japa, and give
your hand to work.
Renounce all attachment. Be balanced in success or failure, gain or loss, victory or defeat,
pleasure or pain. Discipline your mind cautiously. This is your master-key to open the doors of the
realm of Bliss. This is the secret of success in Yoga.
Feel and think that you breathe, live and work for G
Stand firm on the rock of Truth or Brahman. Have a firm grip of the reality, the
 self-luminous, immortal Atman or Soul. Equip yourself with the four means.
Try to do daily as many virtuous actions as possible. Repeat mentally or silently or with the
breath, the name of the Lord such as Hari Om, Sri Ram or your Ishta Mantra. Performance of
virtuous actions is the beginning of spiritual life.
Lead a simple natural life with high sublime thinking. Develop ethical virtues, control the
Indriyas and mind, 
Serve any Society, Ashram, Mutt, or religious institution for 2 hours daily in any way you
 like with Nishkama Bhava. This will purify your heart. Remember that God is the foundation of the
Society. Remember that the whole world is the manifestation of the Lord (Virat Rupa). Earth is
Hari. Milk is Hari. Tree is Hari. If you serve with Narayana or Atma Bhava, you will have a changed
angle of vision. You will have heaven on earth.
Keep the mind fully occupied. Get rid of all mental weaknesses. Do not a
Develop forgiveness. Give up idle talk. Study the sacred books. Observe straight-forwardness, celibacy, innocence and equanimity under the opposite conditions of pain and pleasure, gain and loss etc. Do no harm to any being.
 Have patience, adamantine will and untiring persistence. Stick to one place, one spiritual preceptor, one method, one system of Yoga. That is the way to positive success. Drive the feeling of depression and gloom at once by enquiry, singing Divine songs, prayers, chanting of