Walk the pathway of life with god in your heart. Don’t seek the recognition of man in the spiritual path; seek the recognition of god. Whom God protects, nothing can destroy; but if He is displeased although everyone else is pleased, their approbation is worthless. Your first duty is to please god.
Why should you give your time, your energy, to the world and to worldly pursuits when the world will not be responsible for the effects of your actions, nor will it stand by you when you get into trouble? Do you realise that you are alone and friendless in the world if you cut off god, and that you are ungrateful if you completely forget Him who is with you always whether you know it or not?
God came with you in the beginning; He has been with you all the time; and He alone will be with you when you take the next step in your evolution. Make peace with Him now. No duty is more important than your duty to God, for no duty is performed without God’s power.
Do not let your environment and temptations control you. A virtuous, spiritual life is far more charming than indulgence in material temptation, but the trouble is that the precedence of sensuous experience and the constant presence of this temptation controls people. From the beginning of life on earth, one is subjected to material temptations and becomes accustomed to them long before being attracted by the spiritual way of life. But if god once tempts you with His love, nothing else can ever tempt you away from Him.
The five senses are dangerous because they are always making us investigate those things which are not good for us. God has given us the senses through which we apprehend the various aspects of matter; and because we dwell on the sensations produced by those senses, we like things that taste good, feel good, or smell good, but that is only a habit. Many people develop material habits because they have no sense of comparison; they cannot compare sense joy with the joy of the soul because they have not experienced soul joy. There is no chance to compare until one has renounced worldly pleasure for greater joy. The only way to avoid being trapped by worldly temptation is to know that there are higher things than temptation.
When temptation comes, you must first stop the action or force, and then reason. If you try to reason first, the temptation will often compel you to do the thing that you should not do. Stop the force, and then reason after that temptation is gone; otherwise temptation will overcome all reason. Don’t say, "I should not do this because…" Just say, "No!" and leave the place, or turn your attention elsewhere, as the case may be. That is the surest way to defeat temptation. The more you develop this "won’t" power during the advent of temptation, the happier you will be, because all happiness depends upon the ability to do those things that you should do, and to avoid those things that you should not do.
A bad habit sits octopus-like in the brain and commands you to do a certain thing. You don’t want to do that thing and yet you do it. So, never let yourself reach a point where you become a victim of wrong habits. No matter what you do, remember that you must be the governor of yourself.
Do not let anything or anyone run you. If any undesirable thought or act becomes a habit with you, it is time to stop that thing. I do not like commandments. Whenever you command someone not to do a certain thing, that person seems determined to do it. Thus, you command yourself. The taste of forbidden fruit is sweet in the beginning, but bitter in the end. You must be careful not to let anything interfere with your ultimate happiness.
(Courtesy: Yogoda Satsanga Society)
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=OPED&file_name=opd4%2Etxt&counter_img=4
