Untitled - the Divine Life Society

Surely the ploper mental condition, temperament andoutlook are pre-requisites for the practice of Yoga.The task is a stupendous one. Yet you will have to do it.The important obstacle in the path is egoism. It can be crushedby enquiry, discrimination, devotion and humility. Reductionof desire and non-fulfilment of desires as they arise must bethe first practice in control of desires.The student of Yoga should not possess much wealth as itwill drag him to the worldly temptations. He can keep a littlemoney to meet the wants of the body. Economicalindependence will relieve the mind from anxieties and willenable him to continue his Sadhana uninterruptedly.The student of Yoga should be abstemious in his diet. Heshould avoid laziness, ease, habitual languor and excess ofsleep. He should observe silence and occasional mild fasts toensure a good tone to his constitution. He should developcorrect habits.Keep your balance of mind always. This is a very importantpractice. This is, doubtless, a difficult practice, but you willhave to do it at any cost. Then alone you can be really happy.Then and then alone you can enjoy real peace of mind.Keeping up the balance of mind in pleasure and pain, heat andcold, gain and loss, success and failure, praise and censure,respect and disrespect, is wisdom. This practice is a tryingdiscipline indeed, but it gives inner spiritual strength. He whois able to keep a balance of mind at all times, in all conditions,even under extreme provocation, is a mighty potentate onearth. He must be adored. He is the most wealthy man, thoughhe is clad in rags, though he has nothing to eat. He is thestrongest man even if he has a dilapidated physical frame.Worldly people lose their balance of mind even for triflingthings. They get irritated and lose their temper soon. Energy iswasted when one loses his temper. An irritable man is a veryweak man, though he possesses immense physical strength32 LECTURES ON YOGA AND VEDANTA