Paramahansa Yogananda

If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy. But if you make up your mind to be happy, no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you.

The power for our well-being and lasting happiness lies in self-control, in being able to do what we ought to do when we ought to do it, and in totally avoiding what we should not do. The successful person is characterized by self-control; he is unbound by whims and habits.

As soldiers on the battlefield must never know idleness, so the spiritual man must be absolutely free from mental or physical idleness.

The power of habit is supreme in the life of man. Most people spend their lives making good mental resolutions, but never succeed in following what is wholesome. We usually do not do what we wish to do, but only what we are accustomed to do.

Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations.

Your success in life does not depend only upon natural ability; it also depends upon your determination to grasp the opportunity that is presented to you. Opportunities in life come by creation, not by chance.

You will never win unless you make the effort. God has given you mental dynamite sufficient to destroy all your difficulties. Remember that.

Smile that perpetual smile—the Smile of God. Smile that strong smile of balanced recklessness, that billion-dollar smile that no one can take from you.

Divine Abundance follows the law of service and generosity. Give and then receive. Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you.

The subconscious mind is like a parrot and repeats whatever we tell it. Instead of suggesting to the mind fatigue, complaints, and troubled thoughts, suggest joy, opulence, and peace, and these things will manifest in your life. Work willingly and untiringly; feel the eternal energy flowing in you ceaselessly. Never suggest tiredness or fatigue. Never say, ‘I’m tired.’

If you live with the consciousness that you are His Child and that He is your Father, and make up your mind to do your best with dogged determination, then in spite of obstacles, and even if you make mistakes, His power will be there to help you out. I live by that law.

The greater your troubles, the greater the chance you have to show the Lord that you are a spiritual Napoleon or a spiritual Genghis Khan—a conqueror of your self. There are so many imperfections within us to be surmounted! He who becomes master of himself is a real conqueror.

A good habit is your greatest friend—a bad habit, your mortal enemy. Be careful about the repetition of action. It will become a habit before you realize it. Habit is second nature, but it can be changed by persistent good action.

Every outward manifestation is the result of will... The dynamo of all your powers is volition, or will power. Without volition you cannot walk, talk, work, or feel. Therefore, will power is the spring of all your actions.

Just as the pianist is always thinking of her music, so the lover of God is always thinking of God. That joy feeds the brain, the heart, and the soul. That ever-new joy is God.

Your ultimate purpose is to find your way back to God, but you also have a task to perform in the outer world. Will power, combined with initiative, will help you recognize and fulfill that task.

When you think, ‘I can succeed,’ think it so deeply that you drive out any notion of failure. If nine times you try to succeed, but you fail, still you can try the tenth time! Do not give up; never admit failure.

Do not expect to be successful in all your attempts the first time. Some ventures may fail, but others will succeed. Success and failure are interrelated. One cannot exist without the other. With concentrated energy you must approach your nearest problem or duty, and do your utmost to accomplish whatever is needed. This must be your philosophy of life.

Cultivate emotional poise. To overcome restlessness, start with the determination to do each piece of work in its turn without unnecessary fuss, without burdening your mind with useless queries. Limit your thoughts to the task at hand. Dismiss the task just finished and allow the next task to take its turn.

A good habit is your greatest friend—a bad habit, your mortal enemy. Be careful about the repetition of action. It will become a habit before you realize it.

This is how you should think. God has chosen you for a specific work in this world, and whether you are a businessman or a housekeeper or a laborer, play your part to please Him alone.

The wakeful soul desires less and less, and finds his soul a sea of contentment. In noble desires, such as the desire to help others, however, the soul does not lose his peace, but rather finds his joy enlarged with the joy of those he has helped.

Release for constructive purposes the power you already have, and more will come. Move on your path with unflinching determination, using all the attributes of success.

Of all the weaknesses of man, selfishness is one of the meanest demons. By the magnanimous spirit of one’s soul it should be conquered. Real success, rather than being a contraction into self-interest, extends itself in serviceful expansion.

Success is when you have so expanded your consciousness that your life is a glory and happiness to yourself and to others.

There is always a way out of your trouble; and if you take the time to think clearly, to think how to get rid of the cause of your anxiety instead of just worrying about it, you become a master.

Heavenly Father, I will reason, I will will, I will act; but guide Thou my reason, will, and activity to do the right thing that I should do.

Never count your faults. Just see that your love for God is deeply sincere. For God doesn’t mind your imperfections: He minds your indifference.

Perform every action, insignificant or important, with quick, alert attention. ... Concentrate upon one thing at a time. Your concentration becomes super-concentration when you increase it to limitless accomplishing power by combining it with God’s power.

Do you ever think that you have been completely unsettled by circumstances—ruffled, shattered, whipped, lacking willpower? Banish such thoughts! You have power; you do not use it. You have all the power you need. There is nothing greater than the power of the mind.

Never suggest to your mind human limitations of sickness, old age, or death, but constantly remind yourself, ‘I am the Infinite, which has become the body.’

Do not continue to carry your burden of old mental and moral weaknesses acquired in the past, but burn them in the fires of resolution, and become free.

Fear should not produce mental inertia, paralysis, or despondency. Instead, it should spur you on to calm, cautious activity, avoiding equally rashness and timidity. Uproot fear from within by forceful concentration on courage—and by shifting your consciousness to the absolute peace within.

You must never forget that an important part of your equipment is your purpose in life. The whole world stands aside for the person who knows where he is going and is determined to get there. When you have resolved definitely upon a purpose in life, you must make everything serve that purpose.

Good habits and virtues are eternal joy-making qualities.

The earth is the laboratory of God. We burn ourselves in the fire of mortal experience so that our divine immortality, which is buried beneath the dross of our consciousness, may be once again revealed.

So long as we believe in our heart of hearts that our capacity is limited and we grow anxious and unhappy, we are lacking in faith. One who truly trusts in God has no right to be anxious about anything.

Smile that perpetual smile—the Smile of God. Smile that strong smile of balanced recklessness, that billion-dollar smile that no one can take from you.

The will is the weapon for vanquishing failure. Constant use of will keeps it keen-edged and ready to serve one faithfully. The power of a strong will guided by divine wisdom is unlimited. To its possessor nothing is impossible.

You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you.

Under no circumstances let fear take control of your mind and will. Whenever there is fear, look at it squarely in the face: Try to remove the outer cause and take steps to embolden the mind to overcome that trepidation.

When wealth is lost, you have lost little; when health is lost, you have lost something of more consequence; but when peace of mind is lost, you have lost the highest treasure.

The only way to avoid temptation is to know that there are higher things than temptation. When temptation comes, first stop the action or the force. When the temptation is gone, then reason, for temptation will overcome all reason.

The time for knowing God has come!

Even failure should act as a stimulant to your will power, and to your material and spiritual growth. Weed out the causes of failure, and with double vigor launch what you wish to accomplish. The season of failure is the best time for sowing seeds of success.

Every word you utter must represent not only Truth, but some of your realized soul force. Words that are saturated with sincerity, conviction, faith, and intuition are like highly explosive vibration bombs, which can explode the rocks of difficulties and create the change desired. Avoid speaking unpleasant words, even if they are true.

It is only when you discard your bad habits that you are really a free man. Until you are a true master, able to command yourself to do the things that you should do but may not want to do, you are not a free soul. In that power of self-control lies the seed of eternal freedom.

Above all, cultivate the habit of meditation. This is the inner switch you turn on to connect yourself with the Infinite. Hold on to the after-effects of meditation by your attention. You will then find that you are a reservoir of power in body, mind, and soul.

A wish is a desire that you think cannot be fulfilled. Will means desire plus energy, or ‘I act until that desire is fulfilled.’ How few people actually will!

Many people excuse their own faults but judge other persons harshly. We should reverse this attitude by excusing others’ shortcomings and by harshly examining our own.

Success lies in learning the art of inner contentment: Acquire what you need, and then be satisfied with what you have.

He is wisest who seeks God. He is the most successful who has found God.

Self-realization is the knowing—in body, mind, and soul—that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it comes to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God’s omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.