. . . Reduce your wants. Be honest in your dealings. Earn at the sweat of your brow. Control the indriyas and the mind. Develop noble qualities. Take recourse to the company of wise men. Remember God. Sing His Name. Feel His presence. Think aright. Speak truth and act righteously. Learn to discriminate. Learn how to lead a divine life while remaining in the world. Serve society with Atma-Bhava. Then the whole question is solved. You have regained your Godhead. You have regained your lost paradise. All miseries will come to an end.
You will have success in every walk of life and undertaking. Keep the master key with you and open the chambers of Elysian Bliss. This is not a digression, my dear friends. I want to place before you solid truths and facts. I want you to understand things aright. Truth cannot give pain to any one. Truth alone can triumph. Truth alone can bring real happiness. God is Truth. We will have to realize Truth by speaking truth and doing Satya-Vyavahara. We should live in Truth. Thou art an embodiment of Truth. Truth is your real name. You have come from Truth. You live and have your very being in Truth. You dissolve this body and mind in Truth. Therefore realize Truth, O dear brothers, Nectar’s sons, children of Light! What is success?
Is it material prosperity and thriving on well in this world with plenty of money and children, or something else? Success is of two kinds, viz., worldly success and spiritual success. If you are in good affluent circumstances, if you have everything that this world can give you, this is worldly success. This alone will not suffice. Because, this world is imperfect. You must have success in the spiritual world also. You must have success in the path of realization as well. Then only you will have complete or perfect success.
It is easier to preach twenty than to become one of the twenty in following the dictates. An ounce of practice is thousand times better than tons of theories. You have had enough of theories. Now come to the solid field of practice. Become a practical Yogi of this world and the world beyond. Let success attend on thee!
My earnest and fervent prayer with folded hands is that you must sincerely attempt with care, diligence, patience, and perseverance in the realization of the truths that are inculcated here by regular daily practice. Time is most precious. Time is fleeting. You are growing old every second. When the bell rings, one hour is cut off from your life. The moment you are born, death exists side by side with birth. Cells grow and cells decay. You cannot get once again this human birth. Become a successful man in your life’s career and become a God-man, right now, this very second. This is the fervent prayer of your intimate brother Siva. Glory, splendor and joy be unto thee! Rest in thine own Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa.
By His Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda, courtesy of Divine Life Society.
