Living Wisely Living Well | With Asha Nayaswami

Even if you are not attached to anything, meet life with cheerful expectation. Whatever comes, greet it with a smile. A cheerful attitude will magnetically attract to you, in every circumstance, the best possible results.

Not a thought that you think originates with you. Paramhansa Yogananda wrote, in Autobiography of a Yogi, “Thoughts are universally and not individually rooted.” Your most precious inspirations are not your own! You have merely caught a current of thought that was already flowing through the universe. Thoughts, in turn, are only manifestations of divine consciousness. Therefore Yogananda said also, “I suffer when you have moods, for I see then that Satan has a hold of you.” Think, when negativity wells up within you, “Satan is trying to catch me!” To rid yourself of such “possession,” chant to God and raise your level of energy in the spine. Soon you will find positive thoughts and feelings fairly pouring into your mind.

Don’t worry about others’ opinions; don’t be concerned with what anyone says or thinks about you—unless you think you might learn something by listening. Think in terms of what you give out to others, not of what you receive from them in return.

Learn when to stop whatever you are doing. If speaking, learn to stop when you’ve said enough. And if writing, don’t drag on beyond your point, once you’ve made it. People often think, “If I can say just a little more, I’ll succeed better in convincing them.” After leading your listeners to the top of a cliff, what more can you do except push them over the edge?

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Love all men—if not for themselves (many human traits, after all, are in themselves not lovable!), then for the pure joy of giving love. Everyone is seeking, whether blindly or with clear sight, final fulfillment in God.

If you emanate peaceful thoughts, they’ll surround you with a protective aura, and create a barrier against all negativity. Any agitation around you, then, will no longer be able to touch you.

Wrap yourself in a cloak of calmness. A calm, wisely guided will is the best protection against adversity.

Wealth, if it comes to you, should be treated as a sacred trust. It is not really yours, even if you have worked hard to acquire it. Karma (again, it will be good karma only if you use it rightly) has given you riches as a means of helping other people. Use your wealth to make this a better world. Otherwise, riches will only suffocate your finer feelings. If they make you feel superior to others, they are a delusion. Treat all human beings as your equals. Remember, a person may be poor financially, but rich in ways that preclude the possession of money. Appreciate others for what they are.

“Fame and wealth,” my Guru used to say, “are like prostitutes: loyal to no man.” In the end, those two goals, though all but universal, bring only disappointment. If fame comes unsought, owing to some past karma (I hesitate to call that karma good!), use it for the benefit of others, rather than to bolster your own pride. Fame can be a means of reaching many people and of helping them, but never glory in it. Whether well known or unknown, you are the same person. It is easier to be yourself, however, if you are unburdened by anyone’s expectations of you. Be natural to all: open to their interests, and respectful of their opinions.

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Learn to cooperate with others, even if their interests are different from your own. Never surrender a principle, however, no matter what the consequences to yourself. Your guiding light all your life should be, not egoic self-interest, but God’s will. Were you even to be burned at the stake for your loyalty to the truth as you understand it, remember this: Truth alone, in the end, will free you forever from all suffering.