On Conduct & Happiness

The beginning of wisdom is realizing that one is a fool, a mouthpiece of other’s thoughts.

The human situation is sometimes hell, sometimes heaven.

Without cultivation, when a situation arises we will act according to our nature. To assume that you understand your own nature might be a false assumption. You must be provoked to see your own nature.

Accepting the fact of suffering is not contributory to being unhappy.

It is not the objects that make us happy but our consciousness.

Life can never be satisfactory. We do not want old age. We not want to die. That is where an acquaintance with pain and suffering comes in.

Women at 35; man at 40. Fear of old age haunts them.

We may go about nourishing desire. Time will come when body will not cooperate. That is the nature of aging. You may have an appetite for an elaborate meal but be unable to digest it.

One should accept aging as lawful, not awful.

Anything which produces pleasure will produce pain in the future when the source no longer gives pleasure.

Pleasure gives temporary relief. One does not notice suffering when having a pleasurable experience, although it is still there.

Tension between romantic partners can arise. We don’t call it war but the pattern often is first desiring, then anger. Hatred. Avarice. "Me above all else." Spiritual pride. Meanness. Inability to give. Envy. Jealousy. Cannot suffer the happiness of others.

True love is when your girl goes with another fellow and you have a party to celebrate.

There is very little difference between good manners and good morals.

People never forget harsh language.

If a person believes he is destroying life when eating eggs then he should not eat eggs, thereby causing problems for himself mentally. One can replace eggs with two tablespoons of milk or soybean powder daily.

All foods are at one time alive; decisions about what to eat are a matter of individual responsibility.

In deciding what one wants to eat one should take into account the expectations you have of your body.

In habits one should discourage evil and encourage good. The attitude to take in attempting to give up a habit is that you – the presiding consciousness – wish to give up the habit. The habit is caused by a craving of the body consciousness regardless of the desire of the presiding consciousness. Therefore in breaking a habit there are two factors involved: 1) the self and 2) the body.

In order to break a habit (the example being used is cigarette smoking) one must break the pattern of the habit. To quit smoking sing and hum constantly “I hate smoking.” Place a card with a cigarette on the table behind a glass of water and look at it. Place the cigarette in water for several hours, then drink it.

You're not much of a man to not be able to give up smoking and drinking.

One must be restless to execute deeds. Restlessness will prevent you from seeing things truly.

Thirsting after experience is not freedom. It is enslavement by your glandular system.

To regard (certain appetites) as evil, as so many good persons – especially nominal occultists do – is to demonstrate one’s bondage to them.

Desire is a condition for striving and is a mark of an unsatisfactory state.

There is always a peak of craving. Wait for the peak, then watch it – if you cross it, you have won over it.

Conquering sensuous cravings might make the way easier for a difficult decision in the future.

Short-lived gratifications are not pure pleasure. It also is a matter of quenching thirst. It passes (the thirst). At best quenching thirst is only a temporary relief of conditions.

One can attain a balance within by controlling reactions and responses. This is wisdom.

Mastery is not avoidance of unpleasantness, but being unmoved by it.

I consider a person a conqueror if he has conquered himself.

Anything which produces pleasure will produce pain in the future when the source no longer gives pleasure.

Pleasure gives temporary relief. One does not notice suffering when having a pleasurable experience, although it is still there.

Sexual embrace is extreme lobha for sense of form.

Overcome attraction to sexual experience … such freedom. Tyranny of the glands is not real love.