HOW to OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS a Practical Guide Who Wants to Overcome Temptations

8/10/2019 HOW to OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS a Practical Guide Who Wants to Overcome Temptations

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HOW TO OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS

Author: Dada Pujyasri J P Vaswani


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The other day, a young lady met me and, in the course of her talk, said, "I can

resist eerything e!cet temtation#"

$ow true it is that no man had graduated to the art of life till he has %een well

temted and oercome eery temtation#

They meet me: young men and women in whose hearts is the asiration to lie the

new life, the life of simlicity and serice, of urity and rayer, of loe and

comassion, young men and women, who hae not yet %een tainted through contact

with worldliness & ure, young, eagre'souls, ' and they ut to me the (uestion: why

is that we are temted) *hat is the lace of temtation in life) *hy can we nothae a world without temtation) *hat a wonderful world it would %e, where

eeryone could lie a ure, chaste, clean life+ *hat is the urose of temtations)

*hy do we hae temtation at all) In answer to these (uestions, I say to them:

"Temtations are the dum%%ells of the soul#"

In my %oyhood days, I joined a gymnasium# ery eening I would go and ractice

my e!ercise with the dum%%ells# -ne eening, I asked the instructor: "*hat is the

use of doing this e!ercise, day after day)" $e answered: "As you do this e!ercise,your muscles will %e strengthened#"

Just as dum%%ells strengthen the hysical muscles, of the soul deelo our hidden

siritual strength, temtations unlock the hidden owers of the .irit#

There was a holy man# $is life was ure and chase as the waters of the /anges# $e

lied in the fear and loe of /od# $is life was a source of insiration and joy to

many around him# $e lied to a rie, old age# .oon after he assed away, one of hiscomanions had a dream# In the dream, he saw the holy man occuying a lace of

honour in the heaen world# Around him were angels who said: "$e is a great saint

and occuies lace in heaen, %ecause he succeeded in oercoming many

temtations#"


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A erson %ecomes holy, in the measure in which he oercomes temtations# Instead

of comlaining, let us %less /od for our temtations# They come to unfold our

hidden siritual strength# They come to make us siritually strong# Truly,

temtations are the dum%%ells of the soul#

The word temtation, is deried from the 0atin, tentare, which means to roe, to

ut to the test# Temtation is the touchstone of the soul# en as gold is tested on

the touchstone, so is the man1s character# The loftiness of his soul is tested %y the

temtations he is a%le to oercome#

*hen a temle %ell is cast in a foundry, the 2ounder does not at once fi! it in the

temle, %ut first tries it with his strong hammer to see if there are any flaws in it#

.o is man tries with hammer %lows of temtations %efore he %ecomes erfect#

3ot many of us, howeer, can withstand the hammer %lows of temtations# 4any of

us are so weak that we easily succum% to temtation# -ften when we do so, we

think that it is only once that we shall yield to temtation, to e!erience what it is

like# Alas+ -nce we yield to its aeal and get to relish the leasure, we will soon %e

entangled %y sin and will find it difficult to come out of it# Therefore, %eware+

3eer yield to temtation# 5ut stand u in the strength of your soul and , in the

words of Jesus, say to temtation: "/et thee %ehind me, .atan+"

A young man wanted to make one of his comanions do something %ad just once, and

the comanion retorted: Just once) *ould you allow your head to %e cut off just

once)" 3ot many hae such heroic sirit within them# They easily succum% to

temtation and, to them, sin %ecomes a ha%it, until they find that they are helless

in the face of temtation# They simly cannot resist it# They cannot lie without it#

They realise that the conse(uences are dangerous, %ut they feel helless and lost#

They are drawn to temtation een as a frog is drawn to a snake# *hen a snakelooks at a frog and a frog has met its ga6e, the frog feels helless# There is a

mesmeric ower in the look of the serent which the frog cannot resist and,

irresisti%ly, the frog is drawn to the mouth of the snake, drawn to its own death#


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.t# Augustine, in one of his %ooks tells of a young man names utimius# $e lied a

life of rofligacy# $e was sunk in ile leasures and realised that he was losing his

health, %ut just could not oercome his sinful ha%its# After contracting seeral

diseases, he deeloed a serious eye infection, and the hysician said to him: "the

stage has arried when either you will hae to gie u your eil ha%its or lose yoursight+" utimius relied: "what can I do) I feel helless# 0et me lose my sight and if

necessary, een my life, %ut I simly cannot gie u my ha%its#" .uch is the force

of ha%it# 4any youths %ecome slaes of ha%its with which they do not %reak off in

time#

There was a young man# $is father saw him sliing into the ice of imurity#

Immediately, the father took him to a hosital ward where lay atients who had led

immoral lies# There they lay in sasms of ain# At the sight of those moaning

atients, young men who had %ecome rematurely aged, emaciated, ulcerated, with

an un%eara%le stench, the youth almost fainted# Then his father said: "These are

the conse(uences of an immoral life, and if you continue on the road to disassion,

it would not %e long %efore you end u in this hosital# "The father1s lesson made

such an imact on the youth that he immediately straightened himself out and

%ecame an e!amle of temerance to all his comanions#

There is the story of a lark who was merrily flying in the heaens# 2rom his

heights, the lark saw a small o%ject moing in a garden far %elow him# 5eing curiousto know what it was, he descended until he was (uite low and, to his utter surrise,

he found that it was a tiny cart with a mouse drawing, while alongside was another

mouse who was waing a whi and all the time crying out: "2resh worms for sale#"

The lark felt temted and wanted to know the rice of the worms#

"Three worms for one feather from your wings," was the answer#

The lark thought this was an e!cellent %argain, and ulled out a feather from his

wings, e!changed it for three worms which he enjoyed greatly, then sread his

wings and rose again# $e had not risen ery far when the temtation to eat more

worms %ecame too strong for him to resist# Descending again to the garden, he


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%artered away two more recious feathers, had the great leasure of eating si!

worms, and rose once again into the sunlit air# 5alance and wing'ower were lost,

howeer, and the lark found it difficult to fly# And like an aircraft, that suddenly

deelos engine trou%le, the lark crashed and was found dead in the loely garden

where he had met temtation and found it irresisti%le#

.o it haens with man, again and again# $e is temted and, if he oercomes it, he

grows in siritual strength# 5ut if he yields to it, he falls into sin# /radually, sin

%ecomes a ha%it which he can not resist: and he finds that he has %ecome a slae

of a tyrant from whose clutches he cannot find release#

$ae you eer looked at a fly siing honey) At first, it is ery careful to see its

legs are free# It sis on the edge of the soon containing honey, saying to itself

that after just one wee little taste of honey, it would fly away# 5ut once it gets the

relish of honey, it forgets eerything and goes all out for it# And when it has had

its fill, it finds that all its legs are stuck in honey: it cannot fly away# There it dies

a tragic death in its sweet grae# .uch is the case with man# $e is lured into

temtation %y the thought of a little leasure that he e!ects to get# -nce he has

tasted leasure, it draws him to itself, again and again, until he %ecomes the slae

of a ha%it cannot oercome#

Pleasure leads a man ashtray+

There is a 5engali roer% which tells us: "The heron is a saint when there are no

fish in sight#" And there is an amusing little story told to us concerning a young

woman who trained her cat to hold a candle stick in his aws while she ate dinner#

This the cat did, night after night, and when the young woman felt satisfied with

the cat1s erformance, she inited her friends to dinner, so that they could see

what she had trained her cat to do# The cat jumed on the ta%le, got hold of thecandlestick and sat there (uietly# -ne of the friends sread the food on the floor,

thinking that the cat would %e drien to it, %ut was surrised to find that the cat

sat motionless, holding the candlestick in his aws# Another friend held a iece of

meat close to the nose %ut een that did not affect the cat# $oweer, when

someone who had %rought a mouse in a %o!, oened the %o! and let the mouse go,

the cat immediately droed the candlestick and ran after the mouse#


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*e are like that# *e seem to %e safe in irtue, %ut as soon as we see some

leasure, we run after it, forgetting eerything else, forgetting een our

reutation, our family, honour, and restige#

The (uestion has %een considered in the /ita# Arjuna asks .ri 7rishna: "4aster+

why does a man commit sin against his will) *hat is the force that drags him,

irresisti%ly to athways of eil)" 4any of us hae had a similar e!erience# *e

think we do not wish to fall into# In our saner moment, we wish to aoid sin# Then

suddenly, there wakes u within us a storm, and we are led ashtray# *hat is the

force that drags us to athways of eil)

In answer, the 4aster says to Arjuna: "8ou say that man is dragged to the ath of

sin# That is not so+ 2or man is not a machine# 4an is endowed with willower, ' the

ower of determination, the ower to make his own choice# 4an can neer commit

sin against his will# 4an1s will consents, gies the green signal, %efore man falls into

sin# And, Arjuna, you ask me what is the force that makes a man commit sin# The

force is kama, desire, lust# It is the enemy of man+ It is man1s deadly foe+ Beware

of it+ And, neer forget, that desire is insatia%le+"

.ignificant are the words of the great law'gier, 4anu: "Desire is neer satisfied

%y the enjoyment of the o%jects of desire# It grows from more to more as does

the fire to which fuel is added#" And the 8oga Vashista tells us: "*e think it is we

who enjoy leasure# But in truth it is !leasures that en"oy us# 2or a while

leasure always remains young and ital, it is we who kee growing old and get

consumed in the fire of leasure#"

An old man of eighty met me# $is hair were white and he walked with stoo# *ith

tears in his eyes, he said to me: "en at this age, I feel drawn to the sins of flesh#

4y %ody is %ecome old, my lim%s hae grown fee%le, %ut the ull of leasure is

stronger than eer %efore+"


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8es, desire is insatia%le# There is the classic e!amle of $enry VIII, called the

"/reat *idower#" $e married one women after another# $e married si! times# $is

lust was insatia%le# $e had to %reak off with the Poe of 9ome# $e said: "*hat

does it matter) I shall set u a new church, %ut I must satisfy my lust#"

7ama cannot %e (uenched# The more you seek to satisfy it, the more you add fuel

to its flame# 7ama, desire, lust, reigns oer man1s unregenerate senses# $is reason

is clouded: he cannot discriminate %etween right and wrong: and there are no

deths of degradation to which a man, under the influence of kama, will not stoo#

In our days, in the city of Pune, there was a man who lied haily with his wife for

seeral years, until one day he met a girl# 0ust woke u within him# $e lost his

aetite and slee# $e %ut desired to marry the girl# $ow could he do so) In

4aharashtra, there is a law for%idding a man to remarry during the life'time of his

wife# .o he hatched a lan# To his wife he said: "8ou hae not moed out of Pune

for some years# *hy should not we go out for a change to 4um%ai)" They traelled

%y a night train on a moonlight night# There were only the two of them in the

comartment# *hile the train crossed 0onala, the man called his wife to the door

of the comartment, saying, "ome and see the mountains in the moonlight; how

wonderfully %eautiful they are+" The wife, not knowing what was in store for her,

looked out through the door at the enchanting alley# .uddenly, the hus%and

ushed her from %ehind, and down she went, her %ody rolling on the slos of thelofty mountains# The man thought he was rid of his wife and would now %e a%le to

marry the young, retty girl# Destiny had decreed otherwise# arly ne!t morning, a

shuttling engine assed %y# The engine stoed at that sot for a while# The engine

drier heard moanful sounds# urious to find the origin of the sounds, he went and

looked down the mountain'side, and saw the %ody of a woman lying in a cluster of

%ranches of trees on the mountain sloes# .oon rescue arties arried and the

woman1s life was saed# The hus%and was tried in a court of law and sentenced to

caital unishment# This is what kama, desire, lust does to man# It clouds his reason

and leads him to his own destruction#

In the /ita, .ri 7rishna gies us the mechanics of desire# Desire is man1s deadliest

foe: and how does it work)


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In answer to this (uestion, .ri 7rishna says: "Arjuna, desire, kama, lust enters

through the outer gates of the senses and catures the fort of the mind and then

inades the region of determination and will#"

Therefore, if you are wise, if you wish to oercome temtation, if you wish to lie a

ure, eaceful, hay life, a life of freedom and fulfillment, you must guard the

gates# ach sensation of leasure should %e to you a warning# *atchman+ 0et not

the enemy in+ *hen kama, lust leads the senses; the mind and the reason, the man

goes swiftly down the ath of decline#

/oethe was a great man# $e was, erhas, the greatest oet the world roducedduring the nineteenth century# 5ut when kama, lust darkened his senses, he ran

after girls in restlessness# 3elson was a great general who won many ictories on

the %attlefield: he could not gain ictory oer desire# In the face of kama, lust, he

crum%led# 3elson lied with the wife of another man# .helly was a man of oetic

genius; %ut his oetic intuitions were darkened %y lust, and .helly, leaing his wife,

married another woman and the first wife committed suicide#

I could go on and on, %ut my time has traelled fast, and the (uestion still remains:$ow to oercome temtations) *hat may we do to oercome this which is, erhas,

the greatest foe of man, man1s arch enemy, desire)

*hat may we do to oercome temtations) And so let me ass on you some

ractical suggestions, which I hae found helful in oercoming temtations# If I

hae time, I would wish to ass on to you thirteen ractical suggestions# It is not

necessary that all the thirteen suggestions %e ut into ractice at once and the

same time# It is enou#hi$ you !i%& u! one o$ them and try to li'e u! to it( you

will )e )ene$itted #reatly*

Pra%ti%al Su##estion num)er one(


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*hat is it) Temtations are of arious tyes#

There is the temtation to gratify the senses;

there is the temtation to steal what %elongs to another;

there is the temtation to drink, to smoke, to take drugs;

there is the temtation to oercome or eat for%idden food or iolence;

there is the temtation to send out thoughts of ill will to others;

there is the temtation to seak harsh words or to indulge in lie;

there is the temtation to gossi, to sread scandals against others;

there is the temtation to waste time in laying cards or other friolities;

there is the temtation to accet %ri%es, to indulge in unlawful rofiteering, tomake money %y means fair or foul,

there is the temtation to eade ayment of ta!es#

There are a hundred and one other temtations# To %e a%le to oercome any tye

of temtation, you must %e ready and willing to turn a new leaf# 8ou must decide

once and for all that you will neer, neer fall into sin again#

-f .t# Augustine, it is said that when awakening came to him, he rayed to /od to

%e led into a new life, to %e ket away from a life of sinfulness# And then he added;

"- /od, %ut not yet+" That is, he wanted to indulge in sin just one more time,

%efore turning a new leaf# It is said that most eole who flee from temtation

usually leae a forwarding address#

If I wish to oercome temtation, I must %e ready and willing to wash my hands

off it right now and here, and I must %e willing to make any sacrifice for it# 3o

rice is too heay to receie entry into the new life#

I read of a wealthy man, the master of a %ig estate in ngland, who was on his

death%ed# $is thoughts turned to /od# $e had a serant, named Jim, who was a


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deotee of the 0ord# To Jim the 4aster said: "Jim I am dying# I do not know what

will haen to me after death# *hat can I do to earn $eaen)"

The wise old serant knew the ride of his master and he said: ".ir, if you want toearn heaen, you must hum%le yourself# 8ou should %e ready to go to the igsty, get

on your knees in the mud and say, /od, %e merciful to me, a sinner+"

The master said: "I could not ossi%ly do that# *hat would the neigh%ours and

serants think)"

A week assed %y, and again he soke to the serant: "Jim, what did you say to do

to earn heaen)"

The old serant relied: ".ir, you should %e ready to go to the igsty#"

The master said: I hae %een thinking it oer, Jim, and I am ready to go#"

The serant then said: "4aster, you do not really hae to go to the igsty# 8ou justhae to %e willing#"

This willingness to %ecome new, torenoun%e the old li$e o$ sin$ulness and !ride

is ery imortant# *e must hum%le ourseles, we must ma&e a %lear %on$ession of

eerything %efore /od or a /od'man# *hen our heart %ecomes contrite and lowly,

the way for us is oened to the 7ingdom of $eaen# The rayer of the .ikh /uru is

so moing:

+In$inite are my sins O ,ord as are the dro!s o$ water in an o%ean* Ha'e

mer%y on me and ta&e this sin&in# stone to the other shore*+


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The willingness to hum%le oneself %efore /od, the resole to lie a new life,

the determination not to touch temtations een with a air of tong, this is

the first and most imortant thing# It leads us to !ra%ti%al su##estion

num)er two*

"/od, %e merciful to me, a sinner+" is a ery no%le asiration: %ut it must not%e oerdone# *e must not indulge in a lot of retrosection# *ith a heart

contrite and lowly, let us confess our sins, and then think of /od1s mercy

which can wash the darkest sots on our hearts# 0et us not then think of our

sins, for whateer we think of, reeatedly, to that we are drawn# If we

constantly think of our sins, we shall %e drawn to them, more and more# 0et

us not think of our sins, %ut kee our eyes fi!ed on /od and $is mercy, on

/od and eternal things, $is goodness, $is %eauty, $is urity and $is truth#

And we shall grow /odlike#

0et us honestly confess our sins, ray for strength to lie a new life, and

then forget our sins# 0et us forget what /od has already forgotten# To my

reered 4aster, 5eloed Dada there came a girl who had gone ashtray# .he

shed tears of reentance, and asked for forgieness# 5eloed Dada looked at

her enitent eyes and said: "4y child, forget what /od hath forgotten# /o

and lie a new life+"

And what is !ra%ti%al su##estion num)er three) The more man turns to

/od, the more he reali6es that he is a child of /od# /od is the king of


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the mockery of the enemies of the 7ing of 2rance# 3o %oy, rince or

easant, had eer %een %rought face to face, with such shamefulness as that

to which the young rince was e!osed#


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you doing) Trying to steal one of those ales)" "3o" said the %oy, "trying

not to+"

In such a case, it is a good thing for a %oy or a man to remoe the

temtation %y remoing himself# -ne way of winning is not to %e defeated#

And the way not to %e defeated is to deart from the lace and situationwhere defeat will naturally result#

Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er $i'e(

3eer forget that imurity %egins in the thought# Therefore, take care of your

thoughts# Thoughts are forces, not to %e trifled with: thoughts are the %uilding

%locks of life# If you entertain ure thoughts, you %uild for yourself a no%le future#If otherwise, you work for your own ruination# .t# Thomas A17emis says: "2irst

there cometh to the mind a %are thought of eil, then a strong imagination there

of, afterward delight and eil motion, and then consent#" $is adice is, "withstand

the %eginnings+" Therefore, take care of your thoughts+

The great Prohet of Islam, Prohet 4uhammad, said, "Temtation comes as a

asser'%y, then knocks on the door of your heart to %e taken as a guest# 5ut once

you oen the door to temtation, it will stay as a master+" Then man is doomed#Therefore, do not let temtation in+ *ithstand the %eginnings# The moment

temtation comes to you, drie it out with all the force you can summon#

Thomas Ac(uinas, one of the greatest saints of the atholic 2aith, when he was

si!teen years of age, was locked u in a castle tower# A woman was sent to entice

him to eil# "0et me flee," thought Thomas to himself# 5ut eery e!it was locked: he

could not flee# $e then took from the chimney a %urning log and chased the

shameless woman away#

That is how eeryone of us must try to deal with temtation, chase it away the

moment it aears#


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This leads us to !ra%ti%al su##estion num)er si-# The moment an eil desire or

thought wake u within me, I should immediately, without the least delay, ush it

out and unish myself# 5eloed Dada always carried with himself a in: and on his

%ody, we found ,many scratches# *hen he was a young man, he ket with himself a

stick# If an undesira%le thought came to him, he would close the door of his roomand %eat himself with the stick, until his mind reented and romised neer to

entertain such a thought or desire#

-ne chilly, winter night, .t# 2rancis of Assisi felt within himself, as neer %efore,

the re%ellion of the flesh# $e got u and found some %ram%les with thorns and,

without hesitating a moment, lay down on it, crying out: "- 0ord, it is %etter to

suffer your thorns than to fall into satan1s hands#"

.t# 5enedict lied a life of great austerity# $e wore a rough shirt and lied for

three years in a desolate cae, %eyond the reach of man# $is scanty food was let

down to him at the end of a roe# en there, temtation did not leae him# The

memory of %eautiful woman he had met haunted him continually and so imressed

him that he was on the oint of leaing his seclusion to follow her# 3ear his cae

was a clum of thorns and %erriers# $aing undressed, he threw himself among

them and rolled around till his %ody %led with many wounds# This continued to do

till the fires of assion were (uenched foreer#

4any of us think that the saints are neer temted# That is not so# -nly the other

day, I read concerning a young man who comlained to a saint that, after struggling

for eight years, he had not yet succeeded in restraining his assions# "ight years

of struggle+" relied the saint# "2or si!ty years I hae %een fighting them in the

desert, and so far I hae not %een sared a single day+"

.aints, too, are temted een as we ordinary men are# The difference is, we easilysuccum% to temtation, saints oercome it and grow in siritual strength and

slendour#


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It was merson who said, "As the .andwich'Islander %eliees that the strength

and alour of the enemy he kills asses into himself so we gain the strength of the

temtations we resist#"

Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er se'en*

*hat is it) I %eliee we all remem%er the adage which was taught to us in the

school: "An idle mind is the deil1s worksho#" If you wish to %e free from

temtations, kee yourself %usy all the time# -ur mothers were well aware of this

truth, and they were secifically careful to see that their daughters were ket

%usy all the time# I know of a mother who, if she had no other work to gie to herdaughter, would mi! a handful of dust with rice and tell the daughter to clean the

rice# Today1s daughters send their time in friolous actiities# They read dirty

noels which oison their imagination and soil their minds# They go to the cinema,

houses of filth, they lay rummy, they send hours watching the ideo# 0ittle

wonder, if their minds %ecome small factories of imurity# - ye who would wish to

oercome temtation, kee yourself %usy all the time#

A young man came to 5eloed Dada and comlained of %eing continually temted#Dada rescri%ed certain discilines, %ut the young man returned a few days later,

saying that there was no imroement in his condition#

"Alright," said 5eloed Dada, "come %ack early tomorrow and send the day with

me#"

The ne!t day, Dada said to the young man: "Take the %ooks out of this cu%oard,

dust them roerly, and kee on doing this until noon#"

The young man followed the instructions and met 5eloed Dada that afternoon# $is

cloths were coered with dust, %ut looked hay# And Dada said to him: "/o and


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take lunch, and after lunch, you will do the same thing to the %ooks in the other

cu%oard#"

The %oy o%eyed and when it was dark, he returned to 5eloed Dada, e!hausted#Dada asked him: "Tell me, my child, if you had any temtations today#"

"3one whatsoeer," relied the young man# "I did not hae the time#"

Dada said to him: "Try to work that way, eeryday+"

Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er ei#ht(

Take care of your food# .ee that your food is satic, ure, earned %y honest

means, without doing iolence to anyone#

Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er nine(

Take care of your %reathing: %reathing has a direct influence uon the mind# 0et

your %reathing %e dee and rhythmic# .ome day, erhas, I shall seak to you in

detail concerning these two imortant factors of life, food and %reathing#

Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er ten(

3eer succum% to temtation# Try to oercome it %ut, in site of your %est

efforts, if you fail, you must not think any more a%out it# *hen a little child learns

to walk, not unoften, he stum%les and falls# 5ut immediately, the mother comes and

lifts him u and asks him to walk again# *hen you fall, ay no attention to it, %ut

immediately rise and moe on, eer onward, forward, /odward+


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Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er ele'en(

8ou can not oercome temtation %y fighting it, in the ordinary sense of the term#

The more you fight it, the more you direct your attention to it# The stream of lifeflows in the direction of attention# If you direct your attention to temtation,

forces of life will tend to flow towards temtation, and will only strengthen it# This

will increase your trou%les#

To gie an illustration, when the %ody suffers from ain, the more we think of ain,

the greater it grows# 5ut when we forget it %y a%sor%ing our attention in some

other actiity, such as ainting, or music, ain comletely anishes,

It is the same with temtation# The less we think of it, the %etter for us# -n the

other hand, we must not thoughtlessly yield to temtation# *e must %e sinless# To

%e sinless, our lower self must %e cleansed, washed, urified# The lower self must

%e transmuted into the $igher .elf#

This leads us to !ra%ti%al su##estion num)er twel'e:

*heneer we are assailed %y temtation, let us turn to /od# *hat is meant %y

turning to /od) Turning to /od means directing one1s attention to a Power,

Intelligence, *isdom, 0oe greater %y far than my own# Turning to /od means

directing one1s attention to a 5eing who is eer a%oe, %eyond, transcendent, and

yet who is also closer to us than %reathing, nearer to us than the ni of our neck#

$ow may this turning to /od %e accomlished) Through the to of the head or the

oint a little %ehind and %etween the eye%rows# *hen we turn our attention to theto of the head, or to the oint %etween the eye%rows, we rise a%oe the hysical

and the sychic, and contact the siritual, and diine forces %egin to flow in and

through us# The light and wisdom and ower of /od flow into us and hel us in liing

the new life# eryone who seeks to contact /od will find his own way of doing so#

The way I hae found helful is this# I close my eyelids and turn the eyes in their

sockets uward, to a oint a%oe the ae! of the head and, immediately, I feel the


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diine forces flowing into me, strengthening me, washing me, cleansing me, making

my heart ure and clear# -r I turn the eyes in their sockets to a oint a little

%ehind and %etween the eye%rows, and, again, hae the same e!erience# Try this

e!eriment and you will find wonderful things haened to you#

Pra%ti%al su##estion num)er thirteen(

In our language "thirteen" is "tera"# And "tera" is also means "thine"# .ay to /od:

"- 0ord, I am Thine, comletely Thine, utterly Thine+ - 0ord, I come to thee, as I

am# I come to Thee with all my faults and failings, weaknesses and imerfections#

Thou wilt mend my %roken life# Thou wilt make me new+ I cannot do it %y myself# I

hae tried to straighten my life# I hae tried to renounce eil ways, I hae tried

hard, and failed# 3ow I come to Thee as I am# 0ead me to the -ther .hore+ I hand

myself oer to Thee, knowing that %y myself I can do nothing# I am nothing# Thou

art the All# Thou alone canst delier+ Thou alone canst sae+ I lace my trust in

Thee+"

$e who hands himself oer to /od, temtations can hae no ower oer him#

I read concerning a man in America# $e was driing his 2ord car, when suddenly,something went wrong# $e got out and looked at the engine, %ut could detect no

fault# $ellessly, he stood there, when from a distance he saw another car

aroaching: he waed to it for hel# It was a %rand new 2ord car# -ut of it

steed a tall, friendly man who asked: "*ell, what1s the trou%le)"

"The engine suddenly stoed" was the rely# "And it will not start again#"

The stranger made a few adjustments under the %onnet, then said: "3ow start the

car+"

*hen the motor started, its grateful owner introduced himself and asked: "*hat

is your name, sir)"


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"4y name," answered the stranger, "is $enry 2ord#"

The man who made the 2ord car knew how to make it run# /od has made us and $e

alone knows how to run our lies# All we are re(uired to do is to comletely

surrender ourseles to $im, call $im %y what name we will, 7rishna, 9ama, 5uddha,

Jesus, 4uhammad, 4ahaira, 3anak, >arathustra, 5uha1u1alla# all $im %y what

name we will, without $im we can make a comlete wreck of our lies# *hen we

surrender ourseles to $im, all goes well# *hen we cut ourseles off from $im, we

can do nothing# Therefore, say to $im, again and again and still again: "- 0ord+ I

come to Thee as I am# Take me to the -ther .hore+"

To hae the true joy of life, you must %e in continuous contact with the source of

joy, with /od who is the .irit of Ananda; un%roken %liss# -nce you hae contacted

/od, nothing, no one will %e a%le to take away your joy from you# It may aear as

though you are liing a life of oerty and destitution, your sirits will kee soaring

the skies#

There was a oor man# $is clothes were soiled and torn# $is feet were coered withmud# 8et there was a %eautiful smile on his lis and a sring in his stes as he

walked# .omeone said to him: "/ood 4orning+"

"I hae neer had a %ad morning" answered the oor man#

"That sounds strange" said the man to him# "I ray that you may always %e so

fortunate#"

?uickly answered the oor man: "I hae neer %een unfortunate#"

"4ay you always %e hay", said the man to him#


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"I hae neer %een unhay", answered the oor man#

"I do not understand", said the man# "*ill you kindly e!lain the arado!)"

"I hae neer had a %ad morning," said the oor man# "2or eery morning, I raise

the 0ord# The day may %e %right or dull, the weather may %e leasant or otherwise,

I am still thankful to /od# 8ou wished that I might %e always fortunate, %ut I

cannot %e unfortunate for I rejoice in eerything that the will of /od %rings to me#

I %eliee that whateer /od sends me is good+ 8ou wished me hainess, %ut I

cannot %e unhay so long as I rejoice in the will of /od, and as long as his eace

rules in my heart#"

8es, raise the 0ord in eerything that haens, and you will %e amongst the

haiest of men on earth# 8ou will hae the true joy of life and you will kee

radiating it whereer you go+

@oncluded: Author: .ri# J#P# Vaswani

HOW to OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS a Practical Guide Who Wants to Overcome Temptations

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