Self-Control

1. The more you fly from nature, the more she follows you; and if you do not care for her at all. She becomes your slave.

2. Do not let the thoughts grasp you; stand aside, and they will die away.

3. Absolute control of nature, and nothing short of it, must be the goal.

4. Stand as a witness, as a student, and observe the phenomena of nature.

5. That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

6. We must be the masters, and not the slaves of nature; neither body nor mind must be our master, nor must we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body’s.

7. Man is born to conquer nature and not to follow it.

8. Purity of the mind must be insisted upon if you would control it.

9. He who has conquered the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his slave.

10. Nature is conquered by man everyday.

11. Nature must fall at your feet and you must trample on it and be free and glorious by going beyond.

12. The idea that the goal is far off, far beyond nature, attracting us all towards it, has to be brought nearer and nearer, without degrading or degenerating it. The God of heaven becomes the God in nature, and the God in nature becomes the God who is nature, and the God who is nature becomes the God within this temple of the body, and the God dwelling in the temple of the body at last becomes the temple itself, becomes the soul and man--------------and there it reaches the last words it can teach…………………..Nature never has power over you. Like a frightened child you were dreaming that it was throttling you, and the release from this fear is the goal: not only to see it intellectually, but to perceive it, actualize it, much more definitely than we perceive this world. Then we shall know that we are free, and then alone, will all difficulties vanish, then will all the perplexities of heart be smoothed away, all crookedness made straight, then will vanish the delusion of manifoldness and nature; and Maya, instead of being a horrible, hopeless dream, as it is now, will become beautiful, and the earth instead of being a prison-house, will become our play-ground; and even dangers and difficulties, even all sufferings, will become defied and show us their real nature, will show us that behind everything, as the substance of everything He is standing, and that He is the one real Self.

13. Control the mind, cut off the senses, then you are a Yogi; after that, all the rest will come. Refuse to hear, to see, to smell, to taste; take away the mental power from the external organs.

14. To control our passions we have to control them at their very roots; then alone shall we be able to burn out their very seeds.