Understand in what lies your highest good. Wherever you are, whatever your responsibilities, your greatest happiness lies in living with harmony with the ideas you are taking from these teachings of Self-Realisation. Good and evil are not the creations of man, but virtue and sin are. They result from your acceptance of either good or evil. In spiritual consciousness your whole consciousness, no matter what your faults are, is turned towards good- towards God. Remember these simple guidelines:
1.Control the senses- Turn those five searchlights inwards in meditation. In that inner silence, you will know that Beauty and Bliss- beyond material imagination- that is God. The senses do not keep their promises of happiness. If you have everything in this world, you will find you still want something else; and your happiness will be a slave to your possessions. To be supremely happy and free, you must be a man of renunciation- one who is master of the senses and is not attached to possessions. True renunciation means to renounce material consciousness for spiritual consciousness. It is not exclusive, but inclusive, for to have spiritual consciousness is to possess everything that will make you truly and lastingly happy.
2.Control your habits and behaviour- A life of spiritual harmony- whether lived in the context of the individual, the ashram, the family, the nation or the world- requires willing cooperation with the rules of right behaviour, and a loving understanding and cooperation with others. The standards and rules of spiritual harmony are higher than those of material harmony. Follow them strictly. Be your own judge, and court-martial yourself. If the verdict is that you have done wrong, correct yourself. Otherwise, your bad habits and behaviour will act against you like a boomerang. Better still, guide all your actions by the inner voice of spiritual consciousness, so that you will do no wrong.
3.Live a balanced life- That is, live in harmony with the divine laws governing material and spiritual duty(let not one responsibility contradict other important duties) ;health(millions need a greater consciousness of health, for diseases are not created by God but by man breaking God’s laws) ; prosperity(include others in your own well-being) ; and human relationships. Do not leave anybody out of your love. Keep everyone in your heart, and they will keep you in theirs. You will be a king on the throne of all hearts, commanding their love and influencing them to goodness, not by force, but by your love.
Extract from the book ” The Divine Romance” by Sri Paramahansa Yogananda