Habit Is a Pitiless Dictator by Paramhansa Yoganand

Paramhansa Yogananda

Commandments to refrain from harmful experiences are generally futile. Whenever you order a person not to do something, he immediately wants to do it. The taste of forbidden fruits is sweet in the beginning, but in the end, bitter. Yet no matter how much suffering people experience, they go on doing the same self-harming things. Once you have established a liking for a certain sensory experience, the habit sits like a dictator in the brain and commands you to indulge yourself, even though it is against your best interests. You don’t want to repeat an act, and yet you do it. Try never to let yourself reach a point where you become such a victim of wrong habits. You must be the master of yourself; do not let any habit control you. Whenever the desire for a particular sensory experience becomes habitual, it is time to stop that practice.

I used to be fond of ginger ale because it reminded me of our lemonade in India. Some students arranged to have this beverage on hand for me wherever I went. One day I found my supply was all gone, and I missed it. “Mr. Ginger Ale,” I said, “you have gone too far, and I hadn’t even realized it! Goodbye.” The next day I purposely drank a little ginger ale as a test, and it tasted terrible. My thought of the previous day had been so strong that the desire was banished immediately.

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I never miss anything that is taken away from me or that I voluntarily give up. No physical comfort can bind me. I have tried it out. You must be able to pass through all experience of life without attachment. Lord Krishna said: “The man of self-control, roaming among material objects with subjugated senses, and devoid of attraction and repulsion, attains an unshakable inner calmness.” [Bhagavad Gita II:64]. Any time you have to have something – a soft bed, a pillow, or whatever – remember that you are putting yourself into slavery; and when your will and discrimination are held captive by binding sense attachments, you will lose the infinite kingdom of God. Jesus is still enjoying the transcendental ecstasy that he experienced when he resurrected himself in the Lord. But those who exist in ignorance, subject to the pressures of desires, will continue that way life after life until they resist worldly seductions.

You should be careful not to let anything hurt your true happiness. Corroding emotions of anger, greed, and jealousy, and overstimulation by sex, alcohol, or drugs are extremely detrimental to you, for they prevent the realization of soul joy. Never abuse the sensory powers by overindulgence, if you would be really happy. “Ever fed, never satisfied; never fed, ever satisfied” is a true axiom about unwholesome sense experiences.