Renunciation

Renunciation is the wise path trod by the devotee who willingly gives up the lesser for the greater. He relinquishes passing sense pleasures for the sake of eternal joys. Renunciation is not an end in itself, but clears the ground for the manifestation of soul qualities. No one should fear the rigors of self-denial; the spiritual blessings that follow are great and incomparable.

-- Paramahansa Yogananda, "God Talks With Arjuna--The Bhagavad Gita"

At heart renounce everything, and realize that you are just playing a part in the intricate Cosmic Movie, a part that sooner or later must be over. You will then forget it as a dream. Our environment produces the delusion in us of the seeming importance of our present roles and our present tests. Rise above that temporal consciousness. So realize God within that He becomes the only influence in your life.

-- Paramahansa Yogananda, "Rajarasi Janakananda: Great Western Yogi"

It is all right to enjoy life; the secret of happiness is not to become attached to anything. Enjoy the smell of the flower, but see God in it. I have kept the consciousness of the senses only that in using them I may always perceive and think of God. "Mine eyes were made to behold Thy beauty everywhere. My ears were made to hear Thine omnipresent voice." That is Yoga, union with God. It is not necessary to go to the forest to find Him. Worldly habits will hold us fast wherever we may be until we free ourselves from them. The yogi learns to find God in the cave of his heart.

Wherever he goes, he carries with him the blissful consciousness of God's presence.

-- Paramahansa Yogananda, "Man's Eternal Quest"

What I could not understand was why everything must go; why things that where right, that were mine, that harmed no one, why all the dear little rights and privileges must be taken away from me. But they were so taken by God. He was thrusting me out of a life of dependence upon small comforts into one that should be lived for Him alone.

--Sri Gyanamata, "God Alone: The life and Letters of a Saint"

The only thing preventing you from withdrawing your focus from this fallen world is you. Better for one to take hold of oneself and choose one's destiny, than to have no say in the matter at all. When the curtain falls on this Age, may it find you on the right side of The Choice.

~ g