How to Be a Success

The Wisdom of Yogananda

Paramhansa Yogananda

• Publisher: Crystal Clarity Publishers
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781565896208
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Religions

How to Be a Success

Paramhansa Yogananda

Is there a power that can reveal hidden veins of riches and uncover treasures of which we never dreamed? Is there a force that we can call upon to give success, health, happiness, and spiritual enlightenment?

The saints and sages of India taught that there is such a power.

In this volume of all-new, never-before-released material, Paramhansa Yogananda—who has millions of followers around the world—shares how we can achieve the highest success of material and spiritual efficiency.

Chapter 5

Tools of Success

Concentration

It does not take long to develop good mental habits. In fact, by exercising strong will, mental habits of health, success, or wisdom may be formed at once. By concentrating on legitimate necessities with perseverance, courage, and faith in God and oneself, one can materialize them at will.

Mental efficiency depends upon the art of concentration. Man must know the scientific method of concentration by which he can disengage his attention from objects of distraction and focus it on one thing at a time. By the power of concentration, man can use the untold power of mind to accomplish that which he desires, and he can guard all doors through which failure may enter. All men of success have been men of great concentration, men who would dive deeply into their problems and discover the pearls of right solutions. Most people are suffocated by distractions and are unable to find the pearls of success.

However, one may be a man of concentration and power and may dive deep into the sea of problems, but still may not find the pearl of success. There are many men who have powerful concentration, but they do not know where to find success. This is where another factor in acquiring prosperity comes into consideration.

Most people live almost mechanically, unconscious of any ideal or plan of life, and without any apparent knowledge of spiritual truth. You must never forget that an important part of your equipment is your purpose in life. The whole world stands aside for the person who knows where he is going and is determined to get there. When you have resolved definitely upon a purpose in life, you must make everything serve that purpose.

The goal of your material life should be maximum business efficiency, peace, health, and general success. Material prosperity consists in acquiring the mental efficiency by which you can gain all these things at will. Great wealth does not necessarily bring health, peace, or efficiency, but acquirements of efficiency and peace are sure to bring balanced material success.

Do not expect to be successful in all your attempts the first time. Some ventures may fail, but others will succeed. Success and failure are interrelated. One cannot exist without the other. With concentrated energy you must approach your nearest problem or duty, and do your utmost to accomplish whatever is needed. This must be your philosophy of life.

Will Power

A strong will, by its dynamic force, creates a way for its fulfillment. By its very strength, the will sets into motion certain vibrations in the atmosphere. Nature, with its laws of order, system, and efficiency, then creates circumstances favorable to the individual who exercises will power. Will derives its strength from an honest purpose, lofty motives, and the noble concern to do good for the world at large. A strong will is never stifled—it always finds a way.

Know that anything others do, you can do also. Once I was having dinner with friends. Everything went well until the Roquefort cheese was served. In India we eat only freshly made cheese, so I viewed the little green specks of mold in the cheese with great suspicion. My soul rebelled against it, and my brain cells warned me to have nothing to do with it. But as I looked at my American friends eating the cheese, I mustered courage and took a lump of it into my mouth.

No sooner had it landed there than all the aristocratic delicacies that had preceded it rebelled. There was great clamor and commotion within me, and they let me know that if “Mr. Roquefort” joined them in the stomach, they would all leave the body. I dared not open my mouth, but just nodded in answer to my host’s question of whether I liked the cheese! Then, as I looked intently at the faces of my friends eating Roquefort cheese pleasantly, I suddenly made up my mind. Concentrating deeply, I told my brain cells, “I am your boss; you are my servants. You shall obey me—this foolishness must stop.” The next minute I was enjoying “Mr. Roquefort’s” company pleasantly, and now he always receives a warm welcome when he enters my “hall of digestion.”

A wish is a desire that you think cannot be fulfilled. Will means desire plus energy, or “I act until that desire is fulfilled.” How few people actually will! You must not use your will power wrongly; your will must be guided by wisdom.

In this life people are following many pathways to one common goal. Some want money, some want health, and others want fame. Various are the desires, but few have the power to accomplish what they wish. How desires come and go in your brain! Do you realize that? When desires corrode your heart, and when you feel it is impossible for you to fulfill them, they are called wishes. Sometimes you hear someone say, “I wish I were the King of Egypt,” or something else just as impossible. Those are wishes that you know cannot be fulfilled.

Many people think that they shouldn’t use their own will power, but it is not possible to avoid using the will. In order to eat, you use your will power; in order to move, you use your will power. When the power to will leaves the body, one dies. The only time you cannot use your will power is when you are under the influence of chloroform.

If you are afflicted with a chronic case of indifference, make up your mind at once to “snap out of it.” Be merry—think of something amusing until you find yourself bubbling over with laughter. Exercise self-control: learn to substitute, at will, joy for sorrow, love for hate, courage for fear, openmindedness for prejudice.

Do you know why people fail? It is because they give up. I often say that if I had no job, I would shake the whole world so that it would be glad to give me a job just to keep me quiet. You must exercise your will power. If you make up your mind and go like a flame, everything will be burned up in your path. The man of realization walks where bullets fly, with the Divine Will behind him.

Rouse this will power from the vale of ignorance. How can you develop it? Take up one little thing that you think you cannot do. Try with all your might to accomplish that one thing. Then, when you have accomplished that, go on to something bigger and keep on exercising your will power. If your difficulty is great, say: “Lord, give me the power to conquer all my difficulties.” You must use your will power, no matter what you are, or who you are. You must make up your mind. Use this will power both in business and in meditation.

This will power lies buried within you, and if you use it, there is nothing that you cannot accomplish. It is will power that has created everything—even your body. It is the will that leads you from one desire to another until with all your might you try to succeed. How few people develop that will power!

Carrying a thought with dynamic will power means thinking that thought until it emerges from the brain and takes shape. When your will power continuously develops that way, when you can heal others by your will power, and when you can control your destiny by your will power, you can say to a mountain, “Go into the depths of the sea,” and it will be so. Tremendous things you can do!

It isn’t what you own, but what you can acquire at will, that is real prosperity. A yogi may not have many material possessions, but by his ability to focus his mind, he can create at will the financial success he needs. (Of course, the yogi does not entertain selfish desires; his only wish is that God’s love reign in his soul forever.)

When your will is attuned to wisdom, it is guided by Divine Will. That is what Jesus meant when he said, “Let Thy will be done.”

Lazy people think that prayer alone can solve all their difficulties, but you must exercise your will power—strive to attune it to the Divine Will. When your will revolves continuously around a certain thing, it becomes DYNAMIC will. This is the will that Jesus and all great saints have had.

Behind your will is the will of God. Before you will to do a thing, reason as to what you should do. Make sure that you are directing your will toward accomplishing something good and helpful to you. Don’t be passive. Those who are passive have converted themselves into stones. Your will was given to you so that you might use it and become a conqueror. Remember, in your will is the will of God.

Say to yourself: I will do everything with my own will, which is a reflection of divine will within me.

In your heart you must love nothing more than God. If you want God, you must use your will to cast away from your heart everything but God. If you want God, nothing wrong can touch you. Remember, you only want one thing: “May Thy love shine forever on the sanctuary of my devotion, and may I be able to awaken Thy love in all hearts.” That is my only prayer. I don’t even pray for my body. I don’t want to enjoy God by myself, but I want to establish the consciousness of God in the hearts of men.

So remember, dear friend, that the greatest will is to will for God alone. God is imperishable and with God every good will come. Develop your will power. Turn your will power away from desires, and know this life is but a dream. Make up your mind to will for God.

Again and again you must send the shells of your prayer and will power to break the ramparts of God’s silence. He is castled behind silence, but if you send shell after shell of meditation and concentration, that wall will break and God’s glory will burst forth.

Man’s will can work within the boundaries of his own little circle of family, environment, world conditions, and destiny, but Divine Will can change the course of destiny, wake the dead, and change the course of the solar or stellar systems. By deep meditation and by ...