RIGHT ACTIVITY LEADS TO HAPINESS. Worldly actions imbued with egoism utimately bring pain and disillusionment. Continual evil actions destroy man's discrimiation and understanding.
Good persons, through the incentive of spiritual joy, try to become better and better. The life of the average human being,however, is a mixture of right actions and wrong actions.
The lowest men are those who tire easily of any struggle for virtue, giving up all worthwile pursuits and sinking into the stupor of nonactivity and evil habits. Persons of tamasic nature become bewildered and increasingly ignorant, devoid of any sense of responsibility for their own welfare or the welfare of the society of which they are part.
'The wages of sin are death' That is, sinful activities leadto the death of man's happiness. Ignorance is the sin of sins because it is the mother of all misery.
Why do worldly men perform actions that produce litle joy and many troubles? Why do evil men destroy themselves with their pernicious behaviour? The answer is 'habit'-one of the most potent factors in human destiny. Many persons, in spite of their knowledge of the suffering involved, continue to indulge in injurious practices because of the iron influence of habit. In addition, such persons lack experience of the rewarding joys of the spiritual life.
As the camel eats bramble even though it makes the mouth bleed, so the sex-obsessed man indulges himself even though his health suffers, and the alcoholic drinks himself to death. The acquired taste for bad habits is not easily forsworn if one is ignorant of the incomparable nectar of the soul within him. The money-mad person destroys his happiness by continuosly seeking more wealth, not knowing that a little investment in the treasure house of sincere meditation yields lasing joys such as gold can't buy.
Thus worldly persons, in spite orf suffering in material activities, continue to be worldly; and evil men continue in their abnormal path, steeped in senseless living. Their rajasic and tamasic habits, respectively, prevent them from picturing the better joys of normal worldly activities or the superior joys of noble pursuits and sour exploration. Rajasic persons, mentally stimulated by activity and chastened by disapointment, may begin a deeper ignorance, finding sadistic pleasure in hurting themselves and others.
All persons, however,can change and improve their life through keeping good company and exercising their innate power of self-control, and through meditation on God, the Source of their being. Even a little taste of goodness will stimulate one's spiritual appetite for the Everlasting Sweetness.
Source: Paramahansa Yogananda
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