If at this moment you could completely calm your body, your thoughts, and your emotions, you would instantly become aware of your true Self, the soul, and of your great body of the universe, throbbing with the joy of God....Isn’t it strange, that the joy of God is there, yet you cannot feel it? The reason you do not know His Bliss is that you are intoxicated with ego feeling (chitta)....

Your real nature is calmness. You have put on a mask of restlessness: the agitated state of your consciousness resulting from the stimuli of feelings. You are not that mask; you are pure, calm Spirit. It is time you remember who you are: the blessed soul, a reflection of Spirit. Take off the mask of feelings. Face your Self.
Whenever you become angry or filled with hate you don a guise of evil. A person who gets angry enough wants to kill. He doesn’t want to, really—that is, his soul doesn’t want to—but because the soul has identified itself with feeling, his anger makes him think so. Therefore it is not good to remain in the ordinary state of human consciousness, subject to such violent emotions. You imprison yourself in various moods, and this is the cause of all your sorrows. To escape, you have to dissolve the feelings and emotions connected with body consciousness. Meditation is the way.

If you want to attain the unchangeable, imperturbable state of Spirit, be thou always of even mind. “O Arjuna! The relativities of existence have been overcome, even here in this world, by those of fixed equal-mindedness. Thereby are they enthroned in Spirit—verily, the taintless, the perfectly balanced Spirit.”*

Man’s outer behavior reflects his inner life....It is only by control of one’s life that the soul experiences happiness and peace….So practice self-control. If you don’t, you will find yourself constantly carried away on the waves of emotion.

What Are Emotions?

Emotions are personalized thoughts reacting to the materialized ideas of God’s creation.

God, the Master Hypnotist, through His power of maya (cosmic delusion) has suggested to individualized souls to visualize the universe with all its intricacies and details. The perceptions of individualized consciousness, being personalized by avidya (individual delusion), become elaborated by feeling. Under the influence of the sensory mind, feeling expresses itself as emotions—such as fear, attachment, repulsion, desire. The Master Hypnotist did not suggest that individualized souls be afraid or courageous, miserable or happy. These are their own creations.

Yoga Gives Freedom From Emotional Reactiveness

Emotional sensitivity is the silent cause of all suffering. To give strength to creation as a reality by emotional involvement in it is foolishness.

Sensitiveness expresses itself in a lack of control over the nervous system. A thought of being offended runs through the mind and the nerves rebel against it. In reacting, some persons seethe inwardly with anger or hurt feelings and show no irritation outwardly. Others express their emotions in an obvious and instant reaction in the muscles of their eyes and face—and often in a sharp retort of their tongue as well. In either case, to be touchy is to make oneself miserable, and to create a negative vibration that also adversely affects others. To be able always to spread an aura of goodness and peace should be the motive of life. Even if there is good reason for being excited because of mistreatment, one who instead controls himself in such a situation is master of himself.

Man’s egoistic feelings, expressing as likes and dislikes, are entirely responsible for the bondage of the soul to the body and earthly environment. His cognizing intelligence is a mere registrar of experiences, in a disinterested, academic way....Feeling [is] the faculty that passes judgment on the experience in terms of pain or pleasure of the body, sorrow or happiness of the mind, according to habitual attitudes of likes and dislikes.

By the practice of yoga man frees himself from the reactions of likes and dislikes by filling his heart with unchanging ecstatic divine joy.

You may say, “If we do away with our feelings and likes and dislikes, won’t we become like dumb matter, useless to the world?”...No....When you have mastery of your feelings you abide in your true state. The true state of the Self, the soul, is bliss, wisdom, love, peace. It is to be so happy that no matter what you are doing you enjoy it. Isn’t that much better than to blunder through the world like a restless demon, unable to find satisfaction in anything? When centered in your true self, you do every task and enjoy all good things with the joy of God.

Not by restlessness or emotional reactions, but by calmness, by deep trust in God, we reach the yogic state of an equilibrated being.

On Sundays you learn about the divine law of forgiveness: if you are slapped on the left cheek, turn the right cheek also. But do you practice this in everyday life? or do you think it is foolish to do so? Experiment. When you retaliate by giving the other person a slap, you feel terrible; your action is just as bad as the other person’s....Why should you take on the contagion of the hatred of him who slaps you? Why should you disrupt your mental peace? Isn’t it better to be able to say: “I am happy within myself because, in spite of your blows, I have done no harm to you and have wished you well.” Though it is easier to slap in return for a slap, remember that the aftereffects of such a reaction—loss of mental peace, and physiological disturbance—are not worth the momentary satisfaction of revenge. When you refrain from retaliating, you will find that you have calmed down your enemy also; whereas if you hit back, you only rouse his emotions more.
So to be in control of your emotions is important to happiness. Then no one can get you angry, no one can make you jealous....You have experimented with your thoughts, and you know what treasure of peace you have within.

Transmute Emotions Into Power for Achievement

“Aren’t your teachings about controlling the emotions dangerous?” a student asked. “Many psychologists claim that suppression leads to mental maladjustments and even to physical illness.”
The Master replied: “Suppression is harmful—holding the thought that you want something but doing nothing constructive to get it. Self-control is beneficial—patiently replacing wrong thoughts by right ones, changing reprehensible actions to helpful ones.”

Maintain an even mind without becoming emotional. Emotionalism must be converted into power, into strength of mind.

As an ignorant man does not know how to melt crude ores and refine gold for various uses, so the unwise individual does not know how to convert crude feelings into useful powers....Hate sin and you will have self-control. Hate the sinner and you will be forsaken by God and His divine law of love.

Be Aware of Your Emotional Reactions

Observe the perpetual current of emotions and thoughts that arise within you.

During anger or worry, you might have tension in the head and palpitation of the heart, and a general muscular contraction throughout the body....
Fear often causes you to clench your fists and to incline your head slightly forward; and it is certain to cause palpitation of your heart....Watch for such physiological reactions.

Some people have cultivated the ability to hide their true feelings because they don’t want to expose themselves to others....All those who come to me for training I place in certain situations to see how their minds and feelings will react.

In India, a man who had a bad temper came to me. He was a specialist in slapping his bosses when he lost his temper, so he also lost one job after another. He would become so uncontrollably irate that he would throw at whoever bothered him anything that was handy. He asked me for help. I told him, “The next time you get angry, count to one hundred before you act.” He tried it, but came back to me and said, “I get more angry when I do that. While I am counting, I am blind with rage for having to wait so long.” His case looked hopeless.
Then I told him to practice Kriya Yoga, with this further instruction: “After practicing your Kriya, think that the divine Light is going into your brain, soothing it, calming your nerves, calming your emotions, wiping away all anger. And one day your temper tantrums will be gone.” Not long after that, he came to me again, and this time he said, “I am free from the habit of anger. I am so thankful.”
I decided to test him. I arranged for some boys to pick a quarrel with him. I hid myself in the park along the route where he used to pass regularly, so that I could observe. The boys tried again and again to goad him into a fight, but he wouldn’t respond. He kept his calmness.

One who is naturally calm does not lose his sense of reason, justice, or humor under any circumstances. He can always separate sentiment or wishful thinking from fact. He is not led astray by the honeyed tongues of dishonest men with improbable schemes for acquiring unearned wealth. He does not poison his bodily tissues with anger or fear, which adversely affect circulation. It is a well-proven fact that the milk of an angry mother can have a harmful effect on her child. What more striking proof can we ask for, that violent emotions will finally reduce the body to an ignominious wreck?
Poise is a beautiful quality. We should pattern our life by a triangular guide: calmness and sweetness are the two sides; the base is happiness. Every day, one should remind himself: “I am a prince of peace, sitting on the throne of poise, directing my kingdom of activity.”

Balancing the Qualities of "Heart and "Head"

Any time you are making a decision or taking action, ask yourself if you are doing it through understanding, or through emotion or some other prejudicial influence on your mind.

Two beautiful faces are attracted to each other; she wears a lot of make-up and he has a nice car, and so they marry. But after a time, they see the marriage was only between the rouge and the car; there was no union of hearts, minds, and souls. People are fooled into following paths of unhappiness because of faulty reasoning.
Reason is also often befogged by prejudices. If your reason is clear, you will not mistake your preconceived likes and dislikes for discernments of truth. Be calm all the time and avoid excitable emotionalism, which brings on faulty reasoning. When reason goes awry, you are liable to do nothing or anything—and painfully regret it later.

Emotion is not love; emotion is distorted feeling that will lead you to do the wrong thing. And understanding that is guided solely by the intellect is coldblooded; it too will teach you to do wrong....If your understanding is governed by both heart and head, then you have clear vision to see yourself and others.

In every being there exists a masculine and a feminine nature. The masculine or positive side reveals itself as the powers of discrimination, self-control, exacting judgment—qualities that express or respond to reason. The negative or feminine nature consists of feeling—love, sympathy, kindness, mercy, joy. In the ideal being, these two aspects are perfectly balanced. But if reason lacks feeling, it becomes calculating, harsh, judgmental; and if feeling lacks reason it becomes blind emotion.

It is only by developing both pure reason and pure feeling that you can reach God and truth....By successful meditation one attains this balance within himself, or herself, for it is already there, hidden in the soul.

Emotional Maturity in Family and Social Life

When someone comes to me in a violent state, dancing with anger, I can see that he is suffering. No matter what I would say, he wouldn’t understand because of his agitation. But if I have control over myself, I can humor him until I have calmed him and made him receptive to reason.

In New York there was a Hindu writer who couldn’t stand anyone else. He was always fighting with somebody. One day he became quarrelsome with me. He started by arguing with my friends, and then burst through the door into my room and began insulting me. “How is business?” he asked, implying that I must be getting a lot of money from my lectures and classes.
It is not the money itself that is good or bad, but the use of it that makes it right or wrong. You can use it for good or for evil. Everything that has come to me I have given to God’s work.
As this writer continued to insult me in the grossest terms, my friends were giving me looks that meant, “If you just say the word we will usher him out the door!” I was worrying that they might lose their self-control and throw him out. So when he made further accusations, I started answering, “Maybe you are right.” I didn’t say he was right; merely, “Maybe you are right.”
After some time, I asked my friends to leave the room. The writer slumped back on his chair and said, “For the first time I have been licked.”
“Don’t think I am not going to give it to you,” I replied. “Tell me, why is it that an intelligent man like you behaves in this way? You were only advertising your bad behavior, and showing what kind of person you are. I was concerned only for you, that my friends didn’t harm you.”
“You are right,” he answered. “Tell me more.”
So I said, “You know, vultures soar high in the sky, but their whole mind is on the carrion on the ground below. They wait their chance; then swoop down to pick at that dead meat. That is the way you behave. Wherever people are gossiping and fighting, there you love to go and pick at the bones. You are known everywhere for your bad behavior.”
“What should I do?” he asked.
I answered: “Wherever there is gossip or quarreling, leave at once; don’t contribute to the fight....If you refuse to fight, then who can fight with you?”

To have calm feeling doesn’t mean that you always smile and agree with everyone no matter what they say—that you regard truth but don’t want to annoy anybody with it. This is going to the extreme. Those who try in this way to please everyone, with the desire of getting praise for their good nature, do not necessarily have control of feeling. It is good to be pleasant and agreeable if your behavior is sincere. But agreeing with others all the time because you are afraid to speak truth, lest you displease, cannot be called control of feeling. Whoever has control of feeling follows truth, shares that truth wherever he can, and avoids annoying unnecessarily anyone who would not be receptive anyway. He knows when to speak and when to be silent, but he never compromises his own ideals and inner peace. Such a man is a force for great good in this world.

Once in Boston I was invited to speak at the silver wedding anniversary celebration of a supposedly ideally happy couple. The moment I entered their home I felt something was wrong. I asked two trusted students to quietly observe the couple throughout the evening. They told me that when the husband and wife came before others they smiled and addressed each other sweetly, “Yes, my dear,” “Of course, my dear”; but when they thought they were alone in the kitchen or pantry, they fought like anything.
So I talked with them: “Why do you behave like this? I feel great inharmony in this home. There is a lot of iron in this silver wedding.” At first they were offended. But I pursued the matter. “What do you gain by fighting all the time?” I gave them a good talking to. They approached me later and asked my forgiveness. I told them, “You stay together just because of your reputation as an ideal couple, but I want you to truly live that way, for your own happiness.” One’s ideals should be lived in behavior, thought, and speech.

Frankly, people should not marry until they have learned to have some control of their emotions. The schools should educate young students in this art, and in how to develop calmness and concentration. The American home is breaking up because these things are not taught—neither at home nor in the schools. How can two people who are habituated to nervous activity live together without almost destroying each other with their nervousness? In the beginning of a marriage, the bride and groom are carried along on the emotions of excitement and passion. But after a while, when these inevitably start to wane, the true natures of the couple begin to come out and the quarreling and disillusionments set in.
The heart requires true love, friendship, and, above all, peace.

When anger comes, set your machinery of calmness in motion to manufacture the antidotes of peace, love, and forgiveness which banish anger. Think of love, and reflect that even as you do not want others to be angry with you, neither do you wish others to feel your ugly anger. When you become Christ-like and look upon all humanity as little brothers hurting one another (“for they know not what they do”), you cannot feel angry with anyone. Ignorance is the mother of all anger.
Develop metaphysical reason and destroy anger. Look upon the anger-arousing agent as a child of God; think of him as a little five-year-old baby brother who perhaps has unwittingly stabbed you. You should not feel a desire to stab this little brother in return. Mentally destroy anger by saying: “I will not poison my peace with anger; I will not disturb my habitual joy-giving calmness with wrath.”

Love people in spite of their behavior. For those who fail this test, it is their doom. The fault lies with self, not with others. No matter how perfect you try to make a place, you will see that there will always be somebody coming to interfere. That is the law of this world. How many have tried to shake me and disrupt the harmony of my work, but have not been able to do so. Why? Because I follow the laws of Christ. No one can hurt me if I don’t wish to be hurt.

If someone insults you, or calls you a devil, that doesn’t make you one. He who calls you a devil is being used by the devil. The best thing under such circumstances is to remain quiet....
And inside don’t feel hatred or anger. If someone speaks to you in hurtful language, remain quiet; or say, “I am sorry if I have done something to offend you,” and then remain silent....You have no idea what strength comes from such self-control and love.

Emotion or Devotion in the Search for God?

Let not your heart beat with the emotion of the world, but with the thrill of divine love. That love is unsurpassable.

Some people pray with excited emotion and become intoxicated with the exuberance of their own passion. Satisfied by the temporary stimulation of emotion, they misinterpret their own blind self-arousal as inspiration from God. It is natural and good, of course, to shed tears for God in privacy, if those tears are born of deep love and longing for Him; but true feeling loses its force if allowed to dissipate itself in emotional outbursts, hysterical crying, or frenzied actions. Unbridled emotion is wholly unrelated to the visitation of God through intuition. Emotionalism brings external activity and excitement to body and mind; real devotion brings inner withdrawal, centering the consciousness in the calm joy of the soul.

One who loves God lives in the soul, his true Self. He does everything for God, nothing for himself. He loves everybody, because he sees the world as the Lord’s cosmic show. He can never be provoked to say or do anything in anger or with egotism, but only with desire to be of help to all. That is the attitude you must have. It has to be lived. It cannot come by any amount of pretense, but only when you see God in everyone—when you love everybody as a part of your love for God.

What you feel in meditation you must keep with you all the time. Too often, people meditate halfheartedly as a matter of habit; and as soon as they are finished with the mechanics of meditation they go back to their old state. You must plumb the depths of the peace and joy of meditation, and then hold on to the calm aftereffects. Then only will you change yourself....
Deep meditation and perfect control of feeling by holding on to the calm aftereffects of meditation—these lead to samadhi, the ecstasy of Self-realization and oneness with God.