Habit refers to repeated patterns of thought or behavior across spiritual traditions. Many traditions converge on the idea that habits shape character and destiny. They diverge in their approaches to forming and breaking habits.
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By that very former practice, one is carried onward even against one's will. Even one who merely wishes to know of yoga goes beyond the Brahman expressed in words.
पूर्वाभ्यासेन तेनैव ह्रियते ह्यवशोऽपि सः | जिज्ञासुरपि योगस्य शब्दब्रह्मातिवर्तते ||६-४४||
Destiny is created by a person's thoughts, habits, and character.
Yogic practices alone are not enough; purification of the heart is essential. Self-reflection is necessary to eliminate faults and bad habits. Correct your flaws, such as selfishness, pride, jealousy, and hatred. Cultivate your heart by sharing with others and engaging in selfless service, which will lead to a pure mind.
O Goddess, I have revealed to you the pure truth that is the Guru Gītā. One should always recite it oneself, for it destroys the affliction of worldly existence.
गुरुगीतात्मकं देवि शुद्धतत्त्वं मयोदितम् । भवव्याधिविनाशार्थं स्वयमेव जपेत्सदा
The human soul is habituated to things, and fond of custom, and when anything has become habitual to the soul it soon grows natural, and when it has grown natural it becomes a veil.
By following Bharata with strict regularity, one will undoubtedly develop devotion to the feet of Sita and Rama and a disdain for worldly pleasures.
सीय राम पद पेमु अवसि होइ भव रस बिरति
The person who takes one meal in the morning and one at night, without eating or drinking in between, and follows this regimen for six consecutive years, abstaining from harming any creature and regularly offering libations to their sacred fire every day, undoubtedly achieves success.
The person who donates a harmless cow, which gives birth to good calves at regular intervals and doesn't run away from home, and gives a brass vessel for milking, will enjoy heaven for as many years as the number of hairs on the cow's body.
Those Brahmanas who work as physicians, or receive regular pay for worshiping deities, or live off the service of deities, or observe vows out of pride or false motives, and those who sell Soma, do not deserve to be invited.
One who is devoted to the path of liberation, is moderate in their habits, and has mastered their senses, attains the highest state that transcends the material world and is unchangeable.
The person who is addicted to worldly possessions and breaks good habits, disturbing social harmony, should be punished firmly. Anyone who tries to disobey authority, whether a servant, son, or even a saint, should be punished or even killed for their sinful nature.
A person's individual judgment is overruled by established laws and customs. Wise people never go against what is acceptable according to these norms.
Right thought is a necessary step, and once it becomes a habit, free from errors of the senses, desires, old associations, and intellectual prejudices, the understanding becomes purified and no longer poses a significant obstacle to further knowledge.
In some individuals, the physical aspect of their being controls their mind, will, and actions, resulting in a person focused primarily on their physical life, needs, and habits, with little consideration for anything beyond that, limiting their other potential and tendencies.
The limited amount of imperfect sympathy, knowledge, and good-will that comes from the law, need, and habit of association is not enough for truly effective action.
However, our mind or this part of it still clings to its practical habit or concept of reality, which only accepts the factual and actual as true and tends to consider everything else as unreal.
When we sleep, our surface physical part, which is originally derived from the Inconscient, lapses back towards the Inconscient, entering this subconscious element. There, it finds impressions of the past or persistent habits of mind and experiences, all of which have left their mark on our subconscious and have the power to recur.
We need a clear, pure, subtle, and flexible mind to avoid falling into the common mental habit of distorting truth.
If we look closely at the workings of nature and put aside our habitual acceptance of things as they are, we find that everything it does is a miracle, an act of incomprehensible magic.
If the mental consciousness were completely ignorant, it would not experience dissatisfaction, as it could be content in a customary way, unaware of its own ignorance and the vast ocean of consciousness and knowledge that surrounds it.