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must refuse them.” That is why the saints, of their own free will, accept the hardest rules and regulations of life.
Such rules, accepted of one's own free will, give real pleasure. It makes one feel that one is beyond worldly things.
To take a cold bath on a winter morning is a joy in itself. To live without comforts and means, and to do without them one by one, also gives untold pleasure.
Can you talk with the things that give you comforts and means? Tell them, "You have made many your slaves, but you have not succeeded with me. This type of thinking will only come when one has made one's mind pure and healthy.
Owing to the good deeds done during the previous birth, we enjoy this life. But what we have received in this world is not all for enjoyment. We must learn to do without things. Be prepared to give up comforts. More effort is required in giving up than in acquiring. Great men have sung praises of those who have sacrificed everything. Here I recall an interesting story:
A king was passing by on horseback while two women were walking along the road collecting firewood. One of the women was very jovial and the other was simple and quiet.
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