Renunciation is the wise path trod by the devotee who willingly gives up the lesser for the greater. He relinquishes passing sense pleasures for the sake of ethernal joys. Renunciation is not an end in itself, but clear the ground for the manifestation of soul qualities. No one should fear the rigors of self-denial; the spiritual blessings that follow are great and incomparable. - Paramahansa Yogananda, "Self-Realization Magazine"
To engage in actions without desire for their fruit is true renunciation. God is the Divine Renunciant, for He carries on all the activities of the universe without attachment to them. Anyone aspiring to Self-realization must act and live for the Lord without being emotionally involved in His drama of creation. - Paramahansa Yogananda, "Self-Realization Magazine"
The saints stress nonattachment so that one strong point of material attachment may not prevent our attaining the entire kingdom of God. Renunciation does not meaning giving up everything; it means giving up small pleasures for eternal bliss. Paramahansa Yogananda, "How You Can Talk With God"
Renunciation is not an end, it is the means to an end. The real renunciant is he who lives for God first, regardless of his outer mode of existence. To love God and conduct your life to please Him - that is what matters. When you will do that, you will know the Lord. - Paramahansa Yogananda, "Man's Eternal Quest"
At heart renounce everything, and realize that you are just playing a part in the intricate Cosmic Movie, a part that sooner or later must be over. You will then forget it as a dream. Our environment produces the delusion in us of the seeming importance of our present roles and our present tests. Rise above that temporal consciousness. So realize God within that He becomes the only influence in your life. - Paramahansa Yogananda, "Rajarsi Janakananda: Great Western Yogi"
A lazy person never finds God. An idle mind becomes the workshop of the devil. But persons who work for a living without any wish for the fruit of action, desiring God alone, are true renunciants. - Paramahansa Yogananda, "Saying of Paramahansa Yogananda"
It is all right to enjoy life. The secret of happiness is not to become attached to anything. Enjoy the smell of the flower, but see God in it. I have kept the consciousness of the senses only that in using them I may always perceive and think of God. "Mine eyes were made to behold Thy beauty everywhere. My ears were made to hear Thine omnipresent voice."
That is Yoga, union with God. It is not necessary to go to the forest to find Him. Wordly habits will hold us fast wherever we may be until we free ourselves from them. The yogi learn to find God in the cave of his heart. Wherever he goes, he carried with him the blissful consciousness of God's presence. - Paramahansa Yogananda, "Man's Eternal Quest"
