TWELVE KEYS TO HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS
Excerpt from  " SUCCESS IN LIFE -  A Young Person's Guide "  by SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA

1. DEVELOP A CLEAR CUT AIM

First, you must form a correct conception of how you wish to develop and perfect
yourself. You must cultivate a clear-cut idea of what you want to become. This will give you a
definite and clear-cut aim in life. Without such an aim, your life cannot move forward
powerfully and progressively. You will be pulled in different directions and your mind will be
distracted and much energy will be wasted. You can avoid all of these if you have a well-defined
aim or a set of a few definite objectives. Then there is no confusion in your way. You know-what
you wish to attain and in which direction to proceed. Therefore, you also understand what
is right and what is wrong, what is desirable and what is undesirable, what is to be accepted and
what is to be rejected in moving towards your aim of life. Such definiteness gives you great
inner strength. It develops will-power. It makes you a positive personality. There will be no
more negative trends in your life.

2. DRAW UP A WISE PROGRAMME

The second important thing is to draw for yourself a wise programme of life to help you
to develop along the desired lines and to gradually attain the aim of life. Such a programme will
provide a plan of action in meeting with all problems that face the young student, the growing
youth, to deal with all situations that arise in your life, to meet and overcome temptations with
firm mind and to surmount obstacles with boldness and self-confidence. The power to do this
exists within you already in its latent state. It has to be unfolded and activated. A proper
understanding of your own mind, its behaviour and habits, and the law that governs the inner
activity of the mind become very, very helpful in living this wonderful and interesting period of
your life.

3. GUARD YOUR HEALTH

Now we come to the factors upon which depends the proper working out of your
programme of life. Health is the key factor. Without health you can do nothing. Without health
you can succeed neither in studies, nor in character-building, nor in sports and social activities,
nor in home-life. Health is a matter of careful living. It is got not only from things you eat and
drink, but it is also obtained from your wise and careful avoiding of such things that are not good
for your health. Eat for your health. Eat for your strength and not for your taste. Eat to live and
to serve. Do not live to eat. Eat simple food. Go to bed early and get up early. Acquire healthy
habits. Do regular exercise daily. Be moderate in eating and drinking. Chew your food
thoroughly. Do not overeat. Do not eat without hunger. Avoid things that do not agree with
you.

4. CONSERVE YOUR ENERGY

Then you must conserve your energy. Never waste your energy in useless pursuits. Too
much talking and gossiping, aimless wandering, habit of worrying, losing your temper
frequently—all these drain away your energy. Give up, all habits that are likely to have an
adverse effect on health. Smoking and illegal drugs are a curse upon students. Be established in
perfect Brahmacharya (purity). Abstain from sexual activity.
Preserve health, conserve energy, develop physical and
mental strength and thus lay the foundation of a successful life.

5. VALUE CHARACTER

Value character more than anything else on the earth. Be perfectly truthful. Do not, let
your speech be vulgar or rude. Speech must be clean, polite, and joy-giving. Cast away egoism,
pride and selfishness. These three form the blemish upon human character. They arise out of
ignorance and greed. Ignorance makes you proud and egoistic. Greed makes you selfish. They
lead to dishonour and unhappiness and failure in life.
By leading a simple life and having a cheerful disposition under all circumstances, you
can overcome selfishness and egoism. Your life and conduct must be the cause of happiness in
other people.

6. ADOPT VIRTUES

Adopt certain virtues and principles and stick to them in all your activities of life. Never
leave these principles. Never move away from virtue. These principles will be your true friends
and helpers. They will assure your progress and ultimately grant you supreme happiness and
success. Periodically make certain simple resolutions to practice those virtues. Maintain a
personal diary wherein you make a careful note of your day-to-day conduct, speech, and
behaviour. This will reveal to you how far you are advancing and show you your mistakes and
where you must correct yourself. Such a diary will be your friend. It will reveal your weakness
and teach you humility.

7. PRAY TO GOD

Pray to God and ask Him for inner strength and guidance. God’s Divine Name has
immense power. Repeat His Name always and remember him under all situations.
Remember God constantly with love in your heart. Have absolute faith in your
inseparable relationship with Him. Cultivate constant remembrance of God by seeing His
invisible presence in and through all things in this universe around you. God is not some remote
reality far away from you. But God is here and now. He is all pervading Reality, the ever
present Divine Spirit pervading this entire universe. And also He is your innermost self. He is
closer to you than your very breath. Never forget this. Even when you are engaged in your daily
activity, begin to feel the presence of God.

8. REFLECT UPON IDEAL PERSONALITIES

Reflect upon the lives of ideal personalities. Draw strength and inspiration from their
lives and teachings. Try to mould your life upon their pattern. Always have a great ideal before
your mind. Think of it at all times-morning, noon, evening, and night. Develop it into the
constant background of your thought. Then your mind will never be idle or vacant. This is
important because right thinking is the key to noble living.

9. BE KIND

Out of your life there must flow out ceaseless love, kindness, and compassion. Never
hurt anyone. Never hurt even the least one of God’s creatures either by thought, word, or action.
Even in dreams you should never think of harming or hurting any creature. This sublime
principle of non-injury, harmlessness, is given a very great place in the eternal Vedic way of life.
Be a centre of help, be a centre of benefit, be a centre of happiness and peace to all. Never injure,
never hurt, never harm any living creature.

10. BE ABSOLUTELY TRUTHFUL

You must be rooted in absolute truthfulness. Even at the cost of your life, never utter
falsehood. Never be dishonest in any of your dealings with anyone in this world. Be a person of
integrity, of verity. Become established in truthfulness in thought, word, and deed. Truth is God.
One who practices truthfulness rigidly will attain God. God is present in this human world as the
sublime principle of truthfulness.

11. SERVE OTHERS

The vexing problems of this modern world, its clashes and conflicts, its greed and
exploitation, its hatred and hostilities, its mad craze for selfish acquisition will never cease or be
relieved until and unless there is a change of outlook in man towards his neighbours and towards
his life around him. Man makes life what it is. And life around man is but a reflection of what
he is. The only rational and lasting solution to the afflictions that beset the organized society of
civilized men is a reinstating of the spirit of selfless giving into its rightful place in your life. The
more you give of yourself, the greater will be your conquest over sorrows and sufferings and your
ascent into peace and bliss.

12. THINK NOBLY

As you think, so you will become, just as you reap what you sow. In the same way, you
will ultimately experience and attain what you constantly think and feel. Your inner thoughts
lead to outer action. Repeated actions grow into habits. Such habits become permanent qualities
in your very nature. This nature goes to form your character. Your future and your destiny is the
direct result of your character. Understand this very well. Carefully bear this in your mind.
Think and act with this knowledge. Your inner thoughts are the seeds of your ultimate destiny.
Safeguard your thoughts and feelings. Think nobly and virtuously. You will become a noble
man or woman. You will attain greatness and make your life fruitful. More than all the books
that you read and study, more than all your lessons and examinations, more important than
everything in life is the cultivation of virtue. This is the source of ultimate happiness. Become
good and great.