Is there discipline without pain? You have to get up at some point in the morning—doesn’t that involve pain? Pleasure is to keep sleeping even after the alarm has rung—is that not pleasurable?
So, all discipline is nothing but pain. It’s very well-directed pain, it’s very discrete pain, but nevertheless, all discipline involves pain. And progress, be it in the material or in the spiritual reality, depends on discipline. All progress is nothing but the art of inflicting pain upon yourself—wisely, not randomly.
Pleasure is a pattern. In fact, all patterns become patterns of pleasure. Discipline is the determination to go beyond patterns. So, pleasure has to be transcended, which means your body, your prakriti, your physical tendencies have to be transcended.
