|
Questions and Answers: Contentment
|
by Paramhansa Yogananda
Inner Culture, January 1940
Question: What is meant by being contented but not satisfied?—T.H.
Answer: Contentment has in it an element of cheerful renunciation. It also includes a keen realization of the possession of things that are really worth while. We attain contentment; we are not born with it. To be content does not mean passive resignation to evil, nor unnecessary and unproductive sufferings that might be cured, nor does it mean dumb submission to pain and injury, nor an expressionless existence.
Contentment and satisfaction do not come with the possession of things; neither does prosperity consist in the possession of wealth. The possession of and the care for things can become a real burden. On the other hand, the relief in the realization that we are no longer responsible for material possessions is often very keen. The perception of one's powers and limitations is in itself a source of contentment.
Habitual Wants
A created want becomes a natural want in time through habit. Whatever the want may be, it gives pain. The more wants we have, the greater the possibilities of pain, for the more wants we have, the more difficult it is to fulfill them, and the more wants that remain unfilled, the greater is the pain.
If desire finds no prospect of immediate fulfillment, or finds an obstruction, then pain immediately arises. Why do we desire and long for things? Why do we yearn for states of mind, of feeling, of soul qualities and attainments? It is because we remember that once we were perfect, and it is for that long-lost perfection that we yearn. We are all children of God.
Purpose and aim are the qualities which make or mar an individual's life. If we have a driving purpose in life, we can tap the resources of the Infinite for power, and if that stirring purpose is in tune with the oneness of all Creation, we shall come to find life growing richer and wider. Such motives build the eternal things of Spirit, and they never fail.
You Have Not Failed
If you fail while putting forth your best, your utmost cheerful effort, you have not failed. Get up and march on. You must be patient and persevering. Nothing is accomplished by those who are impatient or easily discouraged.
You may have every legitimate wish fulfilled in this life and enjoy all your possessions, provided you have them and enjoy them with the consciousness of God. Supreme knowledge is within us. No outside agency can bring it to us or take it away from us.
We can begin to know God by first knowing ourselves, and as we grow in our knowledge of God, we will advance in knowledge of ourselves. It is the nature of God to express His perfection through man, but man's mind is so filled with the outer things of life that there is no time or place for the inner Real Self to come forth.
Since the attainment of health, success, and happiness by material methods is limited and uncertain, you must learn how to receive health and energy from Cosmic Energy, how to receive the power to create at will the things you need by learning the art of super-concentration as taught by Self-Realization Fellowship, and how to receive happiness from the actual contact of the Supreme Inner Being and Force.
What Is True Happiness?
True happiness can come only from being in tune with the Infinite, just as lasting prosperity can come only by knowing the law governing prosperity. However, prosperity may be swept away in an instant, but no power can disturb your inner poise and knowledge once it has been attained. We gain strength by tuning our thoughts with the vibrations from God, until at last, like the wave that has become one with the ocean, we have become one with all Infinitude.
The yearning for our lost perfection, the urge to do and be the noblest, the most beautiful of which we are capable, is the creative impulse of every high achievement. We strive for perfection here because we long to be restored to our Oneness with God.
