Contentment, a Quality of Mind, not Body
Contentment can only come to one who sees that Rama, or God pervades everything. On the other hand, God can only be found in a home where contentment rules. He will experience true contentment who will genuinely try and live for a year with a firm faith that everything in this world is the result of Rama's will.
Contentedness is an attribute of the mind, not a quality of the body. I yearn to find a man who is so contented in his heart that he has nothing to say about his worldly life and matters. Such a person will be acclaimed by the whole world.
Contentment is not a thing that can be made over by one person to another. It calls for faith of the highest order. The Kauravas in the midst of the luxuries of the palace did not have the contentedness enjoyed by the Pandavas in their hermit's life in the forest. The conclusion is that we should accept the condition of life in which God chooses to place us.
A divine gift must be pleasant, sweet, from all angles. Wealth, obviously, is not a divine gift because it entails worry and a thirst for, more. The only really divine gift is contentment. There is no telling how much money will suffice a particular man, whereas, if one has the frame of mind to be contented, whatever is there, is enough. There is more pleasure in giving than in receiving. Besides, the more one receives, the more is the whetting of greed. Giving, on the other hand, has an end; for, when one gives away one's all, complete contentedness is the result. Today we are completely enveloped in upadhi; if we shed one upadhi! after another, our true nature, namely, oneness with the Cosmic Spirit, will become apparent, with its characteristic attribute of undisturbed contentment.
Every action of a man is done with some aim in view. About the actual result, however, he will be virtually indifferent if he has the conviction 'Thy will be done'. We have much theoretical knowledge about the philosophy of life, but lack the wisdom an actual occasion calls for. The one good point about the present times is that simple constant awareness of God achieves what more difficult sadhanas can achieve.
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