CONTENTMENT:

I really like this article written by Hari-Kirtana Dasa—A Yoga Teacher. (https://hari-kirtana.com/ ).

Contentment' is one of the niyamas, the set of five personal observances that Patanjali lists in the second chapter of his Yoga-sutras. It's also a state of being that can be very hard to attain. How do we find real contentment? One way is to try to understand what the obstacles to contentment are. Two of those obstacles are 1) pining for an irretrievable past and 2) worrying about what the future will bring. 

I'm particularly susceptible to dwelling on the past and thinking about all of the choices I could have made instead of the ones that I made. There's value to reflection but, in this case, it's just an indulgence of my mind's desire to fantasize about what my life might be like in an alternate universe. 

Whatever we could have chosen in the past, the choices we made have brought us to where we are now. Perhaps our current situation appears to be fortunate, perhaps it appears to be unfortunate. Good fortune today has a way of becoming misfortune tomorrow and today's misfortune has a way of becoming good fortune down the road. We can't know all of the things that, sooner or later, will impact the trajectory of our lives. 

We can tell ourselves that there's no point in dwelling on what might have been but logic alone doesn't cut it. Practicing contentment means working on accepting whatever we have while letting go of what's been lost or was never meant to be. The flip side of lamenting for what's gone is worrying about what's to come. Will we get what we want? Again, as with our choices in the past, we find ourselves trying to navigate the unknown. We like to think, 'If only I knew then what I know now' but the saying will apply as much in the future as it does in the present.

The one thing we do know is that the pursuit of anything temporary is an exercise in futility: we may never get it and if we do we'll have to worry about keeping it. Practicing contentment means working on accepting whatever we have and letting go of the propensity to strive for more than we need. 

This doesn't mean that we should forget the past or stop planning for the future. Those who can't remember the past are indeed condemned to repeat it and that the most reliable way to predict the future is to participate in its creation. Contentment is not passivity; it's action that's informed by knowledge of how the past has created the present and performed based on spiritual values like simplicity, generosity, and truthfulness. Contentment is a willingness to be fully present in the present without hanging on to the past or rigidly grasping for a particular future. 

Contentment is genuine acceptance of and gratitude for whatever we have. It's being fully invested in the process of moving forward without being obsessed with possessing a desired result. It's the process of cultivating inner peace even while experiencing life’s difficulties, living modestly even when we have the opportunity to live lavishly, and sitting with our true thoughts and feelings without bypassing them in favor of a display of artificial tranquility.

The payoff from practicing contentment is that we arrive at a place of inner freedom and happiness that doesn't depend on any external circumstances. Given the uncertainty of external circumstances, that's a good place to be.

See the link: https://iskconnews.org/contentment,7525/

THANK YOU. 

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MY SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION , SOURCE & THE GURUS:

I am inspired to hear & read the Vedic Scriptures by regularly listening to Sri Pandurang Shashtri Athvale, also known as Dadaji (speaks on Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Veda based discourses & western philosophy) and the association of Swadhyay Parivar every Sunday in Swadhya Kendra. 

I also hear and read the discourses & literature on Vedic thoughts from Srila Prabhupada, his disciples & grand disciples ( HH Bhakti Rasamitra Swami, HH Chaitanya Charandas Prabhu, Shubha Vilas Prabhu, Vraja Vihari Dasa, Sutapa Das, Amarnath Dasa, HH Bhakticharu Swami, HH Urmila Devi Dasi, HH Sivarama Swami, HH Radhanath Swami, HH Romapada Swami, Lal Govind Prabhu (Gujarati & Hindi), Prahalad Maharaj in Surat (Gujarati) .......and many more from ISKCON......). 

FYI: A good source of Vedic literature: Vedabase.io Srimad Bhagavad Gita is the essence & Srimad Bhagavatam (SB) is the nectar of all Vedic scriptures. Repeatedly hearing/reading & meditating the Scriptures, Eating Sanctified Pure Food and Chanting or Hearing the Vedic Mantras are nourishing to our heart (Soul), transcendental to our consciousness, purifying to our senses and thus helps us to overcome our weaknesses or deficiencies. Yes, we do have good qualities within us but there is always a room for improvement.

It is always a good idea to share our good thoughts & knowledge with others. Thanks to the Facebook & Social media for providing me the platform. Of course I use Smartphone & Google search to collect some data. 

Besides my parents, wife, teachers, family & friends GREATFUL to EVERYONE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED in MY LIFE. Hopefully my enthusiasm will continue by Grace of the Guru & God (Krishna , Absolute Truth).

NOTE:

Many times a word Hearing is used instead of Listening when it comes to the Scriptures. Because Scriptures are so potent that simply by Hearing them even if you don’t try to interpret or analyze or understand them still there will be passive positive effects on our mind & senses.

We can follow either the Quran, Bible,Torah, Tripitaka-Buddhism, Agama-Jainism, Guru Granth Sahib-Sikhism, Gita or any other Philosophy which makes sense to us, purifies us, elevates our consciousness and qualifies us to understand God and instill the love of God & his creation. (whichever way we can understand God — either Personal with many names or Impersonal as an universal consciousness & energy).

Don’t try to understand God by Name, Religion or Depiction (means image, picture...etc) but try to understand him by the Definition through Scriptures. The Transcendental subject of God & his creation cannot be understood by mental speculation. Some times people ask why God is Supreme? It is just like asking why is the circle circular? Just by definition, the circle is circular. Similarly by definition, God is unborn, complete, unlimited, infinite, eternal, the Absolute Truth the source of everything, cause of all causes. 

I see God, besides the above mentioned qualities, as an eternal living person (not a abstract or some kind of light) known by the name KRISHNA meaning one who attracts everyone has also MANY other NAMES, forms, abodes, incarnations, activities, qualities, associates, is full of wisdom, bliss, and the cause of all causes.

Here Lord says in Gita

Bg 9.17 — I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support and the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable oṁ. I am also the Ṛg, the Sāma and the Yajur Vedas.

TEXT 18: Gita 9.18: I am the goal, the sustainer, the master, the witness, the abode, the refuge and the most dear friend. I am the creation and the annihilation, the basis of everything, the resting place and the eternal seed.

Bg:13-12:— Accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth ( God ) – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance. ( Vedabase.io ).