Create Your Contentment

— Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

When we do not want anything for ourselves, a unique power awakens within us. We become capable of giving blessings. Only those who are themselves content are capable of giving blessings. If they say, ‘Let your will be done,’ it will happen. The blessings of an individual who is content will manifest. This is the secret behind a blessing.

Ideally, as we grow older, our contentment should also increase. The more content we are, the more mature we are. There are two kinds of joy: one of receiving and the other of giving. In our childhood, we experienced the joy of receiving. If you give anything to children they are always ready to take it. But as we grow older, we experience the joy in giving. For example, a grandmother cooks many different things when grandchildren or guests visit. So, in giving there is joy and this is a mature joy and pleasure. But, many times we lose sight of this and we keep looking to receive all our lives, and we remain dissatisfied and a kind of misery pervades.

For wealth to come, the mind should be content. The more satisfied we are, the more we progress. Keep your mind pure and clean. To keep the mind clean, firstly, have faith – God is your very own, and you belong to Him and He loves you. To look after my happiness and sorrow is His job and He will do it. Second, we need to perform Seva (service) in society. As human beings, we all have some needs and responsibilities. If our responsibilities are more, and our needs less, then in life we remain peaceful and content. If our responsibilities are few but our needs are many then we remain unhappy. Third, do pranayama, and meditation for a short period and a new wave of contentment, joy, and bliss arises in our lives. If you practice these three things, you will see that whatever work you desire will begin to get done effortlessly. Stay in the present. Whatever is the past, drop it all. Put aside all the matters of the past, and sit and meditate.