Gate 169: כס — CONTENTMENT (SANTOSHA)

כס

Pillar 6: THE PATH

[169:1] "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith

to be content."

[169:2] --- Philippians 4:11

[169:3] "Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our

abundance."

[169:4] --- Epicurus

[169:5] "Santosha: contentment, accepting what is."

[169:6] --- Yoga Sutras

[169:7] [169:1] Contentment (santosha) is acceptance of what

is---not resignation but peace, not apathy but presence.

[169:8] [169:2] "I have learned\... to be content." Paul's

contentment was learned, not natural. He was content in prison, in

shipwreck, in poverty, in plenty. The secret: his contentment did not

depend on circumstance. He found a ground that circumstances could not

shake.

[169:9] [169:3] "Not what we have but what we enjoy." Epicurus

shifts the focus: abundance is not accumulation but appreciation. The

one who enjoys little has more than the one who possesses much and

enjoys nothing. Contentment is the art of enjoying what is present.

[169:10] [169:4] Santosha in yoga is a niyama---an observance, a

practice, not just a feeling. You don't wait to feel content; you

practice contentment as discipline. The practice creates the feeling;

the discipline becomes the state.

[169:11] [FIGURE 169.1: A simple bowl with simple food---nothing

lacking, nothing excessive. Caption: "Santosha: enough is enough."]

[169:5] Contentment is not complacency. The contented person can still

strive, still improve, still seek---but from fullness rather than lack.

The discontented person strives from a hole that cannot be filled; the

contented person strives from a spring that overflows.

[169:12] [169:6] The enemies of contentment: comparison (someone

else has more), desire (I want what I lack), regret (I want what I had),

anxiety (I might lose what I have). Each enemy steals presence; each

requires its counter: gratitude, acceptance, forgiveness, trust.

[169:13] [169:7] Gratitude is contentment's practice. The

grateful person notices what is present, not what is absent. Gratitude

practice---daily naming what is good---trains the mind toward

contentment. The practice is simple; the effect is profound.

[169:14] [169:8] Contentment and desire: contentment does not

eliminate desire but transforms its quality. The contented person

desires, but desires loosely, without grasping. If the desire is

fulfilled, good; if not, still good. Contentment holds desire; desire

does not hold contentment.

[169:15] [169:9] Some situations should not be accepted.

Injustice, abuse, oppression---these call for change, not contentment.

Santosha is not passive acceptance of the unacceptable; it is peace

within the context of appropriate action. Accept what cannot be changed;

change what should be changed; know the difference.

[169:16] [169:10] Practice contentment now. Not when

circumstances improve---now. Notice what is present; appreciate what is

given; release the demand that things be otherwise. This moment,

whatever it contains, is enough. You are enough. What is, is enough.

This is santosha.

[169:17] See Also: • Gate 155: טר (Tar) --- The Gate of Surrender

(contentment's deeper form) • Gate 158: יג (Yag, "Toil") --- The Gate

of Detachment (contentment's freedom) • Gate 168: ×™×  (Yan) --- The Gate

of Discipline/Tapas (contentment through practice) • Gate 184: לד (Lad)

--- The Gate of Beatitude (contentment's flowering) End of Gates

164-169 Batch 61 Complete --- Pillar VI: The Path (Continued) LIBER

TIGRIS Gates 177-179 PILLAR VII: THE RETURN

[169:18] "I and my Father are one" --- the circuit completed