By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

To practice contentment might make you a disruptive element in our modern world. 

Yoga names contentment, samtosha, as a primary practice. But the everyday influences of society propel you to an endless stream of desires. All you have to do is watch one television show and your “Discontent Factor” increases. It is not the shows themselves as much as it is the ads.

They are exceptionally effective at stimulating your desires, which makes you more and more dis-content. Yoga makes you content.

I remember the first time I felt content. I was sitting in my bedroom in a yoga ashram (residential yoga center), and I realized I felt strange. Something was missing on the inside. Something familiar was gone, and I did not feel quite like the “me” that I had known for so many years. But I did not know what it was. I cast about, looking for what was missing, and could not find it. So, I tried instead to describe to myself more specifically how I was feeling.  

Finally, I realized that I felt content. That scared me! While it felt so good to feel such deep contentment, I instantly felt fear that I would never strive for anything again. I realized that all the activities of my life had been motivated by a deep discontent, and now it was gone. It seemed that there was no reason to do anything, ever again.

Excerpt from Yoga in Every Moment, page 46