Contentment: The Inner Wealth

One of the reasons for our discontent is financial difficulty. You know that costs are increasing a lot nowadays, but incomes are not rising at the same rate. As a result, we remain dissatisfied with our financial situation as well. Our sincere wish is to donate money to Godly services, yet we are neither able to fulfill that wish nor able to properly meet our worldly responsibilities. A person facing all these problems—how can he be content?

 

Someone who has all the resources, who has never seen bad days, who has not faced harsh problems, who does not lack anything, will be content anyway. Then why do you ask how to remain content in such difficult situations? It is precisely in these situations that we need to practice contentment, and it is meaningful to talk about it only because it is possible to practice it. If it were impossible, there would be no point in discussing it.

But will our circumstances improve by expressing discontent? Never. A person who develops the habit of being discontent will never truly be content. His wishes and desires will keep increasing and will find new ways to express themselves. Do you really want to burn in inner anger due to discontent and keep suffering from an inner itch all the time?

The loss due to discontentment and the benefit of remaining content.

 

By remaining discontent, a person’s mind becomes disturbed and his intellect becomes unbalanced. Because of tension, disappointment, disinterest, inner conflict, and anxiety, he cannot decide properly what actions to take to improve his mental state, nor can he gather enough enthusiasm to act. In such a mental condition, his work efficiency decreases, which further increases his disturbance.

 

A discontent person often only builds castles in the air—but that does not fill his stomach. Human beings survive by hard work, and only one who has clear and balanced intellect can work hard in the right direction. Therefore, becoming agitated due to discontent and losing your happiness is a serious mistake.

Just as money is a cause of happiness, contentment too is a cause of happiness; in this sense, contentment is also a kind of wealth. Is it wise to lose this inner wealth in the pursuit of external wealth? The right way is to remain content in the present situation and then calmly and wisely plan how to improve it or rise above it.

A wise person treats his present condition as the result of his past karma and learns from it for the future. Just as food is medicine for the body, happiness is medicine for the mind and soul. That is why it is said, “There is no medicine like happiness.” But for true happiness, contentment is essential.

So, just as a person searches for medicine for physical health and earns money for it, in the same way he should preserve and cultivate his contentment for the health and happiness of his mind.