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Is Contentment Necessarily A Bliss?

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by jayasala42, Jul 6, 2020.

  1. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Is Contentment Necessarily A Bliss?
    ----------------------------------


    Is contentment , a bliss?

    True," Pothum enra maname Pon seyyum Marunthu"

    ( To say ‘enough’- is golden")

    Lust is the creator of all evils and so on.
    Yet we cannot deny the fact that all the
    scientific developments
    and comforts of life would never have been possible if people
    were satisfied with walking or travelling by bullock carts, and
    women were happy spending long hrs with grinding stones and
    firewood ovens.

    I may not be posting this message thro internet, if all were
    content with written communications
    being sent thro post.
    If you have in your heart the feeling of
    contentment, you will
    definitely enjoy whatever you
    had,however trivial it may be or
    invaluable.

    But whenever a person stops dreaming and aiming for his goal,
    that person never grows and eventually he gets stuck at one point.
    That is an unprincipled contentment,
    a paralyzed contentment and not a healthy contentment.
    There is a very old adage which says
    “Dictionary is the only place
    where SUCCESS comes before WORK.”
    All human beings do have, not only material needs, but have
    Physiological, Safety, Social, Ego, Self-actualization and Spiritual
    needs.

    Physiological needs such as basic
    necessities such as Food,Air,
    Shelter ;
    a feeling of being secured to oneself with no threats;
    the social need comprising of intimacy between employees,
    their comfort level of interaction, conduct of peers etc;
    ego Needs –the need for respect and recognition;
    self actualization – working for a
    purpose,Personal Growth ,
    and also realizing one’s potentiality;
    and the last but not least is Spiritual needs – Need for purity,
    need for feeling rightness, justifying a role for edifying one's goals.

    Any blockage in satisfaction of any of the needs stated above will
    definitely be an interruption to the
    wholesome personality development .
    You cannot just satisfy yourself by saying that you are content
    with what you possess and if you
    are destined, and be calm
    leading a life of non expectations and that
    some strange benefits will
    accrue to you from heaven.

    Once in a blue moon, it may happen as a matter of coincidence,
    but never permanently.

    But the true fact is that, a job seems to be uninteresting when
    you stop yourself to be innovative,
    when there is a cease in the
    process of thinking in a different
    direction.Low attainment is
    not a divine quality.

    Many of us carry closed loops in
    our mind and expect sunrays to
    rush in, and stars to twinkle
    in day-light.
    We never even think that we may
    be wrong,and that our
    Calculations may fail. Our so
    called 'contentment' of which we
    are elated and our assumption
    that we are perfect, block the
    way to progress .
    Instead of being satisfied with what you know,open up and try to discover and know something new everyday.

    No garden is built sitting under a shade.
    The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence.
    For excellence you need to think big, act big and grow big.
    Having expectation is not a crime
    or sin , but a real tool for
    development.

    " Karmanyeva Adhikarasthe, maa
    phaleshu kadhaachana "says
    Gita.
    Gita's Karma definitely includes
    fixing higher aims, update the
    skill sets, proving yourself adaptable to growing changes etc etc and not accepting the minimum and downgrading your potentials.
    People may object to this logic saying
    that your desire grows
    endless.

    Yes it is true. What is wrong if you desire more?
    It is the desire that makes you learn;
    it is the desire that makes
    Your knowledge shine;
    it is the desire that makes you
    uncompromising on perfection;
    it is the desire that makes you
    unreconciling towards inferior
    attainments.
    The world would not have achieved
    one thousandth of what
    is today, had everybody been content with the lowest
    attainment possible.

    Being happy with the smallest
    achievement is one thing;

    Being happy with the big achievement
    with heart and mind
    brimming with enthusiasm ready to take up more ventures
    is entirely different in content and magnitude
    Elders used to say" Aim at the sky, you can at least reach the top
    of the tree".
    Jayasala42
     
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  2. sociallifein30s

    sociallifein30s Gold IL'ite

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    contentment is bliss. I just wanted to comment even before I read anything else.

    contentment and bliss are two most important things. Id like to add in peace somewhere there too.
     
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  3. anika987

    anika987 IL Hall of Fame

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    Exactly!Well said.
     
    sociallifein30s likes this.
  4. vidhyalakshmid

    vidhyalakshmid IL Hall of Fame

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    Happy that you quoted Gita, Bhagavad gita has answers to all the problems.
    We have to dive in it and find out the pearls. PASSION WITH DISPASSION
    saying by Sri sri Ravishankar is worth to ponder.
     
  5. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear JS ma'm,

    I looked up the meaning of contentment - a state of happiness and satisfaction. I am sure no one has ever found contentment by not doing 'their' best. I also think satisfaction comes from continuing to do our best and by not giving up and giving up ultimately may happen after many attempts - but the contentment of having done our best stays. Even in the case of things not working out, all of us continue to try to do our best in the situations (failed even)we are put in. After all, as humans we seek and seek and seek, in all areas. I think, we need to pause, assess and continue to stay content only to continue to do our best.

    I also looked up the meaning of bliss - perfect happiness, great joy. Now this I believe can be got for moments, brief moments. Moments like looking at happy/sleeping baby, the bountiful/beautiful nature around us, sunrise, our loved ones, just a cup of tea after a hard day's work. And this state of bliss can be enjoyed even more deeply when there is a state of contentment of having done our best, no matter the result like Bhavad Gita says.

    I think contentment does not necessarily equal to bliss but seeking contentment in our actions even as we continue to work harder will definitely lead to moments of bliss, a feeling of great joy at having done our best.

    It was wonderful reflecting on this. I am learning to seek contentment in my actions and steal/seek moments of bliss, every day!
     
    sandhya2020, shyamala1234 and Mistt like this.
  6. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Social lifein,
    Thank you for your nice response.
    Jayasala 42
     
  7. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Anika,
    Thank you for the response
    Jayasala 42
     
    anika987 likes this.
  8. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Madam Srama,

    Thank you very much for your valuable response.I agree that doing an action satisfactorily also gives some happiness, though
    the efforts may not end in success.
    I have discussed the issue only from the angle of ordinary human being and not from the angle of a philosopher.
    That is if we get fully satisfied with whatever little efforts we do, with whatever little success we get, there will be no more attempts, no more further elevation.Any progress in any job ,needs determination focus and efforts and drive.I am not talking about contentment in the sense of spiritual satisfaction, a rarity to attain.
    jayasala 42
     
  9. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:
    The only time some one would say “enough” (போதும்) is in marriage feast. There too some might collect parcel. In writing or while in speech, it is ok to say this adage but none can put it in real life.


    QUOTE="jayasala42, post: 4189131, member: 316301"]But the true fact is that, a job seems to be uninteresting when you stop yourself to be innovative,
    when there is a cease in the process of thinking in a different direction.Low attainment is not a divine quality.[/QUOTE]


    A trained persons employed to a repetitive job in mass production, continue to do it without any interest nor being innovative. Attainment ( of target ) is regulated by conveyor movement. Wonder how this relates to divine quality. Would madam sister enlighten please.

    But all these achievements seem to be a maya in this COVID times. Is it real? At the same time I think of Thomas Alva Edison. He never thought his calculation could go wrong. But he was relentless, tried in ten thousand different ways only to understand how it went wrong each time before he was bestowed with success after that. Was he not simultaneously attained content & bliss. A bliss can follow only after contentment I suppose.

    The marketing people assigned territories with target in this fashion. Even if they achieve fifty % in Difficult territory or terrain, they are later lauded. I agree in toto that unless aim is high, there is nothing propel a person to achieve.
    I referred to google dictionary definitions of bliss and contentment:

    Bliss - External circumstances, whether positive or negative, happy or sad, do not affect it. Bliss is a state of unity, transcendence, completeness, knowingness, wholeness, and uplifted consciousness; it is a feeling of oneness and connection with all of creation.

    Contentment is the state of being happy and satisfied. On Thanksgiving when one thinks about all he or she grateful for, hopefully the person feel a sense of contentment. If not, have another piece of pie and then the person feel contentment. Contentment isn't an excited kind of happy, it's more like a peaceful ease of mind.

    Socrates Said, “ Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty”

    If one feels content, he must have had acquired already what all he desired. If larger population feels in this way, then the impetus to be innovative ceases and civilisation will turn the clock back to Palaeolithic age.

    Madam sister is on the dot with the statement that contentment would thwart progress, development and turn a society brimming with indolence.
    Thanks
    Regards.
     
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  10. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    When I wrote the words 'contentment' and 'bliss' I wrote it in casual manner and not in the literary sense after referring to dictionary.
    If we start getting satisfied with whatever little we do, then we may not even think of raising ourselves.That munnetram will be a thing of dream.Some two hundred years back, many people had some 20 acres of land and a large house.They always said that the property would be sufficient for three generations.What happened to those zameendars? After 50 years, thought process automatically changed, More people went to school/college.Land was no longer an attraction with labour problem. People started preferring Govt jobs. Had we been content with we had, we would be penniless now.We left the villages and settled in cities.Our children left the cities and went abroad.
    When we are affected by Corona, life itself is at stake and it is true that all our possessions may become meaningless if we are not alive. But such calamities do occur once in a while and this would happen even if we live with contentment. Corona affects rich and poor alike.
    Pandemics, epidemy, flood, storm, ptusunami,famine etc are part and parcel of our lives .
    Generally speaking if we feel satisfied with whatever we have, our children may have high ambitions and we may not be able to render any assistance to make them grow. In a fast developing world,where competition is the thing of the day, our thinking also should grow accordingly and that is what pragmatism speaks of.For argument sake we can talk anything. We may win the argument also but may not be a successful person in life, unless we define success philosophically.

    jayasala 42
     
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