by Yogi Ananda Viraj (Eugene P. Kelly, Jr.)
Second on the list of niyamas is santosa (also samtosa). Santosa is generally translated as contentment. The word is derived from the root tus meaning “be content” and the prefix sam meaning “with” or “together with.” In his Bhasya, Vyasa defines santosa as “not coveting more than the means at hand.” 1 In his Tattva-vaisaradi, Vacaspati Misra further defines santosa as “the desire to take no more than is necessary for the general maintenance of life, because it follows the renunciation of what had been before one’s own property.” 2 Vijñana Bhiksu, in the Yoga-varttika, says that santosa consists in “not desiring anything beyond the means at hand, for accomplishing what is absolutely necessary with regard to life and journey.” 3 All three definitions indicate that a person must not want more than the means (sadhana) present. Vacaspati and Vijñana Bhiksu add qualifying remarks concerning “means.” Obviously, all three commentators view means as those “things” (visayas) necessary for life-maintenance. Interestingly, Vijñana Bhiksu says “necessary (avasyaka) for life (prana-breath) and journey (yatra).” If we take “journey” in a broad sense our reading would be that procurement for the sake of doing Yoga is condoned. The word yatra generally means “pilgrimage.” However, if we regard our everyday practice as a journey, we validate acquisition of those things necessary to complete the journey. In sum, santosa is not desiring more than is necessary for staying alive and doing Yoga.
There is a story in the Chandogya Upanisad (I,10,1-11) which exemplifies the practice of santosa. A poor man approached a rich man who was eating beans and begged the rich man to give him some. The rich man responded that he had no others but those before him. The poor man asked for some of those and the rich man gave, and in addition offered water to drink. The poor man refused the drink saying that to drink what was offered would be to drink leftovers. The rich man asked, “are not these beans also leftovers?” The poor man replied, “truly, I could not live if I did not eat those; the drinking of water is at my will.” The beggar here symbolizes the attitude of one practicing santosa. To drink would have been to take more than is necessary for life-maintenance.
In an “affluent” culture such as ours the practice of santosa may seem rather alien. Even those confined to prison in our society have more than they need to survive. In his commentary on Vyasa’s Bhasya, Vacaspati says that santosa follows the renunciation of what was one’s own property prior to the practice of this niyama. He then goes on to say that this is its distinction (presumably, from the practice of aparigraha or non-possessiveness). When the practice of aparigraha has resulted in a “realization” of the futility of ownership, the practice of santosa is observed. “Affluence” primarily denotes an abundance of money, property, and wealth. Rarely is the word used in the context of virtue or propriety. Our culture is affluent, i.e., wealthy. Wealth strongly implies ownership. Ownership and aparigraha are mutually exclusive. It is not that the Yogins abandon the use of things but only the concept of ownership of those things. This concept is displaced by active care. Involved, in the owner to owned relationship, are defects which hinder the Yoga student’s progress on the journey. Once these defects are apparent, the Yoga student disclaims possessions and lives in care.
Sustained renunciation is the practice of santosa, however, there is a positive aspect to this renunciation. First, the Yogin does not suffer the defects (dosa) inherent in owner-owned relation. Second, the word “santosa” itself means contentment and this contentment becomes incarnate via practice. Patanjali says, “as a result of santosa” there is the acquisition of unsurpassed pleasure.” 4 Few know of this condition simply because few practice “not coveting more than the means at hand.” Living is sustained by the necessary; Yoga practice is sustained by the pure. The “extra” does not add to life. Life-maintenance is the acquisition of the required. All else is desire, and if one has practiced aparigraha one realizes that ownership too is desire. Nothing can be added to survival. One either survives or perishes. In order to realize the purpose of survival, however, the Yogin may procure that which is necessary for Yoga practice. It is not that procurement is immoral or illegal, but, in light of aparigraha practice, unnecessary procurement is perceived to be flawed and consequently something to be avoided by Yoga students.
In commenting on the acquisition of unexcelled pleasure (anuttamah sukha), Vyasa quotes a verse from the Mahabharata: “What constitutes the pleasure of love (kama) in this world and the supreme pleasure of heaven are both not to be compared with the sixteenth part of the pleasure of diminished craving (trsna-ksaya). 5 The practice of santosa is a deliberate imitation of genuine nature (atma). Human authenticity is desireless; it is the body-mind complex which initiates desire. As desire “turns toward” the desired, genuine nature is obscured. Happiness is desirelessness. Santosa practice awakens one to that highest pleasure which results from diminished craving. Acquisition of desired objects terminates in more desire. The condition of desirelessness is not negative, not a mere absence. The pleasure derived from needless object procurement is transient satisfaction. This pleasure is an accretion. It results from desire (trsna). One reaches toward or yearns for the objective. In some sense we attempt to ingest objects via ownership. This pleasure is added to life, something we tack on to existence. The supreme happiness that results from santosa practice is, prior to desire. Desire is denial of authentic happiness. Happiness is always “behind” desire, never in front of it. Desire is the obscuration of happiness. “I want,” “I own,” “I desire” are the languages of concealment. Santosa practice posits the languages of appreciation and gratitude. It is survival alone which is happiness.
Life-maintenance is the continuity of happiness. Desire for what lies beyond initiates deficiency. Human deficiency is desire. Are people who have their vital needs satisfied lacking in any other way but through the language of desire? Deficiency is not the condition prior to desire. One does not become satisfied. Satisfaction is not to be acquired. Satisfaction is prior to any acquisition. One becomes desirous. Gratitude is the recognition that one does not have to become anything. Appreciation is the living demonstration of satisfaction. One cannot appreciate in desire. Desire is antagonistic to both gratitude and appreciation.
Life-maintenance requires the basics of food, clothing, shelter and the means to obtain these. These four are enough to sustain the body-mind complex which is the vehicle for an embodiment of unexcelled happiness. To reach beyond these is to cancel their purpose. Yoga practice is the realization of this embodiment. The task confronting the Yoga student, prior to the revelation of happiness, is to first, perceive the defects of ownership, and second, to end desire for the extra. In the initial stages santosa must be “practiced.” The happiness that arises from dwindled craving is not apparent at the outset. Desire must be eradicated and this takes conscious thought. The eradication of desire is the linguistic practice of contentment. In the same way that desire conceals happiness, contentment, santosa, must conceal desire. The installation of the language of contentment qualifies the mind-consciousness for revelation, i.e., contact with genuine nature (atma). Contentment is by definition and status opposed to the restlessness of desire. The status of the mind-consciousness is what makes it suitable or unsuitable for concession to authenticity. Displacement of desire for the extra, by santosa practice, restores semblance between mind-consciousness and genuine nature. In this semblance mind-consciousness is revelatory of genuine nature. As such it manifests and resides as happiness.
We have observed that coveting more than the means at hand is a violation of both santosa and aparigraha. Also, we noted that acquisition for the sake of life-maintenance and Yoga practice is necessary action which sustains the body-mind complex, the medium of genuine nature. Santosa is the practice of sustained renunciation. It is the linguistic attitude of appreciation and gratitude. It is the subjugator of desire or denial. Santosa, contentment, succeeds the abandonment of ownership. In quelling thirst (trsna) for additional, the practice of santosa obstructs the habitual extension toward transient satisfaction. A mind-consciousness empty of desire for the extra is at rest in the happiness of survival. Survival is no longer “getting-by,” but satisfaction itself. To live without desire is to deny human deficiency. Desire for the extra is deficiency itself. A thirstless mind intends from excess, comes to life from abundance. The practitioner of santosa ultimately finds that nothing can be added to life. In denying unwarranted desire he or she denies deficiency. The mind-consciousness that produces contentment makes itself the residence of authenticity. Discontent is opposition to atman. Like begets like. Santosa is a condition akin to true self.
1. The Yoga-System of Patanjali, trans. J.H. Woods (India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1977 Reprint) p. 181 ↩
2. Ibid. p. 182 ↩
3. Gaspar M Koelman, Patanjali Yoga (India: Papal Athenaeum, 1970), p. 173 ↩
4. The Yoga-System of Patanjali, p. 189 ↩
5. Ibid. ↩