In one of the shlokas of the Yoga sutras, the secret of happiness is given: “From contentment, unsurpassed happiness is gained.” This Sloka is dedicated to Santosha (the second principle of Niyama). Its meaning is very simple: contentment is the key that unlocks the possibility of enduring happiness. In this article, I want to introduce you to Santosha and share with you how you can start practicing it today!

Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a collection of 196 Sanskrit sutras on the theory and practice of yoga. It describes the goals of yoga and the principles of techniques needed to achieve them.

The two first stages that the Sutras describe are the principles of Yama and Niyama.

Yama is a set of ethical norms that teach us to communicate with others in the right way.

There are five Yamas:

1. Ahiṃsā (अहिंसा): Nonviolence, non-harming other living beings.
2. Satya (सत्य): truthfulness, non-falsehood.
3. Asteya (अस्तेय): non-stealing.
4. Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्य): chastity, marital fidelity or sexual restraint.
5. Aparigraha (अपरिग्रहः): non-avarice, non-possessiveness.

Niyama is the step of forming self-discipline and uplifting spirituality.

Five Niyamas are:

1. Saucha (शौच): purity, clearness of mind, speech, and body.
2. Santosha (सन्तोष): contentment, acceptance of others, and of one’s circumstances as they are, optimism for self.
3. Tapas (तपस): austerity, self-discipline, persistent meditation, perseverance.
4. Svadhyaya (स्वाध्याय): the study of self, self-reflection, introspection of self’s thoughts, speeches, and actions.
5. Isvarapranidhana (ईश्वरप्रणिधान): contemplation of the Ishvara (God/Supreme Being, Brahman, True Self, Unchanging Reality), attunement to the supreme consciousness.

All these principles are interdependent. If you break one of the Yamas or Niyamas, you are bound to break the others. And if you improve in the practice of one principle, then the practice of other yamas and niyamas will also be improved.

For example, if you violate Satya by allowing yourself to lie, you will not be able to practice Ahimsa. Or if you do not observe the principle of Saucha and pollute your body and mind, it will be difficult for you to practice Brahmacharya.

What Is Santosha?

From Sanskrit, “santosha” is translated as “contentment, satisfaction“.

The best definition of Santosha is given by Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. He said that it means to remain calm and contented, accepting all the sorrows and pleasures caused by events in connection with the change of time and place.

Santosha is a kind of starting point, because yoga begins with accepting yourself as you are. Santosha requires simply accepting the fact that you are not worse or better than others, and the life circumstances you are dealing with at the moment are perfect for your development.

When we are jealous and think that we don’t have enough, we lose our vital energy. Oppositely, acceptance and satisfaction with what we have gives us energy, removes mental tension, and helps us to focus on internal work instead of external expressions of success. The real Santosha always comes from within, not from external factors.

We all need to understand that being a human is a huge gift from God. Once you truly understand this, you will have no choice rather than enjoying every moment of your life. Every moment of life is precious. And when we are able to realize this, we become happy and joy becomes a normal state for us.

Santosha is happiness that comes from within. It is not about having something but about being happy with what you have. Once you are satisfied, half your stress will disappear and half your illusions will go away.

Whether we are rich or poor, whether fortune smiles on us or not, whether we are famous or unrecognized, we should never feel discouraged.

When you practice Santosha, you accept the world around you and you also accept yourself.

Santosha And Other Principles

If you practice Santosha diligently, then all the other yamas and niyamas will also be covered by you.

When you accept your body, when you are satisfied with your limit of flexibility (Santosha), you will not break Ahimsa by trying to harm yourself.

You will have to be honest with yourself to accept yourself, and this is Asteya.

If you practice Santosha, you will not violate the Ahimsa in relation to other people, because you will not want to try to change someone (even with the best intentions), you will accept any person as they are.

You will not be dominated by lust and passion, because it is enough for you that God has already given you, and this is the fulfillment of Brahmacharya.

By accepting your financial situation, you will not envy the achievements of other people and their prosperity, and therefore, you will perform Aparigraha.

If you accept with gratitude everything that God gives you, then you praise Him for every little thing, and this is Isvara Pranidhana practice.

Gratitude Is Key

But it’s easy to say: “Be satisfied with what you have” but it is much more difficult to really practice it. How can we be happy if we are always lacking something? We want material goods, health, better Government, better laws, more awareness in the world, etc. As a result, all our “wants” create a feeling of discontent all the time.

This is a very dangerous feeling because it takes our energy and creates a destructive mood. By creating all these “wants” you surround your spirit with very negative energy. As a result, deep inside you always feel unsatisfied and the fulfillment of all the other yamas and niyamas becomes very difficult, almost impossible.

In order to overcome this pernicious condition, some masters recommend practicing “gratitude.”

The feeling of gratitude is opposite to discontent. If you fill yourself with gratitude, you will automatically get rid of discontent.

They say that everything you don’t value/take for granted will be taken away from you. Therefore, if you don’t want to lose what you already have, start to appreciate the little that you have already been given, be grateful for every little thing, and you will multiply what you are grateful for.

We are given an amazing life. We are given an ideal human body with arms and legs. We are able to see, hear, touch. Realize that this is a priceless gift! We have huge opportunities to express ourselves.

No matter what position you are in, you always have the opportunity to be grateful for something. Learn to feel gratitude for every breath you take. Just pause for a second and realize the value of the air that fills up your lungs with every inhale. When you practice pranayama, you can vividly feel the immense value of this Gift — the ability to breathe. When you perform asanas, be aware of the joy of movement, the gift of feeling your body.

How To Practice Santosha?

To practice Santosha, you need to fully accept not only what you consider being positive, pleasant, and good, but also everything else that God gives you. Yes, I am talking about all that we consider being negative and undesired, such as pain, life challenges, losses, diseases, difficulties, and hardships.

At first glance, it seems impossible to be grateful for a sudden injury or financial loss. But if your attention is focused on your inner world and not on the outside circumstances, you will be able to manifest the Santosha principle even in the most tragic situations.

Realize that any illness is a reaction of your body to your inadequate interaction with the world. It is a signal that you are doing something wrong. Realize that it is a life lesson that you gratefully accept.

Sometimes our unexpected arrival in a hospital bed is an opportunity to stop, take the necessary pause, rethink the accumulated experience, and sometimes it is a protection or warning, a sign of fate that we gratefully accept.

Any trouble in the financial sphere of life should be also treated as a lesson, like training in not being attached to the material possessions of the outside world.

When you have serious problems, think about what opportunities this situation gives you. Always try to find something positive in every situation you are facing in life and accept it with gratitude.

This skill of seeing the positive even in the unpleasant can be developed.

Our daily life constantly throws up situations in which we can practice Santosha. Every negative situation you face trains your patience and allows you to work out part of your negative karma.

Some masters recommend performing the following exercise. If you suddenly track a negative emotion, rejection of a situation or a person, then immediately find 10 things about this situation that you can be grateful for. The same with people. If you’re dealing with negative people, try to look at them through the prism of curiosity: “What is this person trying to teach me? Patience? Non-judgment? Non-attachment?” Train yourself to notice lessons for your spiritual development in every situation you’re dealing with!

Other Practices For Santosha

#1 Asanas

There are different asanas that aim to help you to develop modesty, optimism, and learn to be grateful for everything you have in your life. The regular practice of these asanas brings joy, ease, and harmony. Thus they also help you in your Santosha practice.

Uttanasana

Uttanasana is a standing forward bend. The pose is entered from the standing position of Tadasana, bending forward at the hips until the palms can be placed on the floor, ultimately behind the heels.

Contraindications:

• Lower-back injury
• Hamstring tear
• Sciatica
• Glaucoma, detached retina

Ustrasana

Ustrasana (or Ushtrasana), also known as Camel Pose, is a kneeling back-bending asana. This asana is a deep backward bend from a kneeling position. The completed pose has the hands on the heels. The backs of the feet may be flat on the floor, or the toes may be tucked under for a slightly less strong backbend.

Contraindications:

• High or low blood pressure
• Migraine
• Insomnia
• Serious low back or neck injury

Urdhva Dhanurasana

Urdhva Dhanurasana is an upward bow pose. This is a challenging yet powerful pose that stimulates your nervous system, opens your heart, and can leave you glowing with energy and vitality for the rest of the day. 

Contraindications:

• Back injury
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Diarrhea
• Headache
• Heart problems
• High or low blood pressure

#2 Jnana mudra

The word ‘Jnana’ means knowledge or wisdom and ‘mudra’ means sign or gesture. Jnana mudra literally means the psychic gesture of knowledge or wisdom.

This mudra is used as a meditative gesture. Hence, when performing Jnana mudra, sit in any comfortable meditation asana like Padmasana, Sukhasana, Swastikasana, or Siddhasana.

#3 Mantra

Another practice you can perform for developing Santosha is mantra chanting. For this purpose, the best mantra to perform is Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.

Chant the mantra at the beginning and at the end of your yoga practice for three times. This is a mantra of peace and tranquility will set up your yoga practice, balance your mind, and will help you to feel inner peace, harmony, and deep gratitude.

Conclusion

Santosha practice is a potent tool you can use for developing your satisfaction with life and increasing your gratitude. It will help you to see the joy in simple things and enjoy life unconditionally.

The positive karmic experience accumulated during all earthly incarnations tends to be spent aimlessly or changed for the worse, which leads to negative consequences in real life. To reverse this process, it is necessary to constantly improve karma. In this article, I will share with you 16 powerful ways to attract good karma.

But first, let’s find out what good karma actually is.

What Is Good Karma?

Karma is based on cause-and-effect relationships. In other words, we always get back what we give to the world. The more good deeds accumulated on the invisible “account” of each soul, the more bonuses it receives in its future life and next incarnations. If karmic “savings” are spent selfishly, without bringing benefit to others and the planet, then in future reincarnations such a soul will have “to reap the fruits” of his irresponsibility, because karma will change from good to bad.

Therefore, to build good karma is the main goal of every soul.

How Do I Know If My Karma Is Good Or Bad?

If we try to create a simplified model of testing karma, it will be based on four components:

• relationships with others;
• health (both physical and mental);
• prosperity;
• life purpose.

If each of these components is present in your life, then we can probably say that your karma, in this case, tends to be good. Thus, the good karma manifests itself in the harmony achieved in all spheres of our lives.

However, most people have problems at least in one of these spheres.

Have you seen babies being born with disabilities? This is an example of negative karma brought to this incarnation from past lives. But sometimes healthy people get into car accidents and get disabilities. This would be an example of negative karma that was created during this life.

Why Should We Build Good Karma?

Bad karma involves problems in all or some areas of life. If a person is haunted by constant failures, negativity, then his karmic debts exceeded the profit from good deeds.

The karmic debts accumulated in all incarnations will result in diseases, poverty, alcohol or drugs addiction, unsuccessful marriages, and other negative consequences.

Do you experience any health problems? Do you have relationship problems? Do you suffer from money loss or poverty? Do you feel like your life has no purpose? If you answered ‘yes’ to at least one of these questions then you should consider taking actions for improving your karma.

How to Build Good Karma?

#1 Keep It Clean

Try to make sure that everything in your life is clean: your body, home, workplace, etc. But especially important to keep your thoughts and actions clean! Keep in mind that negative thoughts, emotions, and actions create negative karma. And positive thoughts and actions create good karma. Be mindful of what you thinking and doing!

#2 Get Involved in Charity

This would be especially helpful for those of you who have financial problems. You may say: “How can I do charity if I have no money?” Well, there are different ways to do it. We can help people even if we don’t have money to offer. A kind word, a smile, good advice – this is also a kind of charity that can change someone’s life for the better.

#3 Help Others Selflessly

You can offer help to those who are currently suffering. The main thing is not to try to radically correct someone else’s karma. But helping them find their way is quite acceptable.

#4 Self-Development

Inertia is bad for your soul. Instead of dwelling on your past, you should be constantly moving forward. Every day you try to learn something new. Every event that life presents to you should be considered as a life lesson. Every night before you go to bed ask yourself: “What have I learned today? What did I realize today?“. If you find it difficult to answer these questions, then you probably have lost your awareness and mindfulness. Tomorrow will be a new day, try not to waste it!

#5 Spiritual Development

Constant training of the body is well reflected in its appearance and health. But we should also remember to give equal attention to our spirit. The purer your soul is, the higher your moral foundations, moral values, and the easier it is to learn the life lessons on the way to good karma. Make sure to train your mental essence with the help of prayers and meditations.

#6 Love

Open your heart to every creature of existence. Make your love available for everyone: people, animals, nature, planet, your work, every action you take, every word you speak, every thought you think. Unconditional love will help you achieve harmony and approach good karma.

#7 Take Responsibility For Your Life

You and only you are responsible for your actions, words, and thoughts. Thus, you and only you are responsible for every event and situation in your life. There’s no point in blaming other people, Government, President, parents, etc. for everything you’re not happy about in your life.

All your failures and successes are the results of your own actions and thoughts. You have the power to change your life, but it will require a change in your thinking. Stop hiding behind the mask of a victim of circumstances. You are the Creator of your own life, so start creating it! The more you take responsibility for your life, the more power you have!

#8 Be Honest

One lie inevitably begets another like a virus. Remember that lost trust is very difficult to regain. After catching you multiple times on lying people will eventually stop believing you. So in relations with others it will pursue misunderstanding and resentment. And sooner or later this will turn into another karmic debt.

#9 Listen to Your Inner Voice

Always remember that your subconscious has the answers to all your questions. You just need to be able to listen. Listen to your inner voice in every situation – this is the Universe talking to you. The more you’re connected to the Universe the more you follow the path that leads you to good karma.

#10 Be In a Present Moment

The past is gone. The future hasn’t come yet. Don’t distract yourself with thinking about your past or daydreaming about the future. Focus on the present moment and live it to the fullest. Put 100% energy and awareness in everything you’re doing in the present moment. The practice of being in the present moment will teach you to live your life consciously.

#11 Pray

When we pray we cleanse our karma. Especially powerful when you pray for other people, animals or planet. But such practice should be consistent and you should put all your attention to focus on the intention of the prayer. You can also use special mantras for purifying karma and chant them daily.

#12 Volunteering

By doing volunteering work you greatly improve your karma!

#13 Be Grateful

Never blame anybody (including God and Universe) for not receiving exactly what you’ve been asking for. If you believe in karma, then you have to accept the fact that we always receive exactly what we deserve.

Therefore if you’re not getting what you want you have to ask yourself: “Why am I not getting this?” Maybe it’s not time yet, or maybe the receiving of what you’re asking wouldn’t serve your Higher purpose and the Universe is trying to show you that you will receive something much better if you’ll be patient and grateful. Be grateful for every little thing you have in your life and very soon you will see that you attract more and more happiness and joy into your life.

#14 Forgive

Life doesn’t give us lessons that we are not capable of learning. And one of the most important lessons we come to this life for is the lesson of forgiveness. Most people choose not to learn this lesson which leads to repeating it again and again during many incarnations. But if you believe in karma and want to evolve you have to learn to forgive.

Every time we forgive someone we remove a giant block of negative karma and heal our heart. And the thing is, the more hurtful our resentment is, the more cleansing and healing the forgiveness brings to our souls. If you want to build good karma, sometimes the best way to do so is to forgive people for some of the bad vibes they’ve sent your way.

#15 Donate Blood

It is believed that when you donate your blood the ones who need it you improve your karma tremendously. The whole intention behind blood donation is saving someone’s life. And since the law of karma states that we receive what we give, then when you save somebody’s life the Universe will make sure that you will stay safe. Yes, it can even save your life if you experience any danger or health issues in the future!

#16 Inspire

Let every person that meets you become happier and inspired. Spread positive vibes and don’t let your negative emotions affect other people. Be mindful of what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.

Listen to other people who need to be heard. Sometimes inspiration is better expressed when we stay quiet to give other people room to speak their truth. Be a patient listener, care for other people, and provide them the type of inspiration they need at the moment.

Spiritual maturity is not a religious concept. It has humanitarian objectives through balanced behaviors of spiritual understanding. Spiritual maturity is a gradual process of discovering your inner-self (or God Self) that goes along with self-discipline. It is important to understand that I am talking about a sufficiently “mobile” model of a Mature personality, allowing a different set of characterological features. However, in this article, I want to consider certain factors that can form the Central frame of such a personal model. And these factors I will describe through different signs of spiritual maturity.

Signs Of Spiritual Maturity

Authenticity

The famous American psychotherapist James Bugental calls authenticity the most important existential value of a human being. He identifies three main features of authentic existence:

• full awareness of the present moment of life;
• independent choice of the way of life at that moment;
• taking personal responsibility for this choice.

The authenticity to some extent generalizes many properties of the individual. First of all, it is an expression of sincerity towards another. An authentic person wants to be himself in his immediate reactions and in his holistic behavior. He allows himself not to know all the answers to life’s questions.

He doesn’t act like he’s in love if he feels hostile at the moment. The difficulties of most people are that they spend a lot of vital energy on playing roles, or creating an external facade, instead of using it to solve their real problems.

If the person most of the time hides his true self behind the mask of any selected role, it is not surprising that in response he will receive the same insincere attitude of others. Authenticity is the most complete example of flexible behavior.

Openness to Own Experience and Acceptance of Feelings

Here, by openness, I mean sincerity in the perception of one’s own feelings. Social experience teaches to deny, to reject the feelings, in particular, negative ones. The pressure of others forces to displace or suppress sadness, irritability, and anger. The society tells us: “don’t cry, don’t be nervous”, etc.

A spiritually mature person will not drive away any feelings, including negative ones. He accepts and experiences any feelings he has. Only, in this case, can you successfully control your behavior. It is because our displaced feelings are irrational, that is, they become a source of uncontrolled behavior.

When we realize our emotional reactions, we can choose our behavior in each situation, and not allow unconscious feelings to violate the regulation of our behavior. Therefore, we call ourselves “spiritually mature” only if we are capable of showing our tolerance for the whole range of ours and others emotional reactions.

Development of Self-Knowledge

Limited self-knowledge implies a restriction of freedom, and deep self-knowledge increases the possibility of choice in one’s life. The more a person knows about himself, the better he will understand other people, and Vice versa – the more a person understands others, the deeper he understands himself. Not being able to hear what’s going on inside us increases our exposure to stress and limits our effectiveness in life. It is very important to treat yourself realistically and consciously.

The Strength of Personality and Identity

A mature person knows who he is, who he can become, what he wants from life, what is important for him in essence and what does not matter. He turns to life with questions, answers the questions posed to him by life, and constantly tests his values.

A spiritually mature person can’t be a reflection of the hopes of other people, he acts on his own internal position. This allows him to feel strong in interpersonal relationships.

Tolerance to Uncertainty (the Ability to Withstand Uncertainty)

Many people feel uncomfortable in situations where there is a lack of structure, clarity, and certainty. But spiritual development requires letting the comfort zone go and opening oneself up to a new experience. When we dive into our spiritual journey we have no guarantees or clarity of what to expect. A spiritual journey is very individual and even very experienced spiritual gurus can’t give us all the answers of what to expect.

A spiritually mature person understands this. He knows that life is an adventurous journey. That’s why we never know what the coming day is preparing for us, what kind of challenges we will face and what decisions we will have to make. All we can have is a strong confidence in our own intuition and the adequacy of feelings, confidence in the constructive decisions and the ability to take risks – all these qualities help us to endure the tension created by the uncertainty of the entire series of life situations.

Personal Responsibility

Since most life situations arise under our control, we should be responsible for our actions in these situations. Understanding your responsibility allows you to freely and consciously make a choice at any time of communication – to agree with the arguments of the interlocutor or to enter into a productive confrontation.

Personal responsibility helps to take criticism more constructively. In such cases, criticism does not trigger the mechanisms of psychological protection but serves as useful feedback that improves the efficiency of activities and even life itself.

The Depth of Relationships With Others

When a spiritually mature person evaluates other people (their feelings, views, peculiar traits) he does it without condemnation and the use of labels.

Some people feel that expressing positive feelings obliges and thereby restricts freedom and makes them vulnerable. Others are afraid of rejection, so they feel that the safest position is the rejection of close relations. And they are satisfied with the communication with the partner in the distance.

But if you have enough spiritual maturity you don’t have such fears. You are able to freely express your feelings, both positive and negative, when communicating with other people.

Refusal of Perfectionism

Spiritual maturity involves a refusal of the desire to be perfect. Instead of blaming ourselves for our mistakes we need to take them as our lessons. If we accept that we are not perfect, we will avoid unnecessary tension and feelings of guilt. In this case, relations with others become deeper and at the same time more real.

Empathy

Spiritual maturity implies the ability of a person to feel empathy. Empaths understand the feelings of the people they communicate with, as well as mandatory consideration of them in the process of communication. The range of empathy manifestation varies widely: from a light emotional response to a full immersion in the world of feelings of your interlocutor. Empaths realize that the feelings they experience are a reflection of the feelings of their interlocutors.

Kindness and Compassion

Kindness is based on the fundamental concept of self-recognition. We are required to treat all aspects of ourselves with compassion. Not just our positive aspects but also those ones that we previously denied. Spiritual maturity is a reflection of our deep gratitude, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

Only once we treat ourselves with kindness and compassion can we treat others the same way. Our attitude towards others is always a reflection of our attitude towards ourselves. That’s why I always say: “Love yourself first!”.

Patience

Spiritual maturity implies an understanding of the fact that the process of awakening goes through many periods and cycles. It requires our deepest commitment.

True patience does not aspire to any achievement. It allows us to open up for the timeless. When Einstein explained the nature of time by example, he said, “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”

Awakening is not a matter of weeks, years, or lives, but a matter of loving and patient disclosure to the mystery at this moment.

A Sense of the Sacred

Spiritually mature people treat every action they do as a sacred practice. Spiritual maturity means an understanding of the fact that if we need to bring light and compassion into the world, we have to start with our own lives. Our personal lives become more genuine spiritual practices than any series of experiences we have or any philosophy we share. This personal approach to practice means respect for the individual and the universal in our lives. Moreover, we also honor our individual body, our individual family and our community, as well as our personal history of joy and sorrow. Spiritually mature people have a deep understanding that their personal spiritual awakening affects all other creatures.

Independent Discovery

Instead of accepting some philosophy or blindly following some great teacher, going on an insurmountable path, we must recognize that we need to see for ourselves. In spiritual maturity, we find a great sense of autonomy – not as a reaction to authority, but as a basis for sincere recognition of the fact that we, like Buddha, are capable of spiritual awakening. Spiritual maturity has a deeply democratic quality. It means that all individuals have the opportunity to discover what is sacred and to free themselves.

This sense of exploration combines the openness of the mind with “discerning wisdom,” the ability to separate the useful from the harmful, which keeps the eyes open. With an open mind, we always learn.

Our sense of discovery gives us the opportunity to use the great wisdom traditions to learn from teachers and be part of the community. While at the same time in contact with ourselves, to see the truth and speak the truth with great respect to our own integrity and to our own awakening. This kind of research allows us to be more honest with ourselves.

Flexibility

Flexibility implies that spiritual life is not about accepting a particular philosophy or set of beliefs or teachings, nor is it about confronting or opposing anyone. It is the lightness of the heart that implies that all spiritual means are rafts to come to freedom.

The flexibility of the mindset contributes lightness and humor to spiritual practice. It allows us to see that there are thousands of ways to reach spiritual awakening. And if we choose one way and other people choose another way there is nothing wrong with this. We may follow different paths to reach the same destination.

Conclusion

With spiritual maturity, our ability to forgive and free ourselves grows and deepens. This shows the natural resolution of our conflicts and the ability to return to a joy and peace. When we reach spiritual maturity we see spirituality as a question of who we are rather than of what ideal, philosophy, religion, or guru we follow. Spirituality of this kind is full of joy and integrity; it is both ordinary and awakened. Such spiritual maturity allows the light of the divine to shine through us.