Understanding Spiritual Level of Satisfaction

A NOTE ON SPIRITUAL SATISFACTION

What is satisfaction? What does Santushti imply in reality? When I ask this question, I am speaking of Satisfaction, Santushti in its deepest, most profound state. A state wherein one’s mind is at peace, calm and tranquil, a state where there are no ripples in your mind, or any emotions in your heart. That stillness, that calm is true satisfaction. It is most often confused with acceptance, or even compromise – the difference is in both,  the burning desire to achieve / possess / do something remains. But in a state of satisfaction, this desire is also quelled – leaving a calm motionless lake.

In its crudest form, Satisfaction is always used in reference to a specific need or want; that is a superficial look at the term, and is typically a temporary state. In such a temporary stage, the core desire remains, and that, with time, again lights the fires of desire, ambition etc. This leads to a mind that is full of thoughts, emotions, feelings and more – and the cycle begins once again – till a temporary new equilibrium at the new level of attainment is achieved.

MATERIAL SATISFACTION VS SPIRITUAL SATISFACTION

A side note here : it is said that this ambition, desires etc are what drive achievement; nothing can be farther from the truth. Ambition and desire may drive personal ambition, growth, but are not the true drivers of excellence; and are frequently not the drivers of team-work, and ethical behaviour. These two, if unrestrained, lead to lack of ethics, or high performance pressure, and many other issues. What controls these is Satisfaction. Satisfaction is what enables excellence, ethics, depth perception, deep situational analysis as your perceptive powers in any situation increase and much more.

Ambition and Desire, if unrestrained, lead to blind spots on many of these parameters.  This is so because these are driven by specific objects in the world – like that car, that promotion, that growth target; whereas a person who operates on Satisfaction is driven by core aspects – like giving a full days hard work; or giving your best, or being process oriented – in other words, such a person will not be satisfied even if the target is met but some parameter is ignored – like ethics. This act of omitting something will lead to a mental dissonance in his or her mind – which can only be reached if that omission is corrected and acted on.

Side Note : That is why, in your organizational teams, it is essential to identify the drivers of each team member in your team. Find what drives each individual; and if all your team members are individually driven, then you need someone – or a few someones – in your team who has risen above these, and thinks more of the collective, including the society, than personal benefit. In a cruel world, the only guarantee of sustainability is to have a mixed team of individualists working in tandem with the collectivists. This is but one application area of Spiritual Satisfaction

SPIRITUAL SATISFACTION

This is where I introduce the term Spiritual Satisfaction - The spiritual path suggests satisfaction as a state; even for those not on the path, Satisfaction is state of being that is much sought after. Most take it to mean adjustment, or compromise – it is neither. Spiritually, Satisfaction is very different to these terms. Others imply it as being related to material needs, position, power, status, achievement and more as we have seen above – implying that there is a level that you can say, “enough”.  And yet another stream of thought relates it to a psychological state of contentment with what one has – but again in very, very material terms.

In reality, satisfaction is a state of being, a place of existence, that is much deeper, and requires deep thought and contemplation. Satisfaction, in the English usage, is linked, thanks to normal speech, as we saw above, to physical or psychological needs. But when taken in the spiritual language, or even in Hindi, it acquires many dimensions – which give it a fuller, more complete and indepth meaning.  In this detailed look, satisfaction emerges as  distinct level of being, a plane of personality or of existence that is an identifier by itself. I give the Hindi Translation of the nearest word to satisfaction below:

संतुष्टि

Transliterated version: santushti.

स्त्रीलिंग

1. संतुष्ट होने का भाव

2. तृप्ति

3. प्रसन्नता

Origin

संस्कृत

From this view, Satisfaction has 4 parameters:

1) A Feeling of Being Satisfied with needs - physical  & material

2) Trupti - there exists no english word; closest is satiety. _This is a feeling that happens when you go beyond satisfaction; Satisfaction can quickly turn to dissatisfaction as you consume, and new needs are lit. Trupti - in this, you have had your fill, and reached equanimity

3) Prasannata - again, no English word does justice. _This is a deep feeling of contentment, devoid of emtional overtones. Happiness can by happy, or exuberant, or euphoric; this Prasannta is a feeling of deep contentment.

4) Peace – this person is at peace with him or herself, with the world, has reached a state of acceptance, and has risen above all regrets. This person is peaceful, calm and tranquil.

CONCLUSION

It is when these 4 come together - Satisfaction, Trupti, Contentment, Peace and  Emotionless  Happiness - a feeling of Sthitpradnya {or close to it}, a state when you cannot be moved from it. This is the spiritual level of Satisfaction. In what state of mind can a person reach that level of deep contentment, when he or she is content, at peace, satisfied, Calm, with no regrets, having complete acceptance? When he or she has reached a state when all actions are in consonance with the more core of beliefs, values that person holds and with the small voice, the conscience… then, at that state, that person is one who has achieved a state of being truly satisfied in spiritual terms….