Nothing More, Nothing Less

When a sannyasi reached the outskirts of a village and settled under a tree for the night, a villager came running up to him and shouted, “The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!”
“What stone?” asked the sannyasi.
“Last night Lord Shiva told me in a dream that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk, a sanyasi would give me a stone that would make me rich forever.”
The sannyasi rummaged in his sack and, pulling out a stone, he said, “He probably meant this one. I found it in the forest yesterday. Here, it’s yours if you want it.”
The man gazed at the stone in wonder. It must have been the largest diamond in the world – the size of a man’s head.
All night he tossed about in bed. At break of day, he woke the sannyasi and said, “Give me the wealth that made it possible for you to give this stone away.”
_{Anthony de Mello, The Song of the Bird}

In Spiritual Gems, Great Master said: “Innumerable worlds are worthless, compared to one atom of spirituality.” Being happy with what we have and not desiring more is contentment. Nobody gets everything they want yet we are always in pursuit of something. We feel we will be content after we get what we want, but contentment is being happy with what we already have. When we reach that level of contentment, we will realize that we already have exactly what we need. Nothing more, nothing less.

The masters tell us that it is not bad to have desires to better our conditions, or to put in effort to achieve them; however, we should not lose our sense of balance, and we should not compromise our principles to get them. As simple as this sounds, it’s not easy to achieve, given the competitive world that we live in. From the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, we run around like well-programmed machines. We think we do not belong in this rat race but our routines are set, calendars filled, meetings planned, and targets set.

If we wake up in the morning and are able to enjoy what we have and if we are able to lose interest in the desires that are beyond our reach, we may have unlocked the way to finding contentment. But how do we do that – how do we become desireless?

All desires arise in the mind, and when the mind is subdued and is merged in the sound current, the game is won.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems}

It is very difficult to withdraw our mind from the worldly objects and desires. The power lies in controlling the mind, where it raises no desire. Great Master describes the mind like a restless boy; if you shut the boy indoors, the first thing he does is to try and break the door and windows. When he cannot find a way out, he gets tired, sits quietly and begins to see what lies in the room. The mind has to be closed in against its will; when it acquires a taste for the interior, it does not go outside.

Our mind is plagued by persistent dissatisfaction. It is always on the prowl for more and more. According to an adage, a man with one watch always knows what time it is, however a man with two is never quite sure. It is our choice to let the mind continue as a misleading master or accompany us as a faithful servant.

Meditation is the remedy that brings the mind to rest. When we meditate, we provide an anchor for our mind, and we create a channel for it to attach itself to the sound and light within. Maharaj Charan Singh explains that meditation helps us to detach from those desires. By fighting our desires we can never succeed. Suppression will only cause the mind to rebound with even greater force. Only attachment can create detachment. One cannot fight off desires without meditation. Maharaj Sawan Singh explains:

Soul is enveloped by the mind, and mind by the body. Soul is powerless in the clutches of the mind, and mind is helpless before the senses. A beautiful object attracts it, and sweet music holds it.
_{Spiritual Gems}

When the mind is absorbed in the divine Light and Sound, it detaches itself from the senses and worldly desires.

Cleverness and worldly wisdom are of no avail;
only that which the Lord is pleased to bestow brings peace.
A million ritual actions do not put an end to desire.
Abandoning all other pursuits
Nanak has made Nam his mainstay.
_{Guru Arjun Dev Ji, Voice of the Heart}

When we start meditating on Nam, we gradually understand that there is nothing to possess or to lose. At that stage, we realize that compared to God-realization all our other pursuits are trivial; we are happy with what we have, and nothing is lacking. When we don’t feel the lack of anything, we are content, we have no desire for anything else. Contentment is the attitude that says, “I will always be happy with what the Lord has given me – nothing more, nothing less.”

Wealth or poverty depends upon the absence or presence of desires, respectively. He who has no desires is rich. He who does not desire anything is a sovereign.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems}

***

The Lord does not find excuses to send us back. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to improve, to go ahead. But if we refuse to make use of this opportunity, we can go back. Our attachments, our unfulfilled desires, our karmas can pull us down. We do not like to think so, but that is a fact.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I}