By : Mrs. Constance Teresa Simonds (U.K.)

 Contentment is the trait of being satisfied with what one has. Contentment seldom comes from an outside source; it comes from within. We all know the heights of happiness and the depths of despair, but the state of contentment is harder to come by. Meditation and prayer are not enough if we have not done our daily work diligently and to our own satisfaction. Words are not enough without matching deeds.

The state of material contentment is transient. As the days pass, it becomes harder to find contentment for, as life changes, so do our hopes and aspirations. We often believe that the Father must give us more and more to make us contended. As we pass through the different stages of life, contentment becomes a different idea: to a starving child, it is a good meal; to the sportsman, it is winning the race; to the prisoner, it is release from incarceration and to the Spiritual Shepherd, it is surely, the guardianship of his flock as he leads the way to God, teaching as he goes . Only by God-realisation can we ever hope to attain the state of true contentment, so desired. Only by discarding our negative thoughts can we enter that blissful state, to be one with mankind.

My own definition of contentment is to attend the congregation of the Universal Brotherhood (Nirankari congregation), understanding none of the spoken word, yet understanding the spirit of those words. It knows, that apart from families and friends, we are seemingly insignificant parts of the universe, yet to God, who lives us, we are all important. It knows that one day we shall all return to the Great Soul, to God, the Formless One.