Santosha: Happiness and Longevity

by Ram

In the Sadhana Pada of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali we are introduced to the eight rungs/limbs/steps of yoga whose practice helps us to develop attention as a tool to discriminate between ignorance and awareness and truth from illusion which is the means for liberation or enlightenment. The first two of these rungs or limbs are the yamas and niyamas that can be looked at as universal morality and personal observances. The practices of yamas and niyamas lay the foundation from which to develop all the other subtle practices. The second limb contains the five niyamas or observances/practices of self-training, and deals with how we relate to ourselves inwardly. One of the five niyamas is santosha, which means contentment or true happiness.

Santosha Anuttamah Sukha Labhah
From an attitude of contentment/true happiness (santosha), mental comfort, joy, and satisfaction (anuttamah sukha) are obtained. —Swami Jnaneshvara  

To be contented and happy, even while experiencing life’s difficulties, becomes a process of growth through all kinds of circumstances (see Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness). We should accept that there is a purpose for everything and we cultivate contentment to accept what happens. It means being happy with what we have rather than being unhappy about what we don't have. Humans seem to always be seeking satisfaction in the materialistic world and our internal fantasies. However, if we are contented with our wants, wishes and needs and truly happy with our lifestyle and what we currently have, it will help us in the journey to absolute truth and the highest realization. Discontentment and unhappiness arises when we get caught up in this materialistic world. Our desires and needs for material possessions, if left unfulfilled, create frustration, anger and loss of mental peace, leading to a disharmonious life (see Anger Management: Philosophy, Science and Yoga).

Chicken on Hawaii Beach by Brad Gibson

People are looking for ways to bring that peace and santosha in their lives, and so not surprisingly santosha seems to be the most sought after "principle" in the world today. Your own test for santosha would be about whether you respond through the five senses and react to the changes in all the circumstances of life or whether you listen to your inner voice and are not swayed by the material instincts.

In my previous post  I emphasized the principle of karmayoga or selfless service (see Selfless Service for Harmonious Longevity). Karmayogis are known to constantly live in a world of true happiness. What could you possibly achieve by experiencing true happiness? Among several other benefits, true happiness is now known to extend longevity. Happy people have an advantage over unhappy ones—they are not only healthier but they may also live longer. This is the conclusion drawn from a review published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being thus confirming the need to be happy for a healthy living as advocated in the yoga sutras. The research study compared 160 studies that examined several types of emotions defined as subjective well being (SWB). These included life satisfaction, optimism, hopefulness, sense of humor and other positive emotions. The summary of the findings include:

1. Happy people exhibited a high SWB as compared to less happy individuals.
2. Happy people with a high SWB had better health and longevity.
3. A high SWB (exhibited by happy people) was related to lower mortality rate in both healthy and diseased populations.
4. Unhappy and stressed people (having a low SWB) had higher blood pressure levels and low immune response as compared to happy people with high SWB.

The above together with other findings suggest that happiness measured as subjective well being causally influences health and longevity. So how about bringing that santosha in your own lives as well? It’s no wonder that Bobby McFerrin gyrated and swooned to the tunes of “Don't Worry, Be Happy.”

Yoga and The Pursuit of Happiness

by Nina

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” — Declaration of Independence, United States of America

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found it was a bit surprising that one of the three “unalienable rights” the U.S. Declaration of Independence recognizes is “the pursuit of happiness.” In contrast, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen defines the natural rights of man as: liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression. And it’s quite interesting to contemplate what our founders meant when they used the word “happiness” in this context. From what I can tell, hundreds of years later, there is still quite a bit of debate about it.

On the other hand, the Yoga Sutras make it pretty clear what “happiness” means to a yoga practitioner.

2.42 Perfect happiness is attained through contentment. —translation by Barbara Stoler Miller

And if you’re wondering what “contentment” means, in his translation of the Yoga Sutras, TKV Desikachar provides an explanation that I really love: “Contentment or the ability to be comfortable with what we have and what we do not have.”

I’m thinking about happiness this morning because I woke up with a troubled mind. There’s a problem I can’t solve right now, and maybe will never be able to solve. But I decided that I didn’t want to dwell in that troubled state, and consciously decided to let go of my negative thoughts for the time being. I wasn't particularly trying to be happy, just not weighted down by frustration and anger—in other words, more “content.” Then as I started to work at my computer, I stumbled on to some online instructions for how to fold fitted bottom sheets. Hey, I always wanted to know how to do that! So I ran downstairs and grabbed one of my mashed-up bottom sheets and refolded it. The results weren’t as perfect as shown in the instructions (which were for sheets that just had elasticized corners—mine are elasticized all around), but the technique was a great improvement over the one I’d previously been using (well, calling that a technique is a bit of a stretch). And as I stood there admiring the rather attractive rectangle I had created, I was shot through with a tiny burst of happiness.

It struck me then that by quieting my negative thoughts and achieving a more contented state, I had given happiness the space to arise. And I was reminded of Edwin Bryant’s translation of sutra 2.42 and his commentary on it:

2.42 From contentment, the highest happiness is attained.

“This sattvic happiness does not depend on external objects, which are vulnerable and fleeting, but is inherent in the mind when it is tranquil and content.”

So maybe yoga is the pursuit of happiness. For if happiness is “inherent in the mind when it is tranquil and content” then the practice of yoga, whose aim is equanimity or contentment, will lead you toward happiness. The Yoga Sutras make it clear which steps to take on that journey:

1.12 Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.

1.33 Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favorably disposed, serene and benevolent.

1.34 Or, by maintaining the pensive state felt at the time of soft and steady exhalation and during passive retention after exhalation.

1.35 Or, by contemplating an object that helps to maintain steadiness of mind and consciousness.  

—translation by BKS Iyengar