Is satisfaction an austerity of the mind or it is an illusion that traps us?
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question why satisfaction considered differently in the bhagavad gita and the bhagavatam the bhagavad gita says satisfaction is austerity of the mind whereas the bhagavatam says that satisfaction of the living condition with its material pleasure that it gets in its material body is the greatest illusion there are the same words which are used in different contexts and each context the word will mean something specific and different satisfaction an emotion can be understood from the effect that it has on us but also the content in which it is having say for example somebody may take a pain medication and feel relief somebody may take a curative medication and feel relief somebody may take a heavy dose of alcohol or drugs mind altering drugs and feel relief so relief is the same the emotion of relief is the same but the context of the emotion is very different and it is this context that determines whether the emotion is right or is desirable or undesirable whether one should move forward with such an emotion or not so similarly if you consider the context of the emotion of say depression of satisfaction now human life is meant for spiritual enquiry and unless we strive to enquire spiritually we cannot grow in our life and satisfaction in the form of complacency that things are alright at the material level or things will soon become alright if that stops us from spiritual enquiry then that kind of satisfaction is unhealthy and undesirable for our spiritual life in contrast when Krishna talks about this is the satisfaction so satisfaction that stops us from spiritual enquiry is undesirable and that is what is being talked about here in the Bhagavatam because we feel that things are alright or things will soon become alright we may question the particularities of our existence oh I don’t have a good enough car I don’t have a good enough house but we don’t question the foundation of our existence material life is what life is meant to be but just the particularities in material life are not working out right in contrast when Krishna talks about the satisfaction and the austerity of the mind bhava samshuddhir te tad tapo manasam uchyate there also he adds some very significant things he adds bhava samshuddhir he adds purification as a vital component of whatever is being done of austerity of the mind and before that also he says that atma vinigraha, self control so this satisfaction is basically meant to check us from getting too ambitious getting too obsessed with material improvement and thereby neglecting spiritual growth so spiritual the impetus for spiritual growth is indicated by both self control and by purification of existence so we could summarize this as we need to be materially satisfied but spiritually ambitious now of course we may say that spiritual dissatisfaction can also be a problem and material compulsion can be a problem also Arjun was not satisfied materially till he got till he became the best Arjun but then that material endeavor was for his spiritual growth and that material endeavor didn’t distract him from spiritual growth and spiritual dissatisfaction if it is in a competitive sense oh this devotee has got more mercy than me, I don’t get so much mercy and then that may make us feel inferior or insecure but spiritual dissatisfaction sense of contribution I want to serve Krishna more, I want to become a better instrument for the service of Krishna that is healthy so satisfaction that strengthens us strengthens our spirituality is positive that is satisfaction that enables us to move forward in our relationship with Krishna is what we should be seeking