Contentment
Santokh
Peace with what is — the antidote to endless craving.
- 1
Read
Sit with a few of these lines from scripture — read slowly, more than once.
- 2
Reflect
Let one of the stories below settle the teaching into the heart.
- 3
Live
Name three things you are grateful for before sleep.
📜 Read — verses on contentment
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 279 · Line 4
Without contentment, no one is satisfied.
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 820 · Line 28
…desire, anger, greed and slander; he has abandoned truth and contentment. ||1||
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 877 · Line 36
He is satisfied, with the priceless gift of contentment.
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 893 · Line 50
It brings Truth, contentment and spiritual wisdom.
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 3 · Line 2
Listening-truth, contentment and spiritual wisdom.
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 872 · Line 4
Deep within, there is no contentment.
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 1037 · Line 20
Truth and contentment govern this body-village.
Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 1192 · Line 44
Contentment does not come by any endeavors.
📖 Reflect — stories
The sealing of the Granth
In 1604, by the pool at Ramsar, Guru Arjan finished compiling the words of the Gurus and the saints into one volume. He sealed it not with wax but with these closing verses — a platter of truth, contentment and contemplation — and installed it in the Harmandir Sahib, with the aged Baba Buddha as its first attendant. The Word itself was now enthroned.
The whole in a part
A child asked why, at the end of every gathering, they sang only a little of the long Song of Bliss and not the whole. The granthi smiled: “When you greet someone you love, you do not recite their every quality — a few words carry the whole heart. These six verses are like that: the whole bliss, folded small enough to carry home.”
🪔 Live — your practice
Name three things you are grateful for before sleep.
Continue your path
A guided path for reflection — the verses are drawn live from the scripture library by theme. Follow the guidance of your sangat or teacher for practice.