Success and Satisfaction
How are success and satisfaction related? Is there any linkage? Are the people who are successful, really happy? These are some of the questions that come to the minds of people. The answer for this is of course, within us.
First, success and satisfaction are not linked. Satisfaction here stands for “happiness”. In the epic Mahabharata, Dharma (the God of righteousness and virtue) asked king Yudhisthira, “Who is happy?” Yudhisthira’s answer was that a person who does not have any debt, who is not abroad and at the end of the day is able to get his share of meals, is happy. Now this is definitely not a modern definition of happiness as our desires and wants have grown manifold since Yudhisthira’s era. Therefore we are happy when our needs and desires are fulfilled.
But are we really happy when we reach the pinnacle of success, when all our endeavors bear fruit? Are we happy when we get what we want? Of course not! Happiness, defined and measured in terms of wants and desires is as elusive as water in a desert. Success always has a limit, you may climb the pinnacle, but after that there is a void. Tycoons of today are nobodies of tomorrow. Once a want or desire is fulfilled another replaces it and you are left as unhappy as ever.
Then the question that comes is whether satisfaction is really and truly happiness! The answer is “No”!
Satisfaction is a standalone phenomenon, much broader concept than happiness. Satisfaction has a spiritual connotation while happiness has a material one. Satisfaction encompasses an understanding of the circumstances in which we are and acceptance of the circumstances, without being anxious to get rid of the circumstance. Satisfaction implies tolerance, with self and environment, without a conscious desire to change. It is an inward, almost divine state of peace, serenity and blissfulness. Satisfaction is the topmost level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – Self Actualization.
Happiness is transitory, transient, while satisfaction is permanent or quasi permanent. Happiness is a state of mind which passes away even before you realize that it was there. Satisfaction is a state which you can live and relive, you almost reach out and touch the God residing in your innermost depths. Happiness is linked to mind, satisfaction is linked to wisdom.
Now can success result in such a state? It does not need a big bang success to achieve a state of calm acceptance and peace with surroundings, even small activities like gardening and seeing a flower blooming on a tree planted by one can result in such a state. In the novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse, the author talked about “listening to the river” to attain a state of bliss. That’s a state of intense satisfaction.
To my mind, success can create happiness, but not satisfaction unless you are a Yogi. A Yogi can accept success and satisfaction with equal stoicism – a state which is called in Sanskrit – “Dukhsheshanudwignamana Sukhecha vigatataspriha” – one who is indifferent in joy and sorrow, a true sage who has realized the futility of every material thing and has received the ineffable bliss of the divine reality. Success normally creates a hunger and penchant for more. People cannot stop assuming that they have reached the summit, they want to extract more and more from life and very soon, when they taste failure, they cannot take it, or they become disillusioned. In many cases people who hog limelight, like politicians, actors or sportsperson, find it very difficult after they have exhausted all avenues and they start getting faded away. Politicians therefore try to cling to power as long as possible, businessmen try to make even more money or grow their business, and others try to be in headlines in some way or the other. If they were really satisfied, i.e. at peace with their surroundings, they need not do any of these.
However, we can strike a delicate balance; we can harmonize between success and satisfaction, only the subtle point where we should give up needs to be identified. Thousands of years ago lord Krishna had told us in Song Celestial or “Bhagvad Gita” to do our duty with a sense of detachment, so that we should not become too engrossed with the outcome. Therefore if we do something with utmost detachment to the best of our ability, we’ll achieve success, and if we do not have that penchant or thrust for outcome, we’ll not become a slave to it and thus would not clamor for more success. In that way we’ll arrive at a state of peace, serenity and inner calm, which we call satisfaction. We would truly be able to “listen to the river, "like the Tagore poem which states (in a nutshell)- "The day and its work is now over and all is quiet, now listen intently to the call that comes from within, spread your mind and consciousness on the threshold of the temple of the vast, eternity within you, even if you do not see it, you will feel it and will receive supreme bliss and happiness."
First, success and satisfaction are not linked. Satisfaction here stands for “happiness”. In the epic Mahabharata, Dharma (the God of righteousness and virtue) asked king Yudhisthira, “Who is happy?” Yudhisthira’s answer was that a person who does not have any debt, who is not abroad and at the end of the day is able to get his share of meals, is happy. Now this is definitely not a modern definition of happiness as our desires and wants have grown manifold since Yudhisthira’s era. Therefore we are happy when our needs and desires are fulfilled.
But are we really happy when we reach the pinnacle of success, when all our endeavors bear fruit? Are we happy when we get what we want? Of course not! Happiness, defined and measured in terms of wants and desires is as elusive as water in a desert. Success always has a limit, you may climb the pinnacle, but after that there is a void. Tycoons of today are nobodies of tomorrow. Once a want or desire is fulfilled another replaces it and you are left as unhappy as ever.
Then the question that comes is whether satisfaction is really and truly happiness! The answer is “No”!
Satisfaction is a standalone phenomenon, much broader concept than happiness. Satisfaction has a spiritual connotation while happiness has a material one. Satisfaction encompasses an understanding of the circumstances in which we are and acceptance of the circumstances, without being anxious to get rid of the circumstance. Satisfaction implies tolerance, with self and environment, without a conscious desire to change. It is an inward, almost divine state of peace, serenity and blissfulness. Satisfaction is the topmost level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – Self Actualization.
Happiness is transitory, transient, while satisfaction is permanent or quasi permanent. Happiness is a state of mind which passes away even before you realize that it was there. Satisfaction is a state which you can live and relive, you almost reach out and touch the God residing in your innermost depths. Happiness is linked to mind, satisfaction is linked to wisdom.
Now can success result in such a state? It does not need a big bang success to achieve a state of calm acceptance and peace with surroundings, even small activities like gardening and seeing a flower blooming on a tree planted by one can result in such a state. In the novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse, the author talked about “listening to the river” to attain a state of bliss. That’s a state of intense satisfaction.
To my mind, success can create happiness, but not satisfaction unless you are a Yogi. A Yogi can accept success and satisfaction with equal stoicism – a state which is called in Sanskrit – “Dukhsheshanudwignamana Sukhecha vigatataspriha” – one who is indifferent in joy and sorrow, a true sage who has realized the futility of every material thing and has received the ineffable bliss of the divine reality. Success normally creates a hunger and penchant for more. People cannot stop assuming that they have reached the summit, they want to extract more and more from life and very soon, when they taste failure, they cannot take it, or they become disillusioned. In many cases people who hog limelight, like politicians, actors or sportsperson, find it very difficult after they have exhausted all avenues and they start getting faded away. Politicians therefore try to cling to power as long as possible, businessmen try to make even more money or grow their business, and others try to be in headlines in some way or the other. If they were really satisfied, i.e. at peace with their surroundings, they need not do any of these.
However, we can strike a delicate balance; we can harmonize between success and satisfaction, only the subtle point where we should give up needs to be identified. Thousands of years ago lord Krishna had told us in Song Celestial or “Bhagvad Gita” to do our duty with a sense of detachment, so that we should not become too engrossed with the outcome. Therefore if we do something with utmost detachment to the best of our ability, we’ll achieve success, and if we do not have that penchant or thrust for outcome, we’ll not become a slave to it and thus would not clamor for more success. In that way we’ll arrive at a state of peace, serenity and inner calm, which we call satisfaction. We would truly be able to “listen to the river, "like the Tagore poem which states (in a nutshell)- "The day and its work is now over and all is quiet, now listen intently to the call that comes from within, spread your mind and consciousness on the threshold of the temple of the vast, eternity within you, even if you do not see it, you will feel it and will receive supreme bliss and happiness."
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