an article by GANOBA

The two words Prey and Pray have come to mean the same thing in modern
parlance.
What an irony?
Pain and suffering are part of life. When we refuse to acknowledge
this truth, the vicious cycle of misery begins.
To complicate matters, we begin hold others responsible for our
suffering. Taking revenge to settle the score is the beginning of the
slide to hell.
Misery leads one to miserliness. We then begin to feel, that what we
have, is not enough. The strategy to deal with insufficiency is "beg,
borrow or steal". Pray or Prey. If we succeed in this strategy then it
gets reinforced. If we fail then we fall back on blaming others for
the failure.
Thus the vicious cycle is set into motion.
How do we get out of it?
The virtue of "santosh" is the liberator. Santosh means cultivating
the feeling that what ever we have is more than enough. Why more than
enough? Because, at all times we have enough for our needs and more to
spare for others.
Santosh is one of the 10 Yam-Niyam. It is not a passive defeatist
stance. It involves making full use of what we have for the larger
good. Mother Teresa tells of a heart warming story. She had taken food
to a hungry family. The lady thanked her and then took half the food
to her neighbor. When Mother asked her what she had done with half the
food, she said, "I cannot eat all of it when I know my neighbor is
also hungry." This is Santosh.
Ganoba