Santośa: Another Perspective on Gratitude
See the Reef with Santośa
By Acharya Satyam Ehinger
I’ve heard Babaji say many times that watching the news makes him laugh— and you’ve got to ask yourself, is the news actually funny or is this a secret teaching?
The Spanda Karikas, a commentary text on the Shiva Sutras, tell us that when we identify too much with the horizontal world we are dragged down by it, like getting upset by the news, but if we are able to keep our focus inside while we watch the news then that same experience can actually lift you up: “For those who are fully aware of God consciousness, all the organs of cognition, organs of action and organs of the intellect lead them to that supreme state of God consciousness. For those who are not aware, these same organs deprive them completely of that God consciousness” (Spanda Kārikā 1.20). This means that if you are focused on your practice, then the news can actually become fuel for your growth, but if you’re not focused on your practice then it just makes you upset.
Swami Rudrananda speaks about this same principle, “Your relationship to your suffering has to do with how much you feel the suffering. If you're above it, really reaching towards your enlightenment, that suffering is a warm thing that keeps the snow off you. If you're complaining all the time, you're right in the middle of that fire, suffering, and there is no energy for you to grow above it” (RGA, 81). So we see that suffering isn’t a one way street, there are ways to not only get above it, but even ways to use that tension for our growth, and today we will see that laughing at the news is a great place to start.
Well, laughing is actually a pretty advanced practice, but just a slight smile can loosen our grip on the tension and begin to let our inner bliss bubble up. Because as Paul Reps writes, “A slight smile stretches a mile” (Juicing, p. 32). A slight smile can take you a mile because our true nature is bliss, not tension. So we don’t have to destroy our tensions, we just have to practice letting go of them.
“That is the nature of surrender,” teaches Shambhavananda, “It has to do with opening up to your limitations and simply releasing them.” But it’s not easy, which is why we have to practice it, and work hard spiritually to accomplish it. So a slight smile is a great place to start to learn, grow, and understand this process.
When I was grumpy as a kid my mom would say “Don’t you smile, don’t you smile”, and I remember so clearly how much it hurt to let go of my tantrum, but also how free I felt afterwards. If you’re a parent you probably have a version of this trick. But it’s not just something kids go through, it’s something we are all going through.
Babaji describes our tensions like an anchor we are holding on to at the bottom of the ocean— “All you need to do is let go, and you will rise to the top,” he tells us, “But we like our anchor, and we are very attached to it. We have put time and energy into creating our persona, identity, and limitations, which are the building blocks of our anchor. On the one hand, it seems silly that we would not let go of that anchor; but on the other hand, to let go of it is the most terrifying thing in the world” (SR, 32).
To unpack this quote let’s keep with the underwater theme and imagine we’re a fish. We see some attractive bait, like the news app on your phone, we take a bite and immediately there is something there that hooks us, upsets us usually, and just like that we begin to contract. Our jaw clenches, our eyes squintch, our lips purse in disagreement as we pull back in disagreement against this hook. That’s when we can stop and practice the slight smile, it might feel phoney, and at first it usually is, but we gotta start somewhere. If we can sustain the slight smile, you will start to feel your breath, you’ll feel the present, and you’ll feel the hook. From there you can choose to read the news or not— It’s not rejecting, it’s not accepting, it’s simply taking the hook out of our mouth.
And that’s when we find the happiness we were seeking all along, as Babaji and the yogic tradition teach, “Once you deeply let go and get in touch with the inner consciousness,” Shambhavananda teaches, “it is like taking a deep breath after being suffocated for a long time. You will feel relieved and more expansive” (Spontaneous Recognition, 32).
Patanjali taught the same practice 2,000 ago in his Yoga Sutras. He writes that when we inevitably encounter, and suffer from, the obstacles of “distraction…distress and despair, as well as unsteadiness of the body and breath,” then we should “cultivate friendliness, compassion, and gladness” in order to “recall our natural expansiveness” (1.31, 1.33). You can separate from your stress by simply cultivating friendliness, and that simple practice helps you “recall your natural expansiveness”, which, again, is what you were swimming after all along.
This level of surrender happens beyond the mind. It’s sort of like a “Just say no to drugs” kind of reaction. But what’s different is that you aren’t ‘saying no’ to the issue outside of you, you’re ‘saying no’ to creating more tension by pulling against the hook, you’re ‘saying no’ to reacting to it and causing yourself more suffering. In reality you’re ‘saying yes’ to the yogic tradition’s promise that your true nature is bliss, no matter how many clouds may conceal it.
This is sort of how the Pacific island of Palau is winning back their fish population. Over fishing had decimated the reefs of Palau, as is currently happening all over the world. Palau responded by creating numerous “No Fishing Zones” in their reefs in order to allow the fish population to replenish. At first it was difficult, but within just a few years those populations have doubled, with the overflow beginning to fill the open fishing areas. They didn’t ‘say no’ to fishing, they said no to over-fishing. That’s the nature of this practice as well. You’re not going to get very far with a hook in your mouth— drop it with the slight smile, regain your ‘natural expansiveness’ and then proceed. Let your inner “bliss populations” recover and spill over into the rest of your life.
This isn’t just a metaphor, or a single island’s dream, it’s actually becoming a reality for our whole planet. According to the UN, almost 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks are depleted and over exploited ([This Pacific island has banned fishing from 80% of its waters | World Economic Forum](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/palau-pacific-marine-protected-area-fishing-environment/)) Marine scientists are in fact proposing that we must all’ just say no’ to over-fishing as a planet by reserving 1/3 of our ocean’s waters for fish to flourish ‘hook free’. Can we save the planet’s fish? We can and will, and it starts with you.
Today, make a symbolic donation to the world’s fish populations and your own inner bliss population by designating 1/3 of your activities to a slight smile, both on your cushion and in your life. If you are watching a 30 minute show, donate 10 minutes of it to a slight smile. Doing the dishes? Donate a third of those dishes to a slight smile. Taking a shower? 1/3 of it could go to a slight smile in need. It won’t be easy, and like saving the planet people may tell you it’s impossible— but if Patanjali, Rudi, Reps, Babaji and Palau can do it, so can we. And today only, the Inner Self is matching all donations, so if you donate 1/3 o your activity to a slight smile there is a good chance that the next 1/3, or even next 2/3, will be matched with an open heart. s