Contentment: A State of Happiness and Satisfaction

What is contentment? Just like the color blue it is subjectively unique. However, I have known moments of contentment and I now feel at least minimally qualified to talk about my subjective experience and the elements which provide me with happiness and satisfaction.

First and foremost you have to know yourself and then be yourself. It sounds easy, but it’s not. I had a great deal of help. Knowing yourself is not just a casual conversation with yourself but rather a painful and deep cleaning- kind of like that dental tool that gets deep in between your teeth and scrapes off unwanted tartar.

Most of my early self perception was illusory if not delusional and then I met the Siri Singh Sahib(SSS). The technology of Kundalini Yoga was dubbed the yoga of awareness. I thought when I began studying that I would be astral travelling and mentally visiting other realms of the Universe. No. I simply became “aware” of my own neurosis, physical limitations and personal garbage. Then I moved to the Broadway Ashram in Los Angeles where I stepped onto the pavement at 47th and Figueroa with broken glass in the street and “ladies of the evening” on the corner. This was another shock to my perception of who I was and what I should be doing. I had attended Amherst College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I had worked for the Pennsylvania State Attorney General and now… I was in South Central Los Angeles, studying for another bar exam and working at the “Sunshine Brass Bed Factory” for $3.30 an hour. Suffice it to say I had not yet found contentment. I did not even suspect that this was the path to contentment. I just thought it was some one’s idea of a bad joke. But I was determined to “keep up”.

The people surrounding me were beautiful. More accurately “Characters were welcome”. Each Broadway Ashram resident had a powerful and unique personality and perspective which made living there an adventure. The Sadhanas including the daily 31 minutes of Dhan Dhan Ram Das Guru were amazing. The Song of the Khalsa had the words written by Livtar Singh but the Mississippi Delta Blues rendering of “Blind Lemon” Awtar. Nirankar Singh was rhythm personified and voices don’t come any stronger than Nirankar Kaur and M.S.S. Krishna Kaur. The weekly free langar served at the Union Rescue Mission resulted in lifetimes of blessings. The Khalsa Montessori School children were precious and beautiful. The Nirankars, Devta Singh, Siri Devta Kaur, Maharaj Singh and Kaur, Jason, Hari Kirn Kaur-NY, Sir Radha Kaur, Kirpal Singh, Sat Sangeet Kaur, Akal Kaur, Surya Singh and Kaur, Uranus, M.S.S Krishna Kaur, Awtar Singh, Hari Krishan Kaur, Lakhmi Chand, Siri Chand, Sadhu Singh and Kaur, Sarb Sarong Singh and Kaur, Sarong Singh, Guru Teg Singh and the others who populated the Broadway Ashram from 1979-1984 were an integral part of my journey to contentment. Broadway was my introduction to the path of leadership and enlightenment through adversity. Piscean Leadership was leadership by directive. Aquarian Leadership is leadership by example. Broadway Ashram was Aquarian leadership 101. The experience taught me that in order to lead by example you must contain the qualities you espouse and you must be content with your own content.

I was given the name Gurujodha by the Siri Singh Sahib  which means (I was told) the “Spirit of the warrior”. Based on this definition I began to study the martial arts beginning with Bok Lin Pai kung fu in Harrisburg Pennsylvania in 1977. In 1979 I moved to Los Angeles and began studying the Ed Parker system of Kenpo Karate. I eventually attained the rank of black belt in 1992 and I was privileged as a result to serve as part of the Siri Singh Sahib’s personal security from time to time both domestically and internationally. To be trained by the Mahan Tantric, Kundalini Yoga Senior Grand Master and the Siri Singh Sahib of Sikh Dharma is an extreme blessing, when you add in training by the Senior Grand Master of Kenpo Karate, Ed Parker, it becomes an extreme blessing squared. The power of yoga and meditation is that it makes you intuitive and aware. The blessing of Sikh Dharma is that it gives you Guru, a dharma, and a Sangat. The beauty of martial arts is that it tests your awareness, and commitment to consciousness through interactive challenge. It is in short a metaphor for life.

Life is about overcoming adversity and achieving victory through conscious action. One cannot have distinction, success or achievement in life without difficulty and challenge. First you must have discipline, through discipline you train your mind body and spirit to operate as one. Then you must be tested to see if you actually have it, if you can do what you have been trained to do in real time.

My “2 Master” training has allowed me to welcome challenges and objectively appreciate difficulty in my life. This existential framing has been the key for me. Contentment is knowing that I have the training and internal resources to meet and address life’s challenges and achieve victory. I am not afraid of physical violence or personal conflict because I believe I have the training and skill set to neutralize violence and conflict without adding to the violence quotient. Moreover, when physical violence is not a threat, verbal insults and bad attitudes tend to be a non-issue. 3HO/Sikh Dharma has given me a mission and a family and Martial Arts has given me a method to express that mission. When you have alignment between your mission and your method, alignment between what you believe and what you do , alignment between your head, your heart and your navel you have Harmony of Purpose. Harmony of Purpose means you know who you are, you know who you were created to be, you know what you have to do, and you do it.
That for me is contentment.