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## The Glory of Contentment
**Yoga Shastra, Second Light, Verse 115**
He who renounces hope easily attains liberation. Whether one's punya (merit) awakens or not, clinging to the demon of hope is futile. He who has abandoned hope and desire and embraced contentment is truly learned, wise, intelligent, knowledgeable, virtuous, and a devotee of austerity. The happiness enjoyed by those who are satiated with the nectar of contentment is not attainable by the dissatisfied, who are dependent on others and run around in pursuit of wealth. Those who wear the armor of contentment are unaffected by the arrows of desire. "How can I stop this desire?" Do not be troubled by such anxieties. In a nutshell, I can say this in one sentence: "He whose demon of desire has been pacified has attained the supreme state."
Those who renounce the bondage of hope, reduce their possessions, engage their intellect in virtuous conduct, and become devoted to the path of virtue, thereby attaining the state of spiritual purity, are considered exceptional individuals. And those who, renouncing false beliefs and embracing right faith, practice the path of the Shravaka (lay follower) with limited possessions, are even more exceptional. The speed attained by those who practice other paths with limited possessions is effortlessly achieved by the devotee of the Shravaka path, like the moon. A non-Jain who fasts for months and breaks his fast with a morsel of food as small as a dot on the tip of a blade of grass cannot compare to the sixteenth part of the excellence of a Shravaka who is content. Even those who perform extraordinary austerities, like the Tamalita Tapas (austerity of the Tamal tree) or the Purna Tapas (complete austerity), attain a lower state than the Shravaka who is worthy of liberation. Therefore, O awakened one, do not let the demon of desire drive you mad. Reduce your possessions, embrace contentment, and have faith in the excellence of the path of the Yati (ascetic), so that you may attain liberation in seven or eight lifetimes.
**Thus ends the Second Light of the Yoga Shastra, titled Adhyotma Upanishad, composed by Acharya Shri Hemchandrasuri, which was compiled at the request of King Shri Kumarapala.**