So, willpower is not there because they don't have any goal. Because they have contentment, people without a goal seem content. If they have both a goal and contentment, they are like Shastriji Maharaj. They are principled. They are principled, believing that it must be done only in this specific way. And yet they are content, they do not ask anyone for anything. And their zeal for work and for the mission is greater than others. If there is contentment but no goal, where would willpower come from? Willpower does not come from contentment alone, it comes from a goal. It comes from sticking to the goal. And contentment brings happiness. If one sticks to contentment, that person is very happy in mind, very happy within. They might not be happy with facilities, but they are very happy from within; they don't feel jealous seeing others. And willpower comes mostly from a goal. If one is clung to the goal, then they get willpower. Gandhiji decided in his mind that 'I want to remove this British empire from India.' That became his goal. So what did he have? He had nothing, nothing except willpower. He removed them with willpower alone. And over there in England, when they sent any of their Viceroys, they would specially advise him, 'Do not go face-to-face with Gandhiji, do only as much written correspondence as needed.' But if he went face-to-face, then he would become Gandhiji's follower and cease to belong to England. That was his willpower. And that willpower was because of his goal. If a person has no goal, then willpower does not come. To do something in life, and that too for Maharaj, if there is no such goal, then willpower does not come. And if there is no goal, then they also lack decision power, and judgment power as well. Judgment and that decision power come from a goal. If one is looking far ahead, then they can make decisions. One who cannot even see one step ahead, what decision can they make? And on the contrary, if one keeps dwelling in the past, they won't make decisions, they get confused, and stumble from here to there. Like that. Contentment... How to understand contentment? Contentment? How to understand it? Contentment is... Suppose that... If there is contentment, suppose difficulties come, adverse times come... Then they do not waver from their principles. Contentment means not getting trapped in false greed. Even if it is a free temptation, we do not want it. And if we have contentment, we say, 'We do not want it by transgressing our sadhu dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → If there is a goal, suppose a Brahmin is content, then he would not want anything. But he still has to run the maintenance of his family, right? So for the maintenance of the family, he must make some effort. So, it won't work without fulfilling what is essential and needed. So then where does contentment lie? That he does not go into what does not belong to his line of duty. He does not desire what is outside his dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → Similarly, one who has a goal has many requirements. So how is he to maintain contentment? He should maintain it the way Shastriji Maharaj did. Swami had both contentment and a goal. Similarly, Gandhiji had both contentment and a goal. Gandhiji was not very greedy, wanting this and wanting that. He was a content person. When do we realize he was a content person? When India's independence came and it was time to become Prime Minister, otherwise wouldn't he have registered his name? 'I will become the Prime Minister.' And if he had stood, everyone's votes would have gone to him only, no one else would get any. Vallabhbhai got 13 votes—12 out of 13 votes. So if Gandhiji had stood, then even Vallabhbhai wouldn't have got them. But that is called his contentment. What is beyond our right is kept away. Like that. And Gandhiji, even when he was getting the right, neglected it, saying, 'Brother, I do not want it.' That is why willpower comes in him. If it is one's own earning and one is snatching at it, then willpower does not come. Even if it is one's own earning. He has earned it himself. And he has done it himself. But if he sits clung to it, wanting to extract more and more, then willpower does not come. Like that. Contentment means considering the food, clothing, etc., obtained effortlessly by divine will, as sufficient and complete. If one wants to do God's work, they need a goal that 'I want to do this work of God.' But even in doing God's work, the limits set by Maharaj, doing it by transgressing those limits should not be the case. Then he is said to have maintained contentment. And he is also said to have kept a goal. A goal is a desire; there is a crossing between contentment and a goal. In simple terms, a goal is a desire. 'I have a desire for this.' But 'desire' is used in a slightly lower sense. And 'goal' is used in a higher sense, used in high qualification. But both are the same. The core of both is the same. To keep something, to have a desire. But sometimes desires remain even without effort. One does not want to work hard, yet wants it. Then it is called a mere desire. And to achieve this by making effort to please God, then it is called a goal. So a goal, goal and contentment, create willpower. They build willpower. One who does not have a very big goal... Their willpower is also of the same size. The bigger the goal, the more tremendous the willpower. Gandhiji wanted to make the whole country independent. At that time, Pakistan was united with it. So how huge the country of India was. And he wanted to make it independent; since he sat sat 1) True. Real. 2) Permanent, imperishable and unchanging. Is unbound by the past, the present, and the future. Tap to open in glossary → And what was his goal, what was his willpower, that he just took salt in Dandi and threw it, saying, 'This salt, I am throwing it into the foundation of the British empire.' 'Until I uproot it, I will not return to this Sabarmati.' Even if I die a dog's death. But I will not return to Sabarmati. So what kind of goal and willpower is that called. A person makes a vow, but then many times it is not fulfilled. But this... So one must maintain it. So a lion maintains it like that. If an elephant waves its trunk, it doesn't say, 'Let him come, I am not afraid,' rather it hides. When the elephant stops waving its trunk, then I will leap. So Gandhiji was locked up in jail, just like this Corona has locked us up. So Gandhiji did all his work in jail, wrote his entire autobiography, and did as much work as possible there. And we became restless. Like a helpless, confused person, wondering where to go, when will it end, when will it end. Corona. Lockdown. It doesn't occur to us that we can do some work in this time. It doesn't occur to us to do whatever is possible in this situation. Gandhiji did work even there. And having worked there, when he was released from jail, he came out renewed, emerged with a new persona. So that is called willpower. Willpower cannot be suppressed even if you try. Like that. Contentment means... It is not suppressed by Corona. It is not suppressed by adverse times, not suppressed by the British empire. It was not suppressed by those on whose empire the sun never set; that is called willpower. 'I have nothing, so what can I do?' Then where is the willpower? That is just being greedy for convenience. Like that. Since there is nothing and 'I cannot do anything,' he is just greedy for convenience. 'If it is like this, I will do this, and if it is like that, I will do that'—everyone says that. 'If it is like this, I will do this, and if it is like that, I will do that.' AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details