आत्मतृप्ति

Ātmatṛpti (आत्मतृप्ति) means contentment in the Self: a fullness that rests on no outer object, praise or result. This is the tradition's short name for an idea in Gita 3.17, not a separate technical word of the Gita itself; the verse says it with words such as ātmatṛpta and ātmarati.

Verse 3.17 says that for a person who delights in the Self, is satisfied in the Self and content in the Self, no duty remains. The next verse adds that such a person has nothing to gain by action or by inaction. Yet in 3.19 the Gita at once says: therefore act, without attachment. So ātmatṛpti is not a reason to leave action; it is the state that gives action a new ground.

Common misreading: taking ātmatṛpti to mean withdrawing from action and becoming idle.

Better sense: an inner fullness from which action runs not on worry or hunger but on ease, and flows toward the good of the world.

The action that this contentment flows into is called lokasaṅgraha. It can be read at length in the topic Acting for the World.