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Gratitude – it’s
Importance
God is the creator of the universe. We too are a part and parcel of the
universe. So, both, the universe and we were created by God. All events in the
universe followed thereafter. These include me, my happiness and unhappiness,
intellect, actions, my family, country, religion, spiritual practice, etc. Thus,
whenever one thinks about the self and / or the world, unconsciously harbouring
awareness of God or one of His forms and offering the credit for even this
awareness to God, is known as gratitude. Prayer is actually a synonym for
surrender. This act of surrender is completed only after the expression of
gratitude. The Guru Himself is God for a seeker who has been blessed by the
grace of a Guru or for one who is practising Spirituality according to the Path
of the Guru’s Grace. Hence it is but natural to harbour more gratitude towards
the Guru.
Gratitude is a means of offering the doer-ship of an act to God / the
Guru; hence it helps in reducing the ego. Often seekers forget to thank God for
anything occurring as wished in a prayer or after deriving joy/bliss from
rendering service. A seeker can also develop a subtle ego about getting
spiritual experiences or experiencing bliss. It is therefore important to offer
the credit for a spiritual experience or the experience of bliss to the Guru.
In expressing gratitude, one offers the result of an action
unto God and as the result of the action is sacrificed, the action becomes
a non-action (akarma karma) and no give and take account is generated.
Thus, the chances of a seeker getting entrapped in the cycle of birth and death
are reduced.
Gratitude can be expressed in different ways. It could be by
through spiritual emotion or bhav telling the God/Guru that whatever one
has received is because of His Grace. One can express gratitude for every
breath of life that one is taking and also thank the Guru for bestowing the
Guru-mantra so that through repetition it could be established within one’s own
being. Repeating God’s name filled with spiritual emotion thus enabling the
chant to reach ‘God’. Chanting with spiritual emotion protects one from
negative energies.
Expression of gratitude should become an innate part of our
spirituality – this should come from the heart and not as a formality, not just
on the surface. For gratitude to give spiritual benefit, expressing heartfelt
gratitude gives great benefits. I thank all the readers from the bottom of my
heart for the loave and support they have provided.
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