I read a beautiful line in one of the Insta-reels few days
back, “If there was only one prayer you must do each day, it should be
Gratitude”.
I always thought I was full of Gratitude for what others
have done for me or what God has given me. But little did I reflect, it was a
thanks to satisfy my own ego. Have we ever wondered what is Gratitude, the
dictionary meaning of the word is to be thankful for what is being provided.
There are lot of things in our lives to be thankful for,
atleast I can say that for myself ...I am thankful for being born and
associated with good family, basic necessity like food, clothing, shelter, good
education, good organisation to work for, close friends, an active mind, active
body, blessings of a Guru. I am sure each and everyone of us has got such list
of multiple things to be thankful of and we do thank our God and stars for the
same.
Off late, I had been in discussions with various people on
this topic of Gratitude and most of them agreed there are multiple things to be
thankful for but yet they are pained and unsatisfied for many a things they
don't have or they think they deserve but don't have.
To yearn for more is not wrong as that is the tendency
with which we are born. This is what keeps going and achieve new things, a fact
well verified and attested by many a psychologists and spiritual gurus alike. Yearning
for more is not bad but being unhappy during the process for that yearning is
what makes us unhappy. As a shloka in Isha Upanishad says on yearning for
finding completeness is all what we each one of us crave for.
पूर्णमद:
पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् , पूर्ण मुदच्यते,
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय, पूर्ण मेवा वशिष्यते।
Which simply put means,
since Divine Consciousness is
complete (Purna) and Inner World is also complete (Purna) and we all
manifest to have same completeness inside out and outside in
Hence, the basic question arises if we are thankful at one
end, why are we unhappy at the other end. To me, we are thankful about materialistic or let's say
tangible things that we acquire mostly,
a house, a car, a promotion, a child, a status in society, marriage, birthday
etc. Have we not seen our good selves going to worship places and donating
money on any big occasion when we are happy and thankful. We do this because we
relate it to achievements of tangible kinds and this our way of thanking the
Supreme. Likewise, we give gifts or return gifts on birthday parties,
anniversary or other get togethers, again our way of showing gratitude to our
close ones.
I often wonder how many times have we shown Gratitude to
God and others around us when we are in a difficult or unpleasant situation. Do
we often say thank you God, I didn't get a promotion or pay hike, do we say
thank you to our family members when they act or do things we don't like. Do we
express our Gratitude for a person who cheated upon us or who let us down.
I had a boss in one of early career roles who I thought
didn’t like me and hence I was denied promotions for two consecutive years and
I would crib a lot about her. On a hindsight after a time lapse, I thought it
was good as it made me acquire a new skill and look for a new job. But, I must
admit for those two years, I was not grateful to her for her behaviour towards
me.
Gratitude is of course the only prayer we should do but
with a slight twist
We should be thankful for all the good things, pleasant
situations, health, happiness, prosperity that we have but we should also be
grateful towards all the unhappy, unpleasant and failures we encounter every
day. Gratitude is not only a feeling of thanking God and near ones but it is
also a feeling of surrendering to His will and situations we encounter with a
firm resolve to keep on acting on every situation that comes our way. Its only when surrender is
part of Gratitude, we are truly living the essence of this word.
Every year on the
first day of the new calendar year, we
have a habit of going through how the year went by more as a reflection.
This year we did it a week earlier on Christmas day instead and little did any
one of us know what last week had in store for us and in one of the most
unexpected event of loosing my father to a very short illness.
As much as I wanted to mourn his going and there was a
portion of my mind which wanted to cry and have some emotional outburst but
there was very undefined peace around the situation. Of course, I miss him and
will always do but more than that I cherish the life he lived on his own terms
with all his knowledge and flair. So, when I surrendered to the situation, it
was calm and peaceful. And that is when I realised the true meaning of
Gratitude.
Gratitude is not an emotion to be lived on occasions but a
life habit to be incorporated in our every day life. In grief, in sorrow, in
happiness, in love, in tears and smile I hope I remember only one prayer and
that is "Thank You"
