Attitude of Gratitude

A great saintly poet, Srila BhaktiVinoda Thakur, has written “ jogyatā-vicāre, kichu nāhi pāi   tomāra karuṇā sāra” , which translates to “ If you examine me, you will find no qualities. Your mercy is all that I am made of. “

This innate humility of the saints show us by example what our mood of doing work should be.

We can also learn from the example that a speaker does not produce sound by itself, it’s the person speaking into the microphone connected to it, which makes the sound. Similarly, when we take the  attitude of gratitude  we connect ourselves with the person behind the microphone and see ourselves as  a speaker  to their words.

The Sanskrit word for Gratitude is “ krt-jña ”, which literally means “to know the doer”

In the world’s bestselling book, Bhagvad Gita, we learn from the verse 3.27:

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

“The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature”

The gist of this verse is to realise that we are not the doers, and to realise this one requires humility and humility flows alongside the river of gratitude.

A Catholic Hymn which goes as:

“Every morning when the day’s begun,

I thank the Lord for all He has done

Every evening I kneel to say:

Thank You, Lord for another day.

Thank You for the sun, my Lord,

Thank You for the moon.

Thank You for the days and nights,

Mornings and afternoons.

Thanks for my companions, Lord,

Who cheer me when I’m low,

Thanks for those who criticize,

Who tell me where I’m slow.”

In my early days, studying in a catholic school, this song caught my attention.

Real gratitude is to give back to the lord who supplies us with everything. Just like when a father gets a gift from his son (altho using father’s own money), still the father is very happy to receive the gift and blesses the child.

The Lord sitting in our hearts is very happy to see anyone even slightly becoming grateful to him. When we are grateful to the Lord, naturally, by extension, we become grateful to the living beings and this  attitude of gratitude  sows our heart with humility, which make it receptive to the Lord’s Grace.

Today I finished the Canto 1 to Srimad Bhagavatam, and I’m eternally indebted to my seniors for making me qualified to read this text. This is the very same text which Srila Narottam Das Thakur,  a renowned vaishnav poet , describes:

“vicār koriyā mane, bhakti-rasa āsvādane,

madhyastha śrī-bhāgavata purāṇa”

Which translates to “Considering the merits of all Vedic literatures in the light of devotional service, I have concluded that the Srimad Bhagavatam is the best of all scriptures.”