Gratitude - The Real Essence

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 one 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:

?"???????: ????????? ???????? , ????? ????????,???????? ??????????, ????? ???? ??????????"

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"