Samani Shukla Pragya
Samani Vinay Pragya
Gratitude grows up to be manifold
When we practice gratitude, something powerful happens. Instead of moving from being happy to depressed, and then happy again, we feel gratefulness constantly. Many people who practice daily gratitude report that their life has improved. They are more balanced, are easier to please and generally feel a sense of calmness and peace
Saying THANKS
- Fills the environment with full of joy.
- Imparts respect for others' generosity.
- Brings harmony and closeness in relationships.
- Develops a positive attitude to perceive the good things in life and helps to stop complaining.
- Aids in improving Wisdom power by being humble to Guru or teacher.
- Supports in achieving success with communication skills in the corporate world
However, if we feel emotion as we are saying "Thank You”, we are truly become grateful and the feeling is spiritual.
Assessment: to Make People Realize the Value of Gratitude.
A group of people were asked to write down on cards their problems they face in their daily lives and the reasons they were unhappy. They were asked to exchange their cards and take the cards home with them. People read the cards of others and were shocked by the long list of problems and complain. They got back to the group and returned their cards. They now realized that “I am better off than others.”I have a good life.”
This understanding develops an attitude of gratitude. They thank God for having a good life!
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice” - Meister Eckhart
The Power of Gratitude:
- Fosters Positive Outlook
- Cultivates Humility
- Constitutes an attitude to contribute
- Brings Harmony in relationship
Gratitude Fosters Positive Outlook
Life involves a great deal of turbulence, ups and down, and problems are both obvious and inevi table. A person without an attitude of gratitude always complains and thereby misses the opportunity to see the valuable things in life. Even with small problem he starts thinking "God is biased against me; I am the only one, who was deprived from happiness and left miserable on the earth. “For some reason, it is a human tendency to look at a situation with the ‘glass is half empty’ approach. This tendency to see the negative instead of looking at the positive is ingrained in most people. Fostered by the media, which feed us a constant and deliberate diet of negativity, it is no wonder that most people fight with depression at some stages in their lives.
But it is fact that when you practice gratitude, you take away the focus from the negative and focus on the positives instead. It is all about perspective. Perspective matters. When perspective changes the scenario of the whole world gets changed. You begin to appreciate the creator of your destiny. You thank God for your hands to work. You are thankful for having legs, all healthy senses, a good family, all comforts, good friendship, good education, and good job and so on.
Gratitude Cultivates Humility
Another benefit of gratitude is the release of our ego. The method to overcome ego is to develop humility. Where there is humility there is the give and take of respect, love and wealth. Humility means to be strong within, yet to be gentle and flexible. This enables us to bend or to bow. When we bow it doesn't mean we are defeated, but reveals our victory over our ego.
Bowing down to God or our Guru is a symbol of gratitude and humility. Often seekers forget to thank God for anything occurring as wished in a prayer or after deriving Bliss (Anand) from rendering service. A seeker can also develop subtle ego about getting spiritual experiences or experiencing Bliss. Ego causes great injuries. It frustrates the ability to learn and negatively affects our lives.
It is therefore important to offer credit to the Guru for a spiritual experience or he experience of Bliss. So basically gratitude from heart is:
- An offering to God for our bright existence on the earth.
- An offering to Guru for enlightening our life with true meaning.
- A hearty recognition to our parents for bringing us up with care and love, for nurturing us with human values, ethical values and spiritual values.
- True thanks to teachers for building our successful career.
- A cheerful appreciation to friends and those who have been making our life easy and cheerful.
By practicing daily gratitude we expand our awareness and in the process become more humble. As a result we become happy, peaceful, powerful and prosperous.
Gratitude Awakens the Giant Within
When we practice gratitude on a regular basis we allow our heart center to open up. It teaches an art of remaining blissful all the time. The heart center is what connects us with other people, giving us the power to love and being loved.
By learning how the practice of gratitude can align us with the higher realms of our being, we can truly rise to become a nobler person. We also can learn how to stay humble, peaceful, tolerant, content, and trustworthy while enjoying what life has to offer every single day. People who know the benefits of gratitude are like little children who discover the joys of living every day while having tremendous fun in the process.
Gratitude Constitutes an Attitude to Contribute
The natural extension of being grateful is the development of a generous heart. The more you feel a desire to share what you receive unconditionally, the more you will prosper and flourish in all directions of your life. In fact, contribution is helpful for your own liberation. By contributing, you start releasing your attachments towards material objects, dear ones, your ego, anger, greed, deceit and your name and fame. In turn it leads you to liberation. An attitude to contribute brings spiritual growth in life.
Contribution includes offering service and time with kindness, care, love and nurturing where it is needed. Gratitude means contributing to give happy feelings to others. When appreciate things or people, we mean to increase their worth. So never underestirnate any little work. Any small task done by those who work in our service, be it a lift man or servant, sweeper, etc., should not be neglected. When we say thanks to any of them, that person feels delighted. With this attitude we show that we do not consider them our inferiors. It makes people that even their smallest contribution is noticed and appreciated. They feel valued. In fact, everybody wants recognition and praise. Gratitude results in contribution. It fosters a feeling of equality among all people.
A Great Contribution is to Build a Healthy Society
The great seers and saints of history have expressed their gratitude by dedicating their lives to serve humanity. Through their peaceful aura they establish an environment full of love, compassion, non- violence, friendliness, peace and unity. They empathize with those who face poverty, diseases, loss and bad luck. They try to impart spiritual values and change those people's attitude from negative to positive so that they can get relief their pain and feel distress. Spirituality certainly overcomes agonies, misery, corruption, immorality, dishonesty, disgrace, ignorance, terrorism and all negative characteristics. Spiritual leaders try their best in building a healthy society.
Presently, His Holiness Acharya Mahashraman a spiritual leader of Terapanth sect (One of the Iain sects) is undertaking an “Ahimsa March” on foot journey throughout India. The main aim of this March is social transformation. With the following mottos he is trying to bring awareness in human society:
- The consciousness of humanity has to be awakened
- The consciousness of Compassion and N on-violence has to be developed.
To assimilate Ahimsa into the heart, an organized program of training in non-violence is being run by Acharya Mahashraman. Under this program more than 300 centers have been developed where the important work of eradicating the root reasons for violence is being done. This program also includes meditation centers, which help in bringing inner transformation by changing in attitude, behaviour and life style.
Truly it is a humble effort to build healthy society, where social transformation surely can take place.
Entrepreneurs count their blessings and do good works to express their gratitude.
Perfect generosity is a willingness to give of yourself and all that you have without any expectation in return. Many entrepreneurs are establishing philanthropic foundations that are instrumental in supporting health and educational Initiatives, and in uplifting the poor and enhancing the standard of living in the rural sector.
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate-the Chairman of Microsoft. Gates, along with American businessman Warren Buffet, signed the "Bill Gates-Warren Buffet Giving Pledge", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time.
Azim Hashim Premjiis an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the Chairman of Wipro Limited. In December 2010, he pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education in India. This donation is the first of its kind by any Indian billionaire. - (Wikipedlia)
Many more rich personalities like Narayan Murthy, Tata, Birla and much go long way to express gratitude by adopting attitude to contribute. With an aim of giving back to the society they grow rich. The truly rich person realizes that he or she gains wealth by giving wealth!