Gratitude is an emotion of thankfulness which comes from within when we have received something from someone or expect to receive something soon. It is an attitude of acknowledgement of help given by someone and accepted by us. Someone helps us spontaneously and we are benefitted by the help rendered. There is no sense of obligation or force or compulsion in the help given. Help given under force is obligation. Where there is obligation, we are forced to return the help in some form. But where there is gratitude, we not just offer help in return, we also wish to improve relationships and bond the friendship with love and respect.
Divinity has blessed us with the gift of life, sunshine, water, food and all other materials necessary to sustain life in a happy and healthy manner on earth. When we look at the gifts showered upon us, we realise how rich we are. We could claim that our own efforts are the cause of our wealth, power and popularity. But we have to acknowledge that life and the necessities provided to sustain life are all free gifts of God. When we realise this truth from within, we are filled with gratitude towards God. When we focus on what we have and are blessed with, we will be full of peace and happiness. We will be content and stress free. Most of us forget this great truth and focus mainly on what the others have which we do not possess. This makes us jealous, angry and we plot to seize or destroy what the others have; in doing so, we lose our peace of mind, sleep, good health and joy of life. This story of Hari and Sohan is a good example of how we must approach good and ugly situations in life:
Two friends, Hari and Sohan were out on a trek. They were walking through a desert and were talking and arguing with each other. Suddenly the argument heated up and Hari slapped Sohan on the face. Sohan was hurt but he did not say anything. He walked a bit further and wrote on the sand: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME ON MY FACE. Hari read what his friend wrote but he also did not comment anything further.
After some time, they reached an oasis. The pool of water looked cool and refreshing and so they decided to take a bath and rest for some time. As they were splashing around in the pool, Sohan got stuck in the mire and started drowning. Hari rushed to the spot and managed to pull out Sohan to safety. After Sohan recovered from his close brush with death, he wrote on a stone: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.
Hari read his comment and also recalled the previous remark on the sand. He was curious as to the choice of the places where Sohan had selected to write his remarks. So he asked him: Why did you write on the sand when I hurt you and now on a stone when I saved your life?
Sohan replied: When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where the winds of forgiveness can blow it away and erase all the anger, pain and bitterness. But when someone does something good for us, we must carve it on stone so that no wind can erase it and it remains engraved forever!
We should always be thankful for the good done to us by others and forget any hurts inflicted on us. This way we will always be happy and in peace. We must be thankful to God for all the gifts He has blessed us with and this wonderful life. When gratitude springs from our hearts to God, we will be in peace, love and bliss. Let us do our SitaRam Mantra and meditation with this attitude of gratitude to God for all the blessings bestowed!
