ARANYA TALKS The Spiritual Virtues

Part 5: Gratitude

The practice of gratitude is a connection point with the Divine.

Gratitude for Life

I met someone at the Aranya Ashram gate recently whom I hadn't seen for some time.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm alive!" he said. "And I'm grateful for that!"

I was immediately reminded of the words of the Dalai Lama:

"Every day, think as you wake up, 'Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive! I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. I am going to expand my heart out to others...'"

This is how we may start the day – with gratitude.

Gratitude and the Training of the Mind

Research has shown that a spirit of gratitude and optimism when we go to sleep and immediately when we wake up, can help to counter negative states such as depression.

A spirit of gratitude is a support in life and a great virtue.

A positive attitude of gratitude tends to generate generosity and the inclination to reach out to help others. This alone can help counter depression, to go beyond self for the welfare of another.

A grateful heart can only aid us and others in living life from the Source – the spiritual life – in the world. Gratitude is a grand connection point with the Divine.

"A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things" Plato.

To turn this gratitude into prayer, and to connect more tangibly with the Source, we may practice being grateful for all things and to orientate that attitude of gratitude towards the Source.

Gratitude as Spiritual Practice

There was a small article in the Times of India (13 April, 2015) with the heading: 'Want to keep your heart healthy? Be grateful.' It read:

'Being grateful is associated with better mood, higher quality sleep and less inflammation in patients with asymptomatic heart failure, according to new research. Recognizing and giving thanks for the positive aspects of life can result in improved mental, and ultimately physical health..., research said.

'Gratitude is part of a wider outlook on life that involves appreciating the positive aspects of life. It is also commonly an aspect of spirituality [the researcher said].' (My emphasis in bold).

Worldly gratitude is usually to be thankful for the positive aspects. It's not so difficult to be grateful for the things we like. 'Worldly gratitude', as we may call it, will have benefits, as the article suggests; however, those benefits will only last for as long as the gratitude lasts, which will be for as long as we see a situation as positive and favourable. The benefits may stop when the worldly gratitude stops.

Spiritual gratitude, in contrast, is to be grateful for all things, and directed at the Source. Spiritual gratitude links us to the Eternal Source. It is a connection point with Ananda, the ever-lasting peace.

St Paul preached, "In all things give praise/ thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Spiritual gratitude is to be grateful for "all things".

Gratitude as Spiritual Practice

Gratitude helps to put us into relationship with the Source when we acknowledge the Divine as That from which all things come.

Sometimes, I hear people at prayer time say "In gratitude for this day." Is the gratitude for all things, and would the gratitude also be there if it hadn't been such a good day; and who exactly is the gratitude directed towards? In that case, is the person grateful that things work out positively that day; that he is glad that he made the choices he did? This is actually not a prayer so much as a positive affirmation. I suggest caution with this type of New Age language.