What is Gratitude.?

This was the first thought that came to my mind when I read a common email from one of my good friend. He was thanking all the people for the help that was extended to him. It was not a great help at all, just a basic human response to someone in trouble. Part of the email was as below and upon reading it, I almost had tears in my eyes." Many time I am reluctant to take service and unsure of how to repay for all the services that are been rendered to us I am prepared to remain to pay back by serving in some life time instead of going back to God Head." What great thing have we done to receive such words of thankfulness, appreciation, recognition of ones effort, indebtedness. What makes someone so different to others, who simply take others help in the hour of need and simply walk away when their job is done- called as using someone like a doormat.

Well, this is something that each one of us needs to develop and practice and needless to say, Gratitude makes wonders in ones life.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beattie

So, what is gratitude? There would be hundreds of meanings people can come up with. Some of the ones that I can think of after the email from my friend are,

·         Being thankful : Thankful to everything in life, the very fact that you are living, to the Supreme God who gave us this unique thing called Human birth and the life, being thankful for all the things that you have in life - friends, possessions, family, Sun, Moon, Fresh air, Nature so on..

·         Show appreciation and return kindness: Gratitude is not a mere sentiment and a lip service. It is actually, appreciating the work other person did for you, how much small or big and to return the kindness by means of words, actions and feeling to other, to God, to the world.

·         Being Grateful and thankful: which means, I don't deserve this but, because of so and so's kindness, I received this or I have this. Beauty, name, fame, recognition etc.

·         Sense of obligation and indebtedness: A person with gratitude has a sense of obligation. He thinks that because this person had done so much for me, I will do much more. I had to do it because; I am indebted to do so.

In the Vedas, we see prayers of gratitude at numerous places. As soon as one gets up from his bed and before he puts his feet on the Earth - one remembers how wonderful mother earth had been to him, and there is a wonderful prayer glorifying mother earth. Similarly, for Sun, Moon, water, air, sky, Cow, parents there are prayers of Gratitude.

Please, share your thoughts about Gratitude.