The full moon in the month of Ashadha is celebrated as Guru Purnima. It is an occasion to be grateful for the wisdom that life has offered. When you see how wisdom has transformed your life, it's natural to feel grateful for all that has come your way. Gratitude is an inner feeling; it's not an action. It has to arise from within in recognition of the love that the Creation is pouring on you every moment. Often people ask me how to be more grateful. Dropping the sense of wanting more is the highest degree of gratitude. As long as you are in the race for more, even if it is for spiritual attainments, you cannot be contented. "I want nothing" is both the beginning and culmination of contentment. And without contentment, gratitude cannot arise. In the Bhagavad Gita, it is said, "Yadrccha-labha-santusto Dvandvatito Vimatsarah." It means one must have some level of contentment with whatever is coming to one's way. If you are discontent and grumbling, how can you be grateful?
"Gratitude is like a magic wand. When you are grateful, everything else flows to you."
Gratefulness comes with knowledge. The knowledge that you are being loved by the Creation is the source of gratitude. Only the feeling of "I am being taken care of" can bring true gratitude. When you don't feel a sense of lack, then you feel grateful. The feelings of lack and gratitude cannot co-exist. In life, whatever you put your attention on, grows. It's natural for the seed you sow to grow and multiply if you nurture it. If you sow the seed of lack, only lack will grow. When you feel a lack, grumbling begins in some corner and life gets into a self-perpetuating cycle of negative feelings. You feel a lack for something today and something else tomorrow. When you open up to the providence the Nature has bestowed on you, immediately a sense of contentment comes and with it more providence. And when you complain and grumble, even whatever little joy, peace or love with which you have come into this world will all also vanish. As the Bible says, "Those who have will be given more; as for those who do not have; even what they have will be taken from them." It's appears to be a very cruel injunction, but this is the law of nature.
Gratitude is like a magic wand. When you are grateful, everything else flows to you. An element of grace is needed to be happy in life. This is what people often refer to as luck! It's the glow of one's life. Grace comes from being grateful. Gratitude is contagious. A grateful person purifies his entire environment and everyone around him feels uplifted. Only knowledge can take you out of discontentment and grumbling. Guru Purnima is significant as on this day we rejoice in our relationship with knowledge. Guru signifies wisdom or knowledge; Purnima signifies fullness. The feeling of fullness that comes out of knowledge is what we celebrate on Guru Purnima.
"Guru Purnima is significant as on this day we rejoice in our relationship with knowledge. Guru signifies wisdom or knowledge; Purnima signifies fullness."
Whatever we have learnt in life is because we have had a teacher (Guru) to teach us. Either knowingly or unknowingly, we have always had a Guru. Our mother is our first Guru and then from science to spirituality, from birth to death, the Guru Principle permeates our life. There is a guru for every discipline -- a Dharma Guru (religious), a Kula Guru (family), a Raj Guru (guru for the kingdom), a Vidya Guru (guru for a particular discipline) and a Sadguru (spiritual guru).
The Guru Principle is that which removes darkness, misery. It is charged with wisdom, and wisdom alone can bring lasting happiness. So people seeking happiness, knowledge and a better life have to come to a Guru. The gratitude that dawns on getting in touch with this principle does the magic.
When you are grateful, you also become sensitive and that sensitivity reflects in your actions. This Guru Purnima, let us be sensitive ourselves and also sensitise people to our environment. Feel gratitude for our very existence, our very body, all that you have and all the love you have received. And this gratitude will bring you a flood of grace. Abundance dawns and life becomes full!
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"Gratitude is like a magic wand. When you are grateful, everything else flows to you."
Gratefulness comes with knowledge. The knowledge that you are being loved by the Creation is the source of gratitude. Only the feeling of "I am being taken care of" can bring true gratitude. When you don't feel a sense of lack, then you feel grateful. The feelings of lack and gratitude cannot co-exist. In life, whatever you put your attention on, grows. It's natural for the seed you sow to grow and multiply if you nurture it. If you sow the seed of lack, only lack will grow. When you feel a lack, grumbling begins in some corner and life gets into a self-perpetuating cycle of negative feelings. You feel a lack for something today and something else tomorrow. When you open up to the providence the Nature has bestowed on you, immediately a sense of contentment comes and with it more providence. And when you complain and grumble, even whatever little joy, peace or love with which you have come into this world will all also vanish. As the Bible says, "Those who have will be given more; as for those who do not have; even what they have will be taken from them." It's appears to be a very cruel injunction, but this is the law of nature.
Gratitude is like a magic wand. When you are grateful, everything else flows to you. An element of grace is needed to be happy in life. This is what people often refer to as luck! It's the glow of one's life. Grace comes from being grateful. Gratitude is contagious. A grateful person purifies his entire environment and everyone around him feels uplifted. Only knowledge can take you out of discontentment and grumbling. Guru Purnima is significant as on this day we rejoice in our relationship with knowledge. Guru signifies wisdom or knowledge; Purnima signifies fullness. The feeling of fullness that comes out of knowledge is what we celebrate on Guru Purnima.
"Guru Purnima is significant as on this day we rejoice in our relationship with knowledge. Guru signifies wisdom or knowledge; Purnima signifies fullness."
Whatever we have learnt in life is because we have had a teacher (Guru) to teach us. Either knowingly or unknowingly, we have always had a Guru. Our mother is our first Guru and then from science to spirituality, from birth to death, the Guru Principle permeates our life. There is a guru for every discipline -- a Dharma Guru (religious), a Kula Guru (family), a Raj Guru (guru for the kingdom), a Vidya Guru (guru for a particular discipline) and a Sadguru (spiritual guru).
The Guru Principle is that which removes darkness, misery. It is charged with wisdom, and wisdom alone can bring lasting happiness. So people seeking happiness, knowledge and a better life have to come to a Guru. The gratitude that dawns on getting in touch with this principle does the magic.
When you are grateful, you also become sensitive and that sensitivity reflects in your actions. This Guru Purnima, let us be sensitive ourselves and also sensitise people to our environment. Feel gratitude for our very existence, our very body, all that you have and all the love you have received. And this gratitude will bring you a flood of grace. Abundance dawns and life becomes full!
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