In an earlier blog, I have covered of the essential ingredients to prepare one for the journey to salvation or infinite peace. It starts once we realize that we are basically infinitely peaceful as our core character. However, due to wrongful association with the body/mind/intellect complex, we see ourselves as dwarfs and face the challenges that this ever changing world offers and drown in misery. So the activity needed to attain infinite peace is to clear ourselves of misconceptions about ourselves and once that is done, realize our true nature.
There are essentially three broad paths depending on an individual's temperament. For those who are basically active and want to do something, they can focus on Karma Yoga, wherein every act is done selflessly with no expectation of the fruit of any action. The second route is for the emotional people for whom the suggestion is to focus on Bhakti Yoga, which means living a life full of gratitude and being thankful to a Supreme power every moment of life. The third route, Jnana Yoga is for the intellectual person who is able to understand the mystic truth of our reality and can be convinced of the unity in all life forms. Though there are three different routes, all three are needed on the spiritual journey. Depending on temperament, we are only talking of where the focus should be.
In this article I will focus on the attitude of gratitude and why we need it. The population of the world is approximately about 8 billion. This is but a tiny fraction of the entire life form including animals, birds, insects etc. So, as a first step, should we not be grateful for whatever power is there, that gave us an opportunity to lead a human life and not be born as a insect eating putrefying stuff?
Some statistics, I was reading showed that there are 55 million deaths every year. Even as I am writing this, about 6,000 people would have died in one hour and as you read the article in about 5 minutes, about 500 people would have died. Can you look around? If yes, you are surely alive!! Are your near and dear ones safe? IF yes, is that not a reason to be grateful?
Let's look at some more statistics. There are close to 300 million visually impaired people on this earth, of which close to 40 million are totally blind. If you are reading this article, obviously you are not among them. One more reason to be grateful. Close to a billion people live in poverty and hunger. If you have just had a heavy meal, but are complaining about the taste, should we not really be thankful that we are not starving? Almost 20% of the world's adult population is illiterate and cannot read or write. If you are reading this article, should you not consider yourself blessed?
Once we realize how lucky we are, should we not send a silent prayer to some powerful universal power which has given us so much? As an act of gratitude, would you agree that we should not do anything that damages this sustaining earth? A simple act of not using plastic is our small way of showing gratitude for what we have. As a family, if we do not take our gas guzzling SUV's one day and do not pollute the environment, that is our family's act of gratitude to the universe. If I as an organization can invest in reducing pollutants before dumping waste into a river, I am showing gratitude to the universe. Can we show our gratitude to our parents who cherished and nourished us when we were infants and we no callously put them in old age homes and call them once a year? Can we thank the farmer who toiled in the field to ensure we have the food to eat? Can we remember our teacher who taught us the alphabet and made us the people we are? The list goes on.
The point is not that at every moment, we have to keep on remembering everybody. But an attitude of gratitude if steadily developed from a young age, will provide the fortitude to individuals as they pass through various phases of life in search of that eternal peace.
There are essentially three broad paths depending on an individual's temperament. For those who are basically active and want to do something, they can focus on Karma Yoga, wherein every act is done selflessly with no expectation of the fruit of any action. The second route is for the emotional people for whom the suggestion is to focus on Bhakti Yoga, which means living a life full of gratitude and being thankful to a Supreme power every moment of life. The third route, Jnana Yoga is for the intellectual person who is able to understand the mystic truth of our reality and can be convinced of the unity in all life forms. Though there are three different routes, all three are needed on the spiritual journey. Depending on temperament, we are only talking of where the focus should be.
In this article I will focus on the attitude of gratitude and why we need it. The population of the world is approximately about 8 billion. This is but a tiny fraction of the entire life form including animals, birds, insects etc. So, as a first step, should we not be grateful for whatever power is there, that gave us an opportunity to lead a human life and not be born as a insect eating putrefying stuff?
Some statistics, I was reading showed that there are 55 million deaths every year. Even as I am writing this, about 6,000 people would have died in one hour and as you read the article in about 5 minutes, about 500 people would have died. Can you look around? If yes, you are surely alive!! Are your near and dear ones safe? IF yes, is that not a reason to be grateful?
Let's look at some more statistics. There are close to 300 million visually impaired people on this earth, of which close to 40 million are totally blind. If you are reading this article, obviously you are not among them. One more reason to be grateful. Close to a billion people live in poverty and hunger. If you have just had a heavy meal, but are complaining about the taste, should we not really be thankful that we are not starving? Almost 20% of the world's adult population is illiterate and cannot read or write. If you are reading this article, should you not consider yourself blessed?
Once we realize how lucky we are, should we not send a silent prayer to some powerful universal power which has given us so much? As an act of gratitude, would you agree that we should not do anything that damages this sustaining earth? A simple act of not using plastic is our small way of showing gratitude for what we have. As a family, if we do not take our gas guzzling SUV's one day and do not pollute the environment, that is our family's act of gratitude to the universe. If I as an organization can invest in reducing pollutants before dumping waste into a river, I am showing gratitude to the universe. Can we show our gratitude to our parents who cherished and nourished us when we were infants and we no callously put them in old age homes and call them once a year? Can we thank the farmer who toiled in the field to ensure we have the food to eat? Can we remember our teacher who taught us the alphabet and made us the people we are? The list goes on.
The point is not that at every moment, we have to keep on remembering everybody. But an attitude of gratitude if steadily developed from a young age, will provide the fortitude to individuals as they pass through various phases of life in search of that eternal peace.
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