Gratitude!

Ram Ram Hare Krishna
Radhe Radhe
Nice little article by our GOD-sister,
By Nisha Giri, Houston, TX   from USA.
Gratitude to God - the Best Thanksgiving Gift
November is Thanksgiving time in the US. People across the country celebrate the fourth Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving, when gratitude is expressed to family, friends, clients and customers, and by some, to God.
Gratitude is a wonderful virtue and to whom should we first show gratitude but to God, who is the reason we exist and who is ever blessing us with His Grace?
But how do we show our gratitude to God? Whenever we face misery, we generally complain that God has been unsympathetic to us, but when we are happy, we get a sense that we have "earned" the happiness by ourselves.
Instead, we should pause for a moment and thank Him for keeping us in that blissful/happy state. Sri Muralidhara Swamiji beautifully states this as:
Friend behind the mask of bias! Lets us not play the game of unfairness where we Never forget to indict the Almighty's "mercilessness" during murky days And ever forget to remember His Grace during sunny days! Friend! Tear off your mask of bias!
Come face to face! Let us play it fair and square by Never failing to thank Him for His boundless Grace on days of shine!
This is verily devotion or bhakti! Devotion is nothing but showing gratitude to God or the Guru for all the wonderful things He has given us.
In the Mahabharata, we see how Queen Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, suffered throughout her life, which was never smooth or comfortable, even though the Lord was always on her side. She lost her husband early and was forced to live with the support of her husband's brother's family who were none-too-welcoming; she had to bring her sons up in a hostile environment, fearing every min-ute for their lives; she, her sons and her daughter-in-law had to face untold hu-miliation at the hands of their cousins; she and her family had to spend a large part of their lives in the forests, either in exile or in hiding; she also had to give away her first child early in life, only to later see him become the enemy of her other sons and finally be killed by his own brother.
Kunti could easily have berated the Lord for all the difficulty that she had to un-dergo. But in Srimad Bhagavatam, she sings a beautiful stuti (song of praise) to Lord Krishna, in which she only remembers the situations when He came to her aid; when He saved her family from death, danger and disgrace. Because she knew that, even if they had to undergo hardships in the Lord's watch, He ultimately only had their well-being in mind. In fact, Kunti even goes the extra mile and asks to be blessed with a stream of never-ending sorrows if it meant that she would always have the Lord by her side!
This is how we ourselves should show gratitude to God-by remembering the times (known and unknown) when He has helped us; for His compassion is so bound-less that He is always only helping us, whether we may be aware of it or not.
Accepting that every passing moment of our life, rain or shine, is owed to the Grace of the Lord and showing our thankfulness to Him by way of pure untainted love for him, which is the only thing He craves for, is indeed true Thanksgiving.
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How Kunti Devi prays to Bhagavan Krishna. (couple of verses from her beautiful prayer)
vishan mahagneh purushada-darsanad  /  asat-sabhaya vana-vasa-kricchratah
mridhe mridhe 'neka-maharathastrato  /  drauny-astratas casma hare 'bhirakshitah
My dear Krishna, Your Lordship has protected us from a poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest and from the battle where great generals fought. And now You have saved us from the weapon of Asvatthama.
vipadah santu tah sasvat   /  tatra tatra jagad-guro 
bhavato darsanam yat syad  / apunar bhava-darsanam
I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and death
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TIll the next time we meet in the name of LORD!
ys Deepak
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
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