Gratitude, A Win-Win Practice

Om Namo Narayanaya sweet practitioner. Thank You, Thank You for joining me in the practice of gratitude teachings, alternate nostril breathing, and meditation. We'll fill our hearts with love and our minds with humility and give another person to be helpful and kind to us.

Swami Sivananda says "Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid." We take a look at the obstacles which disallow us to be grateful and others to be benefactors to us. We explore the relationship between gratitude, love, and kindness as well as independence and self-reliance. We stay alert for the egoistic tendencies which keep us away from our true nature.

We start our meditation at 12:14 with Alternate nostril breathing (3-6-6) to settle the mind. We then imagine someone we want to express our gratitude more fully and share with them words of appreciation and kindness. We close with a thank-you note to ourselves for taking the opportunity to be grateful.

Be a blessing and have a lovely Thanksgiving! Om

Transcript

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Thank you,

Thank you,

Thank you so much for joining me for today's practice on gratitude.

I really appreciate your time,

Your efforts,

Your true desire to practice and become more established in the virtues and the yogic practices that keep us all centered and balanced and happy and blissful in the midst of any turmoil,

Any hurricane that life can bring us.

So I really appreciate your time and your efforts and your participation and your support because these teachings without you are meaningless.

So today's practice on gratitude is tuning into the wise words of the teachers,

Not just today,

Not just because it's Thanksgiving week,

Not just this year,

But every day and every year because it is a win-win situation.

By expressing our gratitude,

We fill our heart with love and reverence,

Our mind with humbleness,

And we allow the other person to feel our help,

To feel useful for rendering that gesture,

That benefit,

That favor to us.

It's really a win-win situation.

Swamiji Ananda shares a few words on this.

He says,

Gratitude is duty which ought to be paid.

So we absolutely have to share our gratitude from the deepest bottom of our heart because it is the one that enables us to feel love,

To be mirror of the other person's kindness,

And it keeps our mind grounded,

Not allowing the egoistic tendencies in it to drive us away from our true nature.

This is what makes the difference when we actually mean our appreciation and when we just give a lip service.

We give it from a place of love and reverence.

We give it from the bottom of our heart.

When our heart gives homage,

Recognizes that our kindness and our gratitude comes from that other person's kindness that rendered the benefit to us.

That's how we give homage to them,

Recognizing their kindness first.

Swamiji Ananda shares an example that So this cycle of giving and receiving,

The transformation of energy,

Recognizing the kindness and the other first so we allow ourselves to be kind to their gesture.

It is that giving and receiving that enables us to grow bigger in love,

To grow bigger in kindness,

Our heart to be bigger,

Our heart to be more filled with love and be more gladdened.

The person looks upon the benefactor with reverence and love.

If they're not able to return the benefit,

They keep it in their memory with kindness.

They do not forget it during their whole life.

So it's very easy for the mind to go into the egoistic tendencies,

To forget the favor,

To become full of pride.

So feeling,

Remembering the gratitude towards others,

Remembering that we too have received favors and we have been helped by others,

Allows us to stay grounded,

To stay closer to our true nature,

To stay established in kindness and love and reverence and gratitude.

And sometimes it is hard to give the opportunity to others to help us.

And sometimes it's hard to recognize the kindness of the other.

So to give the opportunity to others might be obstructed because we're in a state of mind where we might think,

Oh,

I must do this myself.

I must be independent.

I must show my self-reliance.

And that's a great virtue to be practiced.

But we need to be very careful of its origin.

Does that desire to be independent and self-reliant come from a place of truthfulness?

Or does it come from a place of pride and ego?

Who does it serve?

Does it serve our desire to rely on our own self and skills,

To improve our skills?

Or does it rely on the desire to look from above onto others?

It is a subtle practice to recognize the roots of our desires.

But with practice,

It definitely comes easier.

And because it's such a subtle practice,

And thousands of thoughts and desires go through our mind every minute,

So it is very hard to catch them and analyze them and realize what is their true nature,

Like where are they really coming from.

But it is possible.

And we should strive to become better with that.

And with practice,

We do.

So once we recognize where that desire comes from,

If it's truthful to be independent,

We should go ahead and do it.

We should also remember that giving opportunity to others to be of help to us,

To render a benefit to us,

To render a favor to us,

We give them an opportunity to feel helpful.

And this is particularly important to people who we may have helped previously,

Or to people who need to be helped more than we need their help.

And if we're in a situation where the future benefactor really needs our support,

Our grace in giving them a chance to be part of our world,

They feel very much appreciated.

They feel very helpful and very useful.

And sometimes it's just that one little chance that we give the other to make them feel good about themselves.

Because we never know what is in their mind,

We never know what they're going through.

So by being sensitive to their desires,

Whether we recognize the origin of them in that moment,

If we stay open and kind,

Then it's even better because we seek the opportunity to be grateful.

We seek those chances that allow us to be grateful and that allow the other person to be the benefactor,

To feel useful.

It's a wonderful practice.

Stay alert and notice these moments when others want to help you.

They may turn into a beautiful lifelong memory.

And maybe they just want to pay back the favors that you may have rendered previously to them.

Remember that cycle?

We need to participate in it.

We need to give and receive.

And it may be from that person individually.

It may be coming from another person.

The divine ways are mysterious.

We can be also on the other side.

We might have been the benefactor and may not feel the true and authentic gratitude of the beneficiary.

So for these moments,

For these situations,

Swamiji Fernandes says,

An ungrateful person is a miserable wrench in this world.

Dear Lord is pitiful,

Lamentable and deplorable indeed.

This world abounds with ungrateful wrenches.

So remember that if someone is not able to be truly grateful to you,

They're in a much darker place of mind and heart than you are.

So be even kinder to them.

Don't be offended by them by not giving you a true appreciation.

Remember that they need your help and your kindness and your love and support more than you may realize.

Because they need to fill their cup first in order to pour off that cup.

And that is very hard if their tank is really empty.

So be kind,

Be kind,

Be kind.

Swamiji Fernandes gives us a very powerful motivational speech,

Almost like a pep talk.

He says,

All will admire and revere you.

You will reap a rich harvest of peace and immortal bliss.

So he says,

Don't be ungrateful,

Don't be pitiful.

Be grateful,

Be charitable,

Be loving,

Be kind.

And you will reap the benefits of this practice by being ever peaceful,

Ever blissful.

And everyone around you will revere and admire you for that.

Because they will recognize your noble nature.

And you will give them an opportunity to be noble as well.

For the wise guidance that Swamiji Fernandes renders to us in these few words.

So let's meditate on it.

Let's internalize it so we can be more established in it.

And shine this teaching through our words and acts and thoughts to everyone around us.

Let's sit comfortable with the spine up straight.

The chin is parallel to the ground.

We'll start with an Loma Viloma,

Alternate nostril breathing.

We'll inhale for the count of three.

We'll retain the breath for six and exhale for the count of six.

The left hand is in Chin Mudra.

Index and thumb touching together at the tip.

And allow it to fall where it would naturally fall on your thigh or knee.

The right hand is in Vishnu Mudra.

Index and middle finger tucked in towards the center of the palm.

And the other two fingers are stretched out.

They will open and close the nostrils.

Throughout the practice,

The lips are sealed and we breathe only through the nose.

So keep your right hand close to your heart.

We'll take two deep breaths first and then we'll do the alternate nostril breathing.

If you feel comfortable,

Close your eyes.

Inhale deeply.

Abdomen,

Ribcage and chest expand.

And exhale completely.

Abdomen,

Ribcage and chest relax.

One more time.

Inhale deeply.

And exhale completely.

Close the right nostril and inhale through the left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Pinch both nostrils and retain the breath.

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

OM 6.

Exhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Inhale right.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3.

Retain the breath.

Last retention.

OM 5,

OM 6.

Exhale left.

OM 1,

OM 2,

OM 3,

OM 4,

OM 5,

OM 6.

Return to normal breathing.

Lower the hand to the thigh or where it will naturally fall.

And continue to focus on your breathing.

Inhale through the nostrils.

Exhale through the nostrils.

Feel the cool air coming in and the warm and moist air coming out.

Let's think of someone who we may not be appreciative of enough.

Usually the people that are closest to us are the ones that we overlook the most.

And if you remember a situation that you weren't grateful enough or you didn't really mean it,

If you cannot think of one,

Perhaps you can take this opportunity to be even more grateful to them.

Imagine this person sitting in front of you and feeling the love and the gratitude that you have for them.

Mentally or out loud,

Say to them,

Please forgive me if you ever felt unappreciated.

I truly am grateful for your help and support.

I love you and I'm so grateful to have you in my life.

You can either repeat these words or add anything else you feel you want to.

Let that person know,

Please forgive me if you ever felt unappreciated.

I'm truly grateful for your help and support.

I love you and I really am grateful to have you in my life.

Imagine a loving impulse coming from your heart and landing in their heart.

A loving impulse of gratitude.

Allow it to wrap them with a soft blanket of love and appreciation.

See them embracing your gratitude and love.

Feel how good it feels to be the benefactor of their wonderful experience.

Now say to yourself,

I thank myself for the courage to take the mental or physical opportunity to be grateful.

Repeat it a few times to yourself.

Notice how the recognition of the other noble's nature reflects in your own nature becoming more noble.

How your kindness allows you to be more kind,

More appreciative and to spread it to everyone you meet.

As you feel comfortable,

Open your eyes if they were closed.

Thank you so much,

My friend,

For being a light of gratitude to someone.

For seeking the opportunities to be grateful and to create those win-win situations that uplift you and everyone around you.

May you have a blessed holiday and every day be a blessing.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Reviews

Beautiful. Self-reliance and offering others the opportunity to serve - thank you for your wisdom on this dialectic.