Join us for our Thanksgiving Festivity on Sunday, November 26th at the Yoga Research Foundation in Miami, for an evening of spiritual discourse into the significance of Thanksgiving by Swamiji, devotional music, and a delicious vegetarian feast. As a preview of what to expect during the celebration, here is an article by Swamiji where he expounds on the meaning of gratitude:
Be thankful for the blessing of a human embodiment, which enables you to attain Self-realization, thereby ending the process of birth and death.
Be thankful for the gift of the intellect, mind, senses, and the body, for by the right use of these faculties, you can scale the heights of devotion and wisdom, becoming immersed in the Divine Self.
Be thankful for the conditions of prosperity and success, because these are gifts from God beckoning you towards the unfoldment of the virtues of humility and righteousness. When a tree is laden with fruits it bows down in humility. However, if one endowed with prosperity does not express humility in his personality, they will sink in a world of delusion.
Be thankful to God for the conditions of adversity as well for it is these experiences that enable you to discover the fountain of spiritual energy within yourself. It is an eye-opener; it deepens your insight into the subtle facts of spiritual life. In reality, the very notion that your are confronting an adverse situation is erroneous – discover the mysterious workings of the Divine Hand behind apparent adversities. When you do so, you will deeply know that the Divine Intention in you is not to lead you to pain and misery, but bring about the cessation of pain and endow you with immense spiritual bliss.
Be thankful for the life you are gifted with. During this life, you can explore the regions of the heart, climb the mountains of intuitive vision, dive deep into the ocean of divine love, and discover the precious pearls of Divine virtues. What could be more adventurous and heroic than this?
Be thankful to God for leading you into the battlefield of the mind, wherein the forces of darkness as well as the forces of light are ever engaged in battle. Sometimes the battle becomes intense, and sometimes it fades into a state of apparent peace. However, you must continue to fight with the firm faith that you are bound to attain victory in the form of Self-realization.
The highest form of thanks to God is expressed when you turn your present life into the last embodiment in this mortal world. A potent method to achieve such a goal is to adopt the practice of Integral Yoga, wherein the four aspects of one’s personality – actions, emotions, will power, and reason – become harmonized, paving the way for the realization of the Absolute Self. Then, you are not born again.
You give best thanks to God when you discover that you are essentially Divine. It is the Divinity who has enacted the drama of this world-process. It is He who has entered into this world as the director, the actor and the audience of this world-drama. Play your part well, and while doing so, discover the fact that you are essentially the Divine Director of this great show. Thus, root out all forms of suffering, and be immersed in peace and bliss.
With Prem & Om,
Swami Jyotirmayananda
