THERAPY OF THANKSGIVING

THERAPY OF THANKSGIVING

"Oh, Sainath, we do not know how to redeem Your obligations, therefore we prostrate ourselves before You, bless us poor helpless fellows, henceforth let Your holy feet be our sole refuge. Many thoughts and ideas trouble us in waking and dream states, so turn away our minds from them to Your bhajan and bless us." –Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch XLVIII.

Of a Sufi dervish it is said that, one day, as he took bath in a river, he was bitten in foot by a crocodile. Blood flowed freely out of the heel of his foot. He swam to the riverbank, as he sat there; he uttered the word of praise: "Shukur! Shukur!"

A man who witnessed the scene, was amazed at the strange behaviour of the man of God. To him he said: "How is it that even though bitten by a crocodile, you can still say, Shukur? What have you to feel grateful for?"

The dervish calmly answered: "I feel grateful to God that I fell into the mouth of the crocodile: I did not fall in sin!"

The dervish was a man of faith.

If your attention is on sufferings – they get magnified beyond all proportions. In the midst of suffering, let us count our blessings. Usually, we suffer only in one area of our life. There are so many other things for which we should be grateful. Take a piece of paper and make a list of all the blessings you still have. There was a man who started from scratch and build up a flourishing business but one day he becomes bankrupt. The first thing he did was to take up a sheet of paper and write down all the things he still possessed. He found, he still had a great deal to be thankful for. With gratitude in his heart, he started a new and builds up a larger business. If we count our blessings, our suffering recedes in the background.

In all conditions of life, let us thank the Lord. Let us make it a habit to praise the Lord at every step, in every round of life. Even in the midst of fear and frustration, worry and anxiety, depression and disappointment, let the words come out of the very depths of our hearts: "Thank you, God! Thank you, God!" And we will be filled with a peace that will amaze us. When we thank the Lord all the time, we build for ourselves a ladder of consciousness which we can climb and touch the very pinnacle of peace.