We can find real liberation and real satisfaction in this life and beyond! And that is why there are so many spiritual systems within the world. Religion comes from the Greek word religio, which means to bind back. Yoga is a Sanskrit word, which means to reunite. It’s the same word, same essence.
But today, unfortunately, people are more concerned with the superficialities than the real characteristics of devotion and integrity towards truth.
Through prayers, through meditation, through these various spiritual practices we can reconnect with our own essence. Spirituality is meant to awaken the eternal potential to love and to be an instrument of that love in our life. By reconnecting with our own essence and by accessing that empowerment, we can be instruments of positive change in the world.
Gratitude is an essential quality to access that potential. The heart is like a field and all our good qualities are like the seed, a small plant that’s meant to grow in that field. Our morality, our integrity, our spiritual practices, our prayers and our meditation are like the watering of that seed. But the fertility of the soil of our heart is our humility and our gratitude. Without being grateful, we can’t really receive anything.
Real culture is based on the principle of gratitude. A person could be happy in any situation if he is grateful, but a person can never be happy–really happy in the heart–in any situation, unless he/she is grateful. But we should be grateful for our failures as much as for our successes. We should be grateful for the dishonor that we receive as well as for the honor. We should be grateful for the opportunity to grow and to learn from that experience.
Gratitude is the foundational principle for all spiritual growth and it’s foundational for basic human kindness.
An Article by Radhanath Swami
Thank you Maharaj for giving such a descriptive example of importance of gratitude in life. As your rightly told, a grateful person can be happy in any circumstances.
thank you very much Maharaj.
I found this article very very helpful in deepening my understanding of life. Surely without gratitude we cannot be happy even in the best situation while if we are grateful we could be happy in any situation!
Thank you for sharing.
This articles goes beyond purview of material conceptions.
Radhanath Swami so beautifully presents this important principle…Just imbibing this small article will lead me a long way in spirituality…
Yes very true the creeper of Bhakti and our relationship with the lord can grow very fast in a fertile heart of Gratitude. Thank you very Much Radhanath Swami.
Wow – thank you for this post.
Very inspiring instructions
Thank you so much for sharing wonderful instructions.
Hari Boll…….
Thank you Maharaj for everything.
All Glories To H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Profound Wisdom! We never thought of being grateful to failure, but thats so beautiful, because out of failure was what we had as an immense learning. Maharaj will take an multi-dimensional view of every subject and gives it an spiritual window so that we grow mature day by day.
Hare Krishna
All glories to Guru and Gauranga. Hari Bol
A wonderful inspiring example that would remain for ever in our hearts.
If we read the autobiography of Radhanath Swami Maharaj, all we find is gratitude and humility.
maharaj also says one who is not grateful is great fool.
My heartfelt gratitude to you for teaching me to be grateful in all situations.
Truly it is said that a grateful heart is a happy heart. Maharaj really brings out the essence of bhakti sweet and short words. Thank you so much radhanath swami.
Without being grateful, we can’t receive.Thank you very much Radhanath Swami.
thank you very much Maharaj.
Without being grateful to you Maharaj. Thank you very much.
Kidos to Radhanath Swami. how wonderfully he explained the importance of being grateful to everyone , to god. His words directly makes an impact on heart.
once again thanks to Radhanath Swami.
Just Amazing!
Without being grateful, we can’t receive. This is a very sublime truth. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami.
We are very much grateful to you Maharaj, for sharing all the wealth you have. This is a great insight to be always grateful. Thank you swamiji for teaching us real meaing of gratitude.Thank you swamiji we are realy very greatful to you.
WHAT A WONDERFUL ARTICLE..
HARE KRSNA…
Mahraj has told the most essential quality which needs to be there , in a sadhaka ,being grateful , thank you mahraj , being grateful to devotees and my senior authorities only will be possible to please Krishna
Wish I could really have some gratitude towards Krishna for the unpleasant things that have happened to me.
Thank you so much maharaj for everything…..
Thank you maharaj for such a wonderful instruction on gratitude.
there is no greater sin than not having gratitude for what one has done for us…HH RNSM
certainly Maharaj has this quality so he can share it…
Such an elevated thought “Gratitude even when dishonored”.
Thank you for such an inspiring article.If i m able to implement even 0.001 % of what Radhanath Maharaj says my life will become successful.
Thank you for sharing.
hare krsna. really great
So true we must be greatfull to our failures becasue each and every failure teaches us somethings that actually brings us closer to the god …it a signal which we need to understand it rightly
Yes, gratitude is the key.
Radhanath Swami stresses the importance of being grateful in almost every lecture. Without a grateful heart we cannot appreciate the gifts that we get. And to see the Lord’s hand in every situation, we have to be grateful.
first calss kote by radhanath swami.
Maharaj, You have shown through your life and lectures how gratefulness has to be cultivated and expressed. Your statement “If you are not grateful than you are a great fool” is one of the very inspiring statements for my life.
It is extremely inspiring to read this article on gratitude. Only a true gardener can sow such seeds of real culture and have such profound expressions of what seems to be the essence of humanity.
Wisdom is in understanding that, true happiness which everyone in this world is seeking, can be got by being grateful.
Thank you so much Maharaj for sharing the secret to real happiness with so many seekers of real happiness in this world.
Thank you Maharaj fo teaching this important lesson. It is helping me to accept different situations in life positively.
Thank you Maharaj for teaching us the need to be grateful in our lives.
Maharaj you mentioned that
“Gratitude is the foundational principle for all spiritual growth and its foundation for basic human kindness.”
This is such a profound statement. Thank you maharaj for enlightening us.
Radhanath Swami Maharaj so essentially is stressing the quality of being grateful, Its so wonderful explanation of the gratefulness. I never ever thought about it through this angle.
I liked the following lines as well:
“Why there is so much fighting is because people are more concerned with the superficialities than they are in actually developing the real characteristics of devotion and integrity towards truth”
Thank you Radhanath Swami for these words… Real understanding of the religion…
I am highly impressed by the words of Radhanath Swami !
A person who is genuienely practicing this principle of gratitude in his life for even smallest thing, when that person speaks about gratitude it just touches the core of heart and inspires to follow.The same is happenig after reading this article.Thank you very much for posting this wonderful article.
Gratitude is the real wealth of any person
Another Spiritual gem from Radhanath Swami. Such a foundational and essential principle.
If land is infertile – even if we have seeds, sun and water – seeds cannot grow.
Same way a heart wihout humility and gratitude cannot hold on to the mercy of the Lord, even if causeless given by the Lord and devotes
Wow! Such a deep and significant meaning of Spirituality and gratitude I have never heard! Thank you Radhanath Swami!
We are very much grateful to you Maharaj, for sharing all the wealth you have. This is a great insight to be always grateful. Thank you Maharaj.
Having heard so much about gratitude, I’m still struggling to implement it. I find it easier to be grateful for honor rather than dishonor. However, I’m convinced, at least theoretically, that everything is the mercy of the Lord.
nice article by Radhanath swami. now I am also trying to be humble.
It’s very nice article.
This analogy of heart like a field, good qualities as a seed and spiritual practices as watering these seeds, gratitude and humility as fertility of this field is so wonderfully described here. Radhanath Maharaj has made it so simple and easy to understand for all of us.
Actually this is the real and most deepest truth on our way towards self realization…..
Thank you for this post.
Wonderful instruction. Haribol
All Glories to HH Radhanath swami maharaj I am very greatful to you Maharaj for being my guide.
So much true about gratitude.If we do something for others we expect some appreciation.If we are not grateful for what others do for us , we are so selfish….
All Glories to HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
Inconceivable Wisdom, as truly said can be found only in the shsatras and Guru wani.
Hare Krishna.
an inspiring message!!!
If we not greatful then we will remain GREATFOOL.
This is the very wonderful leture by Radhanath swami maharaj.Really to remain happy it reuire a greatful ness of heart.if we not greatful then we will remain GREATFUL.
Radhanath Maharaj also says in many of his lecture that through grateful heart we can have bhakti. To read more quotations of Radhanath Maharaj visit http://www.radhanathswamiquotes.com
or http://www.radhanathswamiweekly.com/quotes
Ranjeet Kumar
All Glories to HH Radhanath Swami.
I am highly indebted to my Guru Maharaj for making me realize the essence of human form of life.
Everyday, when i hear his lectures, i feel his presence and as if, he is personally telling me the instructions. And what he speaks will be exactly pertaining to my current situation.
http://www.myspace.com/radhanathswami