Gratitude Without Ceasing

We gather to give our gratitude on one day of the year designated for thanksgiving. For the highest success, keep remembering to say thanks. Gratitude invokes happiness and strength and the power to succeed. By complaining we disempower ourselves. Our salvation, our success, our victory are in gratitude each day and each moment of our lives. If we are complaining, we are victims. In gratitude, we empower ourselves and become the victors. Discover the magic of constant gratitude. Begin saying thank you, writing thank you, thinking thank you with every thought. As long as we remain in a complaining mode we perpetuate our victim state. Being grateful for our challenges and difficulties and calamities in life is the only way to navigate through them to our victory.

Tell yourself how grateful you are for the problems you have, for only then will you have the mental clarity and strength to find your solutions. Even if you do not feel grateful, still say it and think it and write it. Gratitude is such a powerful virtue, that by intoning our gratitude in any way, even though we may not feel it, we are guaranteed to impel our spontaneous feelings of gratitude, welling up from our beautiful soul that knows the truth.  Only victims complain. Victors live in gratitude.. Victors know that our difficulties and challenges make us stronger. Start saying thank you for everything to empower yourself, and you will find that all difficulties build your strength and majesty when you keep saying thank you.

According the Greek philosopher Cicero, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others”.

When we are grateful, it is impossible to also be hateful, angry, or fearful. Gratitude cannot be requested, demanded, or coerced, it can only be given from the infinite bounty of our own soul. It comes from our own truth.

In our news media, there is such a strong effort to divide us. Yet if we are living in gratitude we cannot be manipulated to believe we should be fearful “fearful of others who are different” or “fearful of others who are liberal” or “fearful of others who are conservative” or “fearful of others who have brown skin or light skin or purple skin.” We are all human beings who have the same needs to live and thrive. Some of these needs—beyond our basic physical needs for food and shelter—are that we need to love and be loved, we need to learn and grow and contribute, we need to be safe and be recognized and have order and beauty and art. These are very basic human needs of everyone and when we all serve together in gratitude for what we have and in service to help each other fulfill our needs, there is great bounty and indescribable prosperity, peace and justice and liberation from fear for everyone. It all begins with gratitude.

Attitude of Gratitude Meditation

Taught by Yogi Bhajan on June 26, 1998

“We have a very good mantra that creates prosperity. Mantra is ‘man’ ‘tra.’ It is a mentally projected vibration that entangles with Infinity and creates the effect. It is a sound system that you, I, me, we, they, thou can all create. It has nothing to do with what you feel or what you are. But when all the vibrations of you and your environments have gone negative, that is the moment to use this mantra. When you chant this mantra with the breath of life, you tap into all the angels of the Universe, including your own great ancestors who have a qualifying life as an angel. It’s quick. It’s fast. It’s purposeful. It brings in what you need.”

POSTURE

Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine, chin in, chest out, belly in. Physically and mentally straighten your spine, so the channels can be clear.

MUDRA

Bend the elbows down by the sides and cross the forearms over the diaphragm area, parallel to the floor, right on top, left underneath. Grab the right elbow with the left hand and the left elbow with the right hand. Comfortably lock your hands so that you have the elbows in your hands.

EYES

The eyes are closed.

BREATH

Breathe long and deep for 1 to 2 minutes before beginning to chant.

MANTRA

Har Har Har Har Gobinday

Har Har Har Har Mukanday

Har Har Har Har Udaaray

Har Har Har Har Apaaray

Har Har Har Har Hareeang

Har Har Har Har Kareeang

Har Har Har Har Nirnaamay

Har Har Har Har Akaamay

Chant the mantra out loud from the navel. Continue for 1 minute.

Then whisper the mantra powerfully. Use the pranic power. Keep the navel engaged. Continue for 3 ½ minutes.

Then chant silently. Move the breath with the navel. Keep the navel moving as if you were chanting aloud, but you are silently chanting with the mantra. Continue for 8 minutes.

TO END:

Inhale deeply, stretch your spine as much as you can, while squeezing the ribcage, the area where your elbows are locked, as well as every part of your body. Hold for 15-20 seconds. Cannon Fire exhale through the mouth. Repeat for a total of 3 times. Relax.

COMMENTS

All this knowledge is ancient and it is forgotten. As one who practices Kundalini Yoga, we have no right to initiate anyone, we self initiate. If somebody cannot initiate himself or herself, we should not be so foolish as to initiate that person. Basically, the law is that you have to be you to start with. And then you grow. Because you have three parts: a demon part, a human part and an angelic part.

At the very least, to begin, accept yourself—you are human. Be grateful for you, don’t talk negative, think negative, let anybody down, or participate in any let down. Be aware that any negative word you say negates you a hundred times more than it negates anybody else.

In the alternative, what happens when you speak positively? When you speak positively, then there’s a negative gap. And that gap creates the super-positive. And that, in English, is what we call God. Therefore, cultivate the attitude of gratitude. The attitude of gratitude is when you are grateful for every breath of life.

People ask me, “What should we do when we feel something is wrong?” When there is something wrong, thank God. When you feel there is something good, thank God. In this way, you can process your life and progress your life.

What will happen? You will get high-spirited. You will rise. And, to fill the vacuum, nature will come with wealth and prosperity. Otherwise your poverty is proportionate to your emotionalism and commotionalism. These are forces. I am not saying get rid of them, I am saying they will get rid of you. There is nothing you can do if you give reign to these forces. Only gratitude wipes out the negativity.

Some people are act like idiots, they are so insecure about everything. They have not learned that God, who can rotate this Earth for you, creating day and night, can take care of your routine if you allow it to be. Be grateful for what you have and magnify your soul. All that is good will grow. But we do not want to know how good we are. We want to know how bad everybody else is, but we can never, ever find our goodness this way. An attitude of gratitude brings peace and goodness, prosperity and truth and light. If somebody is bad, let it be. Live in gratitude and you may heal yourself and others and your environments.

 

© The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan