Why should a prayer be augmented with an expression of gratitude?

1. Gratitude

God is the creator of the universe. We too are a part and parcel of this universe. So both, the universe and we were created by God. All events in the universe followed thereafter. These include me, happiness, unhappiness, intellect, actions, family, country, religion, spiritual practice, etc. Thus whenever one thinks about oneself and / or the world, unconsciously harbouring awareness of God or one of His forms and offering the credit for even this awareness to God, it is termed as gratitude. Prayer is actually a synonym for surrender. This act of surrender is completed only after the expression of gratitude. The Guru Himself is God for a seeker who has been blessed by the grace of a Guru or for one who is practising Spirituality according to the Path of the Guru’s Grace (Gurukrupāyoga). Hence it is but natural for him to harbour more gratitude towards the Guru.

1.1 Importance

• Reduction in ego: Gratitude is a means of offering the doer ship of an act to God / Guru; hence it helps in reducing the ego. Often seekers forget to thank God for anything occurring as wished in a prayer or after deriving Bliss (Ānand) from rendering service. A seeker can also develop subtle ego about getting spiritual experiences or experiencing Bliss. It is therefore important to offer the credit for a spiritual experience or the experience of Bliss to the Guru.

• In expressing gratitude, one offers the result of an action unto God. Since the result of the action is sacrificed, the action becomes a non-action (akarma-karma) and no give and take account is generated. Thus the chances of a seeker getting entrapped in the cycle of birth and death are reduced.

• Substantial increase in repetition (chanting) of God's Name on the counter after expressing gratitude: On 16^th July 2002, during repetition (chanting) of God's Name, I saw the photograph of H.H.Dr.Athavale before me. I expressed gratitude and spoke to His photograph just as one would speak to a person before oneself. I said to Him, ‘I cannot meditate. Please get meditation done from me.’  Tears swelled in my eyes as I said this and I happened to see the counter. Before expressing gratitude, I had repeated (chanted) God's Name 188 times. When I looked at the counter after expressing gratitude, the count had exceeded thousand. Thereafter, I said the points told by H.H. Doctor in a meeting and prayed. After a while when I saw the counter, the count had increased by another forty. - Mrs. Sankalpa Tambe, Kalambaste, Chiplun, Ratnagiri district

1.2 Examples of expression of gratitude with spiritual emotion (bhāv)

A. Gratitude about the Guru being one’s everything: Dr. Hemant Kamat, a seeker expressed his gratitude unto the Guru thus,

O Gurudev, I am grateful to You
For endowing me with human birth,
For granting me the desire to be liberated,
For drawing me towards spiritual practice.
O Gurudev, I am grateful to You
For gifting me with holy texts for studying Spirituality,
For giving me appropriate guidance in repeating (chanting)
The God's Name,
For giving me the opportunity of being in Your holy
company (satsang),
For endowing me with the opportunity to render service
unto the Absolute Truth (satsēvā),
For impressing on my mind that propagation of Spirituality
is the supreme service unto the Absolute Truth,
For convincing me about the importance of sacrifice and
for getting it done from me,
For explaining to me what spiritual love (prīti) is,
For endowing me with such a beautiful society to
undertake my spiritual practice.
O Gurudev, I am grateful to You
For pointing out what qualities I lack in,
For creating situations conducive for my spiritual practice,
For giving me the opportunity to learn from fellow seekers
and warrior seekers,
For granting me guidance from senior seekers,
And for the holy company (satsang) of Saints.
O Gurudev, I offer obeisance at Your feet,
For alleviating my worldly problems,
For reducing my attachment for the Great Illusion (Māyā),
For eliminating my doubts about spiritual practice,
And for steadying me in spiritual practice.
O Gurudev, I am grateful to You
For driving away distressing energies which was
impossible for us to do,
For endowing me with the spiritual experience that You
alone are the doer and that You alone can get things done
from me.
And for granting me the assurance that I can attain the
Final Liberation (Moksha) in this birth itself.

B. Gratitude towards God for every breath of life and the Guru for teaching how to repeat (chant) God's Name: I was trying to repeat (chant) God's Name by synchronising it with the breath. After sometime due to intense concentration on the Name, I could hear the repetition (chanting) of God's Name through Shrīkrushṇa’s peacock feather. I could feel the Name entering my body through the nose, every time I took a breath. The gratitude to God for every breath and to the Guru for teaching me the act of repeating (chanting) The God’s Name which I expressed was beyond verbal description. However the Bliss (Ānand) derived from the spiritual experience lasted for a long time. - Mrs. Puja Ganesh Naik, Devad āshram, Panvel

C. Sometimes seekers have to set out at dawn when travelling out of station. Someone has to wake up at dawn to give them lunch packets. When I do this task, I feel thankful to both, the seekers and the Guru for having endowed me with this opportunity to prepare the holy sacrament (prasād) of the Guru. I feel, ‘How much my Guru does for me so that my spiritual love (prīti) for others grows and I progress spiritually !’ - A seeker, Goa

D. When despite my not making a mistake another seeker points out my mistake, I feel thankful to Guru as He is doing all this only to take me to the next level of spiritual progress. Thereafter I remain unaffected about that incident. - A seeker, Goa

E. A seeker being thankful to distressing energies for troubling him as a result of which Doctor’s attention was drawn towards him: I was severely afflicted with distressing energies. I was literally combating them constantly. Once when Mr. Panvalkar visited the Dhamse āshram (hermitage) he said, “We have to fight distressing energies. A powerful weapon we have is love. So use it to fight them” Ever since I began speaking to these distressing energies with affection, ‘Who are you and what do you want from me? I want to devote myself to the cause of reinstating Righteousness (Dharma). If I have troubled you in the past birth, please forgive me, but please do not obstruct my spiritual practice. You too can repeat (chant) The God’s Name. Your troubles will vanish and you will be able to make spiritual progress’ I would constantly make this prayer unto them. They would ridicule this prayer but I would continue, ‘It is because of you that H.H. Dr Jayant Athavale paid attention to me. So I am ever grateful to you’ - Mr. Omkar Homkar, Jat, Sangli district.

1.3 Spiritual experiences

A. Feeling thankful towards seekers and perceiving that I was offering the guidance at their feet: On 24^th October 2002, I was scheduled to guide the prominent seekers from Sangli district and those rendering service in the office of ‘Daily Sanatan Prabhat’. I offered salutation unto the Guru before looking at the audience. At that moment, I experienced an inner feeling of gratitude towards the seekers. There was a lump in my throat. I was speechless. I was overwhelmed with the thought that I had been endowed with the opportunity to serve the Guru because of them. Thereafter throughout the discourse, I experienced the feeling that I was offering the guidance at their feet. Ever since, even during casual conversation with a seeker, I become aware that I am serving him. - Dr. (Mrs.) Nandini Durgesh Samant, Phonda āshram, Goa

2. Repeating (chanting) the Name of The God

According to the Path of Devotion, chanting the name of God, is the very foundation of spiritual practice. The God’s Name is The God Himself. That is why the easiest mode of being in constant communion with The God is repeating (chanting) His Name continuously. ‘Science of Spirituality: Vol. 6 A - Path of Repeating (Chanting) The Lord’s Name (Namasankirtanyoga)’ explains in detail the importance of The God’s Name, what should be done to repeat (chant) it continuously and effectively and its various other aspects. One may get the impression that one develops spiritual emotion (bhāv) for The God by being in constant communion with Him through repetition (chanting) of His Name. Often however, repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name occurs just for its sake without spiritual love for The God. This kind of repetition (chanting) does not help much in developing spiritual emotion for God. This is precisely why repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name should be done along with spiritual emotion. The ways and means of achieving this are given below.

2.1 Importance of repeating (chanting) The God’s Name with spiritual emotion

• Only if repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name is done with spiritual emotion does it reach The God.

• Repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name done with spiritual emotion provides protection from distressing energies.

Distressing energies narrate how seekers cannot be taken away by them if they repeat (chant) The God’s Name with spiritual emotion: On 18^th April 2003, during the staring in the eye therapy session in the Miraj āshram (hermitage), a distressing energy named Mruttika manifested through a seeker and she gave the following information - ‘If the spiritual emotion of seekers in the Miraj āshram does not grow within 2 or 3 days then we will take away one seeker from the āshram. However if you repeat (chant), the name of God, in such a way that Shrī Ganapati and Shrīkrushna will come to your rescue then we will not be able to take away the seekers. Such repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name done with spiritual emotion burns our bodies. We are unable to stay where there is more spiritual emotion’

2.2 Efforts to repeat (chant) The God’s Name with spiritual emotion

• A prayer should be made unto the Guru / God to make one repeat (chant) The God’s Name with spiritual emotion.

• Just as one thinks of someone one loves or something one likes repeatedly and very easily without any effort, e.g. a lover thinks of his beloved or a mother of her child so also, the mind should be conditioned to love God. Once one begins to like or love God, one remembers His Name easily and experiences Bliss on repeating (chanting) it. Later repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name becomes a way of life.

• Imagining The God’s form time and again makes it easier to love Him. That is why when repeating (chanting) The God’s Name, if possible one should place a picture of the Deity within one’s visual range. To make the atmosphere more sāttvik (sattva predominant), one should affix strips of Names of deities in the room where one is repeating (chanting) The God’s Name.

• One should harbour the spiritual emotion that God / the Guru is getting the repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name done from oneself. Mrs. Garud, a seeker in the Dhamse āshram was unable to fall asleep till 2 a.m. for almost two to two and a half months. She expressed gratitude unto The God for this saying that God must be doing this to increase her repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name.

  A seeker who harboured the feeling that the Guru Himself was getting the repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name done from her, experienced the following.

  A seeker’s perception of repeating (chanting) The God’s Name with the japamālā (Hindu rosary) even in her sleep as she harboured the spiritual emotion that Doctor was getting the repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name done from her : Once in March 1998, before retiring for the day, I was offering obeisance to H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale with folded hands. It was at that moment that I had an intense feeling that He was none other than The God Himself and my eight-fold sāttvik (ashtasattvik) spiritual emotion (bhāv) was awakened. I said, ‘You yourself are repeating (chanting) The God’s Name through me as a medium for the spiritual progress of Your devotee, seeker and disciple’ to H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale and I fell asleep with the japamālā (Hindu rosary) in my hand. When I awoke at 5 a.m. I realised that I had been repeating (chanting) The God’s Name with the japamālā all night. - Miss Mahananda Giridhar Patil, Sion centre of the Sanstha, Mumbai

• One should harbour the spiritual emotion that The God’s Name is a protective armour against all evil. The spiritual emotion of a seeker in this context is described below.

  An inner feeling that repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name when ironing clothes would create impressions of repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name on the clothes and a consequent armour: On 27^th October 2002, the Guru suggested to me from within that I should repeat (chant) The God’s Name when ironing clothes because this helps in transmitting The God’s Name to the clothes which can later be used as a protective armour. - Mr. Rajesh Sadanand Gavkar, Phonda āshram, Goa

• If one uses a tool such as a japamālā to repeat (chant) The God’s Name, considering it as a Deity, one should offer obeisance to it before commencing the repeating (chanting).

• Repeating (chanting) should be interlaced with meditation because the two qualitatively enhance each other.

• One should listen to an audio cassette on repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name off and on.

• One should listen to audio cassettes of devotional songs (bhajans) composed by saints and to their spiritual guidance off and on.

2.3 Spiritual experience of repeating (chanting) The God’s Name along with spiritual emotion

Experiencing indescribable sweetness while repeating (chanting) The God’s Name along with spiritual emotion and perceiving the presence of the Guru / God when repeating (chanting) in that way: Since 25^th October 2002, I sensed a qualitative change in my repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name. Though I did love to repeat (chant) The God’s Name earlier as if it was a hobby, since 25th October 2002, the subtle change which occurred is beyond verbal description. First of all I consider myself extremely fortunate for being able to repeat (chant) The God’s Name. Just as a mother derives happiness merely by calling out again and again to her baby by its name despite it not understanding the language, so also I experience pure Bliss merely by repeating (chanting) The God’s Name. The Name seems invaluable. I feel like repeating (chanting) The God’s Name continuously without cessation. I also constantly perceive the presence of the Guru / God. Consequently, on one hand I feel quite safe and self-confident and on the other, extremely humble. - Dr. (Mrs.) Nandini Durgesh Samant, Phonda āshram, Goa

3. Practising the nine-fold devotion (navavidhabhakti)

The aim of a seeker following the Path of Devotion (Bhaktimārg) is to generate intense devotion unto The God. To achieve this, it is beneficial to put into practice the various types of the nine-fold devotion namely, listening to praise of The God (shravan), singing praises of The God (kīrtan), remembering The God (smaran), service of the Holy feet (padsevan), offering (archan), offering obeisance (vandan), devotion as a servant (dāsya), devotion as a friend (sakhya) and narrating everything to God (ātmanivedan). Among these, the first three types help to generate faith, the next three are related to the manifest (sagun) form of The God and the last three are internal spiritual emotions.

3.1 Types of the nine-fold devotion

A. Listening to praise of The God (shravan): This form of devotion includes listening to the qualities, victories and glory of The God with faith. It also means listening to the Guru’s teaching (knowledge).

B. Singing praises of The God (kīrtan): Singing the praises of The God amounts to this kind of devotion. Narrating to other the knowledge one has gained by listening to the Guru’s teachings as the situation demands and inspiring them to behave as per the Guru’s expectations is devotion of this kind.

C. Remembering The God (smaran): Constant contemplation upon the Name - virtues - Divine play (lilā) of The God and remaining engrossed in them is this type of devotion. This includes constant remembrance of the gross form of the Guru or God through a picture / idol and that of His subtle form through repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name. If one harbours the spiritual emotion that every breath one takes, every task that one has done throughout the day has been possible only because of The God or that one is living every second only because of The God then one will remember Him throughout the day. This is the true expression of this devotional form. Kunti from the Mahābhārat had asked for unhappiness so that she would remember The God all day long. However without asking for unhappiness if one makes attempts as above then this devotion will develop quickly.

     A seeker who remembered the Guru constantly and attributed everything to the Guru experienced oneness with the Guru as described below.

     A seeker perceiving the seat she used to undertake repetition (chanting) of The God’s Name as that of her Guru and also experiencing closeness to Him through the subtle dimension : On 6^th July 2002 before meditating, I prayed unto H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale and then sat with my hands folded in obeisance. The thought that crossed my mind then was, ‘Your seat has become soiled. It will have to be washed at night.’ Just then, I realised that the seat belonged to my Guru and that it is He who uses it every day and that He would certainly not appreciate me washing it at night (because H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale would tell us not to do too many chores at night). The next vision I got was of a sage walking in a forest. I felt as if He were my Guru and I, His disciple. Though in reality, the Guru’s gross form is far away, yet from within He is very close to me. - Miss Mahananda Giridhar Patil, Sion centre of the Sanstha, Mumbai

     [Feeling that the seat was that of H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale was a transient state of Salok Mukti (Liberation). Seeing the sage, etc. was related to the past births. - Compilers]

D. Service of the Holy feet (padsevan): In this form of service, one literally serves the holy feet of The God or performs ritualistic worship of His feet. Service unto the Guru’s feet means harbouring the spiritual emotion, ‘I am a servitor of The God’. A Guru has greater attachment for a disciple who worships His subtle form, that is the Guru principle than one who worships only His gross form. Propagation of the Guru’s mission in the best possible way is true service unto the Guru’s feet.

E. Offering (archan): Ritualistic worship (pūjā) of The God with devotion and respect is called archan. Installing a picture of the Guru in the temple at home or worshipping Him mentally are incorporated in this kind of devotion.

F. Offering obeisance (vandan): This form of devotion constitutes meditating upon The God after completely surrendering unto Him. This includes praying with spiritual emotion, so that it reaches God.

G. Devotion as a servant (dāsya): In this form of devotion, the devotee considers The God to be his father, mother and his everything and himself to be The God’s son or servant. Deity Maruti is an excellent example of this type of devotion.

H. Devotion as a friend (sakhya): In this form of devotion, a devotee believes God to be his friend or sibling who shares his happiness and unhappiness. So, no barrier of any kind exists between the two. As spiritual emotion towards the Guru grows, there is a corresponding growth of respect and gratitude for Him. This makes it difficult to view Him as a friend. Only a rare seeker with a spiritual level of more than 60% is capable of remaining devoted in this way. Devotion of Arjun towards  Shrīkrushna is an unparalleled example of this.

I. Narrating everything to God (ātmanivedan): This devotion is the ultimate and supreme step in the Path of Devotion. Here, the devotee explicitly narrates everything good or bad, external or internal to The God and surrenders completely unto Him. One should narrate daily to the Guru about everything, that is, all of one’s actions, obstacles faced in one’s spiritual practice, doubts in the mind, etc. Mrs. Mangala Marathe (one of the compilers) experienced the following in this context - ‘One day when I was conversing with H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale in my mind, two seekers who were meditating saw me talking to Him on telephone’

3.2 Comparative importance of the nine-fold devotion

(Divine Knowledge received in the meditative state by H.H. Dr. Jayant Athavale)

Reference:

‘Spiritual Practice For Awakening Spiritual Emotion’, published by Sanatan Sanstha.

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