‘Gratitude’ read by Jogyata

Gratitude looms large when we are given the opportunity to be of service to the Supreme in mankind. This gratitude power is our expansion-power, our self expansion power. Each time we offer our gratitude to the Supreme, we expand our hearts and grow into the universal Heart and transcendental Reality.
– Sri Chinmoy, June 17th, 1976 University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Sri Chinmoy meditates on Gratitude orchid flower.

Question: How can one adequately express gratitude?

Sri Chinmoy: You do not actually have to try to express gratitude. If you have true gratitude, it will express itself automatically. It will be visible in your eyes, around your being, in your aura. It is like the fragrance of a flower. True, there are some flowers that do not have any fragrance. But in most cases, if there is a beautiful flower, the fragrance will be there naturally. The flower and its fragrance cannot be separated.

Gratitude is the sweetest thing in a seeker’s life — in all human life. If there is gratitude in your heart, then there will be tremendous sweetness in your eyes. When I see a disciple, I look at the beauty of his eyes. The beauty of the eyes is determined not by their shape or their colour. No, the beauty of the eyes depends on the heart’s beauty. Inside the eyes I look for purity, gratitude and a few other things that come directly from the heart.

But of all the things that I look for, gratitude is the most important. If there is gratitude inside your heart, then it will be expressed through your eyes in the form of sweetness. When some eyes look at me, I see such sweetness in them — like the most delicious Indian sweets.

– Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 05, Agni Press, 1995

September 21 is World Gratitude Day, an opportunity to cultivate and remember the importance of gratitude. World Gratitude day was first celebrated by the United Nations Meditation Group in 1977, following an idea of Sri Chinmoy.

An extract from a short talk by Sri Chinmoy on World Gratitude Day
“Gratitude in the inner world is nothing but self-expansion. It is through self-expansion that we become aware of our true reality, which is Infinity itself. Your contribution to the world at large, to the inner world especially, is momentous. As a seeker, I know that there is nothing on earth as valuable and significant as gratitude. In God’s Eye there is nothing more meaningful and precious than man’s gratitude. Therefore, to you, to the illumining soul in you, I wish to offer my boundless and ever-growing gratitude.

World Gratitude Day New York Headquarters, 21 September 1977

The official beginning of this world holiday was in 1965 at the East-West Center in Hawaii where a Thanksgiving Dinner was held for ninety Grantees who came for the most part from Oriental countries. We discussed the need for a globally unifying holiday and everyone was thrilled with my idea of Gratitude Day. Each person in the room pledged, therefore, to hold a Gratitude Gathering the following September 21st, when they returned to their own countries. That was the beginning. And since then Gratitude Day has been observed all over the world.

The plaque, presented to Sri Chinmoy in 1977 by Mrs. Edna Lemle, president and founder of the organisation, dedicated to promoting the cause of world-wide gratitude, cited Sri Chinmoy for having “enhanced the spirit of globalism with his compassion, his creativity and nobility of spirit.”  Citations were presented to nine religious leaders and representatives of organisations.

Among others recognised were the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, whose Director, Dr. J. Ottley, came from Salt Lake City for the ceremony, Judith Hollister, founder of the Interfaith Temple of Understanding; Dr. Russell Barber, producer of the NBC television programme “The First Estate”, and Rabbi Sally Prisend, the first woman in American Judaism to attain the ranks of the clergy. Past awards have been given to UNICEF (as an organisation) and to former General Assembly President Angie Brooks Randolph.

World Gratitude Day Award to Sri Chinmoy presented by Mrs. Edna Lemle.

Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Name: Gratitude read by Jogyata
Release year: 2015
Duration: 0:12:12
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Tracks uploaded: Ashish | Tejvan
Format: MP3
Photos by  Bhashwar