Understanding the law of gratitude and gratefulness

Understanding the law of gratitude and gratefulness Almighty divinity, through the prowess of the grandeur nature, and the resplendent and ever mutating cosmos is eternally showering bounties on humans. However, the human mind is not wakeful or grateful to accept this materiality. It is well-nigh impossible for the human mind to capture the geometry of galaxies, the architecture of the universe or the munificent abundance bestowed on us. Humans forever focus their span of attention on what they fail to achieve. If the mind focuses on bounty, it has a multiplier effect and we will receive gargantuan largesse. However if the leitmotif is to focus on antipathetic thoughts and on only lack, then surely whatever is available with us, in disputation and hostility of the mind, goes adrift and astray. Humans get sucked in the cesspool and whirlpool of exiguousness. A question of attitude It is primarily and predominately our attitude which reinforces gratitude within our personalities. The word gratitude strikes its roots in the word the Latin word gratus, meaning to be thankful. How many of us express gratitude and gratefulness to the human body? Do we nourish or ascribe to this efficacious attribute? Individuals eat junk food, skip breakfast, invariably do not exercise, sleep inordinately late, partake of excessive quantities of salt and sugar; we do not eat mindfully as we are invariably coalesced to the idiot box or fingers are ceaselessly on various gizmos among others. Humans neither savour the food nor express gratitude before or after a meal. It is always sagacious to recite a short prayer before a meal. Language is no trammel. Annadata Sukhi Bhava. By remembrance of these lines (Sanskrit), we express our gratefulness and indebtedness to the agrarian community and the cook for producing and preparing the meal respectively. This straight forward and plain selling process facilitates in the digestive process of the preparation. Body: a divine instrument Nature has gifted us with something incomparable and priceless, the human body. We have been provided us with a supercomputer of a brain. But we pay scant regard to the competency of the body or the mind and in the process we seldom realize its embryonic capabilities. Prowess of the breath Next humans are blissfully unmindful of the power of our breath. It can be likened to a cell phone which nature has provided to connect us with divinity. Breath is perhaps the most potent form of effervescence and pizzaz of our personalities. Humans are incognizant of the simple process of inhalation and exhalation. Trained yoga sophists expound on the prowess of breath. We are unperceptive that we inhale energy and that the body and mind relax during the process of exhalation. Humans are insensible to the fact that ninety percent of toxins get expatriated from our bodies through the potency of breath. If we delve deep into the ancient practices like pranayama or the unique rhythmic technique of Sudarshan Kriya (imparted in various bouquet of courses of the Art of Living) the primacy of breath is understood by us. Humans are heedless of the enormous energy we can derive through practicing such techniques. But individuals are in such a tearing hurry today, that in pursuit of crass commercialisation we pay scant attention to our body, breath and mind and over a feel enervated and sapped of energy. We are simply not grateful species on planet earth. An inestimable nun Aeons ago lived an exalted and celebrated Zen nun. There were far and few like her. It was believed that few women could attain the venerable state like this pious lady. Once she had undertaken an arduous pilgrimage and arrived at a village as the sun sank in the horizon. In all humility she begged for lodgings for the night. However the villagers slammed their doors and were unwilling to accommodate her in the village. They were opposed to the tenets of the Zen school of thought. They thought it to be exceedingly revolutionary in nature. To their minds Zen mutated personalities in such a manner that they metamorphosed into alternative genus. Thus the clichéd and conformist individuals were unwilling to accept the nun into their fold even for a night. The traditionalists banished her from the village and she was compelled to wage the battle against inclement weather out in the cold. It was a combat against perilous climate and carnivorous animals on the prowl. She found shelter under a cherry tree. At the stroke of midnight, she woke up abruptly unearthed the cherry tree which fed her ravenous body with sweet fruits, talking to the full moon which lightened up the sky. Immediately she was engulfed with waves of emotions and suffused with love and affection for all those who had exiled and expatriated her from the village. She experienced the quintessential silence of an awaked one. She was extremely grateful to the villagers who had not accommodated her, to the cherry tree which fed her, the meditative silence which encompassed her body, all of which had wily nily contributed to her awakening, an almost celestial spectacle which she could discern happening within her. Thus a stock individual, a savant, a sage or a nun becomes a Buddha the moment he / she accepts all that life brings with it variegated, paradoxical situations. The one who accepts these situations which gratitude and gratefulness, without admonishing anyone or carping verily becomes an awakened one – The Buddha. “Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else,” said Gautama Buddha. Why you must overcome frustration and conflicts Two young girls from an estimable school were bosom buddies, veritable alter egos of one another. They were to appear for the class 12th examination. Renu was exceptionally gifted and her mind was filled with luminosity. She was to crack the examination triumphantly and emerge number one in the school. Needless to say she was ecstatic and euphoric. Renu could only commiserate with the pea in the pod Divya, as the latter’s performance was below par. Divya’s mind was inundated with nugatory thoughts and she became covetous of her friend. Meanwhile, Jeevan another school mate barely scraped through the examination. He was shattered with the outcome and feared sharing the result with his parents, relatives and friends. The performance and results engineered joy, sorrow, hope, love, palpable excitement, anger and even hatred and jealousy among the students. Fertile stripling minds became febrile with a rainbow of emotions. They were submerged with feelings, emotions and variegated moods. Life is priceless Human life is too inestimable and precious that antipathetic emotions like frustration and conflicts should become roadblocks or impediments which subsume the thought process. These unwelcome triggers willy-nilly act as an encumbrance or a facer restricting an individual from scaling the summit. When demonic and Sisyphean thoughts mushroom in the mind, our prana levels plummet and shrink. In such a situation the fecundity and efficiency of an individual plunges like a downward sloping curve. Frustration Frustration is a mental state of vexation, a stifling feeling which enervates the individual. This invariably occurs when an anticipated desirable objective or goal is not accomplished. In such a situation the human mind becomes demotivated. Frustration triggers in abnormal behavioural and emotional reactions. These can vary from detritus, chaff, aggressive tendencies, and mental fixation, voluntary or involuntary attempt to discard the gauntlet, escapism, avoidance of quotidian responsibility, plain crying, worthlessness, and feeling of rejection, addiction to alcohol, excessive smoking, and substance abuse and at the extreme end of the spectrum can even terminate in suicidal tendencies. The Dollard- Miller Hypothesis Pre-eminent psychologists like Dollard and Miller have argued that frustration engineers aggression. And aggression acts a blocking agent towards material or spiritual pursuits. These are normally due to personal (within) and environmental (without) constraints. An antigen flowchart can be constructed to analyse contributory factors for frustration to arise in the human mind and body. The genesis lies in a simple need, which mutates into a drive. Drive results in arousal of feelings and ardour and fieriness. This metamorphoses into target behaviour and accomplishment of the objective. Miscarriage of the process produces conflicting situations, which ultimately result in frustration and aggression. Conflicting situations or frustration triggers Conflicts can be termed as feuds or schisms. These occur among individuals, sparring factions or organisations. The entity could be a political body, a corporate organization or even philanthropic agencies. The inception or propagation of conflicts rests on balancing contradictory needs, desires, motives, perquisites and demands of an individual or an entity. It is normally opined that there are three kinds of conflicting situations which humans have to invariably grapple with under. Broadly speaking these are approach-approach conflicting locus, avoidance- avoidance conflicting ballgame and finally approach- avoidance confliction stitch. The genesis of approach- approach disputation emerges from choosing between two advantageous and expedient paradigms. The formation of avoidance-avoidance conflicting hostility lies in the choice between to antipathetic alternatives. These are primarily undesirable surrogates. A classic example of such a misadventure is when an individual is faced with a bizarre dilemma to either allow decay of his teeth or to be treated by a dentist. It would be noteworthy to mention whether a well propertied and opulent individual would choose starvation over eating at an unclean roadside dhaba. Overcome conflicts and frustrations The human mind is to be trained and motivated to grapple with all possible situations. A stock individual, a corporate honcho or a savant all have to plan and organize their behavioural patterns to hit the bulls eye. This requires enormous practice and tapasya. Further it is pre-eminent to rank the objectives or prioritise the targets and goals. There are eminent classical vocalists who practice for hours and years together prior to their first public performance. They are not in any tearing hurry. The next step in motivating the mind is to embark upon baby steps, establish short-term goals and targets (say a few days, weeks, a month or perhaps a couple of years) to master the craft. Upon completion of a few goals, the human mind tends to become enervated. It would be prodigious to stroke oneself with petty rewards; a movie show, a few small gifts or even a short vacation perhaps. This uplift the mood of the individual and the mind is electrified and galvanised to perform. On each occasion, when an objective is accomplished, or a target achieved it is a moment of chutzpah. The mind endorses such positive strokes and is ready to scale the next summit. In case the targets appear exigent and gruelling, it would be sanguine to break them into smaller ones and approach them scientifically. It would be always bankable and salutary for the mind to visualize or imagine the outcomes of all the hard work an individual put into achieve the desired goals. A human or a corporate entity should necessarily undertake a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis to set the targets and prepare the mind and self to achieve them. This scientific approach and preparation would indisputably mitigate frustrations and conflicts. “Sometimes, God doesn’t send you into a battle to win it, he sends you to end it,” writes the inspirational author Shannon L Alder. A curious mind and unconventional thinking can engineer change Often, conventional and commonplace way of think only results in clambering the ladder. A person leading a ho-hum existence is invariably complacent and satiated with the prosaic lifestyle. Those with a curious mind and an unconventional or atypical thinking process try to refashion their personalities by re-engineering themselves from inside out. They possess the assiduity to carve a niche and become role models. Certainly, such a path is not restricted to a stripling or youngster. The elderly, hemmed by the burden or wearing the cross all through life too can venture into the realm of re-engineering their personalities. Tale of an old man Aeons ago, lived an elderly gentleman who in the winter of his life decided to embark on a spiritual journey to re-engineer his personality. The immediate family of the geriatric gentleman was solicitous of his welfare and simultaneously perturbed at what they thought to be an unusual desire. The Pater now embarked on the spiritual sojourn and enrolled in a monastery. Upon completing his tutelage, armed with various nuances of Zen teachings, he left for his small town. Once an emaciated and enervated looking individual, he had transfigured his mind and was suffused with jollity. Miraculous escape or metamorphosis He stepped out the portals of the temple of knowledge and involuntarily slipped into a rivulet. “Oh, the old monk falls in the river!” chortled some young tutees. However, the senior gentleman emerged from an up-surging stream. He was to dramatically declare that the re-engineering processes and techniques he acquired had enabled him to accommodate water into himself and not the other way round. “We are shaped by our thoughts, we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves,” said Gautama Buddha. Thus, our mind and the thoughts that cannonade it are the deciding factors of the performance of an individual on planet earth. Thought process, thinking patterns, building blocks of thought, organized thinking and goal direction are five keys to re-engineer the mind in order to metamorphose and refashion our lives. It is quintessential to appreciate that thinking is the basis of all cognitive activities or processes and is unique to individuals. Human beings are bestowed by the universe the divinity to rejig and transmogrify their lives and be constructive in order to give back to nature and society. Strategy of the astute and perspicacious An ingenious individual in order to re-engineer his life to change the existing pattern begins with identifying the problem. In the swathes of his mind, such a process represents and delineates the problem; as he /she is mindful and discerning, solutions and set of sub-goals are outlined. Once the inventory of plausible expositions and elucidation is prepared, those are evaluated. The quick-witted individual then selects the balm for the misadventure and executes it with precision. The human mind is now brimful of ideas and it is time to evaluate the outcome and once again rethink and redefine problems and arrive at new solutions. This is a cyclical process which is perfected by a canny individual. It was the time of Sakhya Muni Gautama Buddha, when an animated group of denizens were involved in a rambunctious argument about Divinity and various religions. Much as they attempted, none could zero in on a suitable answer. In sheer exasperation they arrived at the feet of Lord Buddha. The compassionate and enlightened one smiled and ruminated for a while. Lord Buddha then asked his disciples to arrange for an elephant and for four persons to be blind-folded. And so, it happened that the first of the blind-folded persons felt the elephant’s leg and exclaimed that God appeared as a pillar. The second person touched the elephant’s tummy and opined that Almighty God was a wall. The third gentleman stroked the elephant’s ear and made an observation that God was a piece of cloth. The fourth man grazed the tail and described that God was as a piece of rope. Once again, the group of four was engaged in a raging debate on the form of Almighty God. After the exercise was completed, Buddha asked the assembled disciples and citizens. The four blindfolded individuals felt the same elephant, but provided varying answers, so what could be the correct answer? The episode just proved that no one individual or thought process is complete. One should always be prepared to accept that one might be correct in parts and that other streams of thought could be complementary. Pearls of wisdom Human mind views the vastness of the universe from the cranny corners of the mind through one’s own perception, delineated as it is by limited thinking and understanding. The four blindfolded individuals and those bestowed with vision appreciated the point made by Lord Buddha that they carry much baggage of past impressions and limited thinking that they end up wrangling about the form of almighty God, when they are unable to even comprehend and envisage the form of an elephant. However, a trained mind, which looks within, gains insight, becomes wakeful and mindful. In an unfeigned manner undertakes the process of re-engineering the mind and the baby steps necessary to undertake a change in their lives to make it pregnant with possibilities. Techniques for training The spiritually inclined can re-engineer their lives undertaking the bouquet of courses imparted by the Art of Living, or pursue Vipassana; attempt to mutate their minds through the practice of yoga, pranayama and meditation. There are others who have a logical bent of mind and charter a different path. They need to develop a passion, or take up a sport, read inspirational literature among other things. But it is elemental and foundational to reengineer the mind and thought processes at regular intervals to live life with gusto. Zen Buddhism: Law of attraction Aeons ago a strapping youngster gained admission into an estimable temple of knowledge. He was fortunate to be imparted precious pearls of wisdom of Zen Buddhism by sagacious and prescient masters. Along with the other tutees, he was to learn the craft of breathing techniques, mindfulness, meditation, awareness and understanding various contours and shades of the human mind. Over a period of time he attained a reasonable degree of compassion and insight into the human mind. During the course of his tutelage what struck him most was the simplicity, humility and truthfulness of his teachers. The tutee firmly resolved that honesty, modesty and straightforwardness would be his badges of honour; the trademarks of his personality irrespective of the depth of knowledge acquired. “True compassion and an awakened state lie in accepting everyone and I shall endeavour to do so,” he mused. By now his mind was no longer febrile but had become a fertile ground to assiduously pursue Zen Buddhism. What is Zen Buddhism? As per Norman Fischer Zen Buddhism is singularly: “A special transmission outside the scriptures. No dependency on words and letters. Pointing directly to the human mind. Seeing into one’s nature and attaining Buddhahood.” The cornerstone of the practice is that over a period of time, through unflinching practice of the appropriate techniques, a postulant becomes aware and awakened. The mind of such a person becomes pristine and gains clarity in thought process. The mind acquires Siddhis to perform what seems Mandrake like magic. However, the Siddhis remain with a person only if these are deployed for public good. However, it is well almost impossible to effectuate or reify such a state without the grace of a Guru, who can be thought of as the doorway to the ambrosia of divinity. Without the grace of the Master one only encounters misadventures and roadblocks along the path. Such an elevated state of consciousness is attained only when the mind is subjugated. The human mind of such a gifted individual becomes absolutely irreproachable and unblemished. He/she becomes clairvoyant, an authentic magnetic personality shimmering with abundance of radiance and luminosity. The young monk upon was directed by the Masters of the monastery to spread the knowledge of Zen Buddhism. Significantly, the now more spiritually aware monk uttered only truth and never denounced any one. His heart and mind were transfigured and he metamorphosed into an angelic soul brimful with divinity and innocence. He then embarked upon the task of disseminating the freshly acquired wisdom and propagandising and heralding the knowledge in order to dispel tenebrosity and light the lamp of efficacious thoughts among ordinary denizens. Powers of the human mind Exhausted and weary after relentless travel, he sat under a majestic blossoming tree. The monk was feeling ravenous and wished that his hunger would be satiated. Quite unexpectedly a maiden walking that way offered him a bowl filled with food, no sooner the monk expressed his desire. He was taken aback at the turn of events and expressed his gratitude to the damsel. After the hearty meal the talapoin felt extremely thirsty. He pined for a glass for water and sure enough a stripling youngster offered him juices to quench his thirst. The monk was extremely beholden and appreciative of this serendipitous act of kindness. The mind of the monk was now suffused with jollity as his twin desires of food and liquid were satiated with remarkable ease. He now wished to sleep. Suddenly it darkened and there was a cloud cover across the sky. The weather which was arid and hot turned salubrious and he fell asleep. After sleeping for hours together he felt sufficiently reinvigorated. The monk, when hungry was satiated with food, when thirsty was provided with energising drinks and was comforted by angels of sleep when he felt worn-out. So what was operating? The Law of Attraction The mind of the religieux through relentless breathing and meditation practice had become suffused with efficacious thought processes. The innocent streak in the monk made him a magnetic personality. He acquired miraculous powers and Siddhis and all his wishes materialised and assumed form. His thoughts and words were resonating in the universe and the mind became a unique springboard wherein whatever he wished for, eventuated. It is singular and preeminent that there is absolute clarity in our dreams for the Law of Attraction to operate. There should be no ambiguity in the thought process. The human mind should be extremely focussed and translucent like the bowman Arjuna. Once trained, the mind should develop a few qualities. It should be luminous and radiant, light as a feather and not weighed down by the baggage of antipathetic thoughts. The monk was hungry, thirsty and deprived of rest. He meant it; there was no dubiety or incertitude in his mind. The mind was not wavering and his desires did not oscillate between “hope to be fed” or “if provided will partake of food”. Those following the spiritual path should not stop to check the veracity of thoughts incessantly. Once we plant a seed, water and protect it, the sapling would blossom into a robust tree one day. But if we are constantly anxious about the growth of the tree, willy-nilly we place impediments in its growth. A brawny, robust and a radiant mind which can authentically develop the qualities of Law of Attraction is one which knows the art of letting go, dropping all affectation. It is innocent like a child and the universe responds to its call. The unique mantra of this success is when an individual authentically believes in the materialisation of dreams and corrals thoughts to be efficacious ones. Pre-eminently the individual has faith in the technique, his Masters and that life can be radically altered. Blessed with these attributes, the Law of Attraction operates and resounds. “All that we are is a result of what we have thought,” said Gautama Buddha.