Adorable friends and families,
I convey my heartiest wishes and earnest blessings to you as we begin the holiday season with Thanksgiving. May your holidays be instilled with positive thinking, filled with gratitude and the spirit of sharing.
Milk was ready before we opened our eyes. During our innocent years, we relied on our parents and caregivers for food while being completely surrendered in faith. We cried earnestly and food was served. Some of us threw tantrums and yet were pacified.
Similarly no matter what fears of sustainable livelihood arise due to extremely challenging circumstances and uncertain future, we must surrender in faith to God. This way we can test the blessings of grace when earnestly crying for inspiration amidst diligent hard work.
These difficult times provide an opportunity to express our gratitude and harness our humane qualities. Choking with fear and splitting with worries can be overcome by converting our humane qualities to a divine experience of grace, lest we are brave to transform our fear of God into a love of God.
Imbibing the spirit of gratitude when we are deprived and manipulated allows us to stand up with moral courage while deepening faith in God. Each one of us have been given some special quality upon which we can rely during crises as we collectively continue our inner journey toward God with forbearance and faith.
Thanksgiving is meaningful if elements of gratitude hidden within our humane character drive the spirit of sharing and make us experience the elements of grace. One who receives the grace of God is thus empowered to serve God evermore. One who rests in God will have salvation added to one’s journey – this might be a testable hypothesis for some, but a fact of life for an experienced devotee.
Let your circle of care not only include people in need, but all other beings of our habitat, including birds and animals who want to thrive just like us.
With abounding holy blessings on behalf of my meditation lineages,
Swami Vidyadhishananda
