Who should I be grateful to?
You say we should express gratitude to the Universe for all that we have, and yet all that we have is a creation of our own will! So, should we be grateful to ourselves, or to God, or to you? Veena Minocha answers.
This question and answer series will help to clear your inner-soul confusion on all matters that are demanding your spiritual attention. Spiritual teacher and Healer Ms Veena Minocha will endeavour to clear the 'fog within' by answering all questions sent to her atveenaminocha@hotmail.com
I have been following your articles, and trying to create my destiny as I go along, and with a little practice I am finding stupendous results. In fact the miraculous sometimes occurs, and I feel grateful to you for having guided me properly, and helped me to understand my own powers over life. Thank you very much.
But one thing seems like an anachronism. You say we should show and express gratitude to the Universe for all that we have, and yet all that we have is a creation of our own will! So, should we be grateful to ourselves, or to God, or to you, for showing us the way?
I am not being facetious, as this is a perplexing question in my mind. I hope you will take it seriously enough to reply to, in your column, Soulquest.
Namrata Shinde from Mumbai
Veena Minocha answers: Dear Namrata, every question that I am asked is serious enough to merit a proper reply. There is no foolish question, for all are the outworkings of a mind that wants to move onto the spiritual path, so it is imperative to be clear on what is required for the journey.
The concept of gratitude has been deliberately debased and distorted, and this beautiful word not given its rightful place. Many praise gratefulness as a virtue, others think of it as a duty of honour.
Gratitude is not a virtue, nor does it want to be counted along with the virtues. For each virtue emanates from God and is therefore unlimited. Genuine gratitude cannot be stamped as a duty, for then it would be unable to inwardly unfold that life and warmth that it needs, in order that it receives the blessing of God from Creation through the reciprocal action.
Gratitude and joy are part of the same feeling. When something is accomplished through our own efforts, coupled with God's Grace, then our gratitude is not merely an expression of routine thanks, but of the purest joy that bubbles forth from the innermost recesses of our beings. So when there is no feeling of elation and the gratitude is merely a mumbling repetition of a dry thank you, then that expression is wrongly used!
In such cases it will never be able to set free those forces of Creation, which emanate from the Primordial Law of Creation, which has been set forth through your beingness to create your joy! When you create a situation in your life, from the Lord God of your Being, you are setting into motion these eternal forces, which you can harness and keep sustained in your world through the simple emotion of pure unadulterated joy and praise, for the Source of your Creation.
To maintain the Law of Equilibrium, or balancing natural forces, an intuitively felt gratitude, as opposed to a duty bound one, is a compensatory value, to countervalue the emotion received. This can only be upheld and made to blossom forth through blissful harmony of the soul. This then becomes the greatest form of gratitude you could express to yourself, as God, who created your 'miracles' for you, for at that point of Creation, you and God become One with each OTHER, and the Powers of your Creation cannot be defined as either 'human' or exclusively Godlike!
