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<centre>Men hail in my coming the Almighty's force
Or praise with thankful tears his saviour Grace.
 
(Savitri)
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-triple-soul-forces#p233</ref></centre>
 
=What Is Gratitude?=
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Gratitude Is One of the Five Psychological Perfections'''
...it is you who open all the closed doors and let the Grace which saves penetrate deeply.<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/gratitude#p1</ref>
 
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Gratitude Is One of the Five Psychological Perfections
...that to do the integral yoga one must first resolve to surrender entirely to the Divine, there is no other way, this is the way.But after that one must have the five psychological virtues, five psychological perfections, and we say that these perfections are:
Sincerity or Transparency
Animals have an altogether rudimentary mind. They are not tormented by incessant thoughts like human beings. For example, they feel a spontaneous gratitude for an act of kindness towards them, whilst men, ninety-eight times out of a hundred, begin to reason and ask themselves what interest one could have in being good. This is one of the great miseries of mental activity. Animals are free from this and when you are kind to them they are grateful to you, spontaneously. And they have trust. So their love is made of that, and it turns into a very strong attachment, an irresistible need to be near you… The unselfish movement, uncalculating, is one of the most beautiful forms of psychic consciousness in the world. But the higher one rises in the scale of mental activity, the rarer it becomes. For with intelligence come all the skill and cleverness, and corruption, calculation. For instance, when a rose blossoms it does so spontaneously, for the joy of being beautiful, smelling sweet, expressing all its joy of living, and it does not calculate, it has nothing to gain out of it: it does so spontaneously, in the joy of being and living.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/26-august-1953#p30,p34</ref>
 
==Different Degrees of Gratitude==
 
There are degrees, many degrees. Human intelligence is such that unless there is a contrast it does not understand. You know, I have received hundreds of letters from people thanking me because they had been saved; but it is very, very rarely that someone writes to thank me because nothing has happened, you understand! Let us take an accident, it is already the beginning of a disorder. Naturally when it is a public or collective accident, the atmosphere of each person has its part in the thing, and that depends on the proportion of defeatists and those who, on the contrary, are on the right side. I don't know if I have written this—it is written somewhere—but it is a very interesting thing. I am going to tell you... People are not aware of the workings of Grace except when there has been some danger, that is, when there has been the beginning of an accident or the accident has taken place and they have escaped it. Then they become aware. But never are they aware that if, for instance, a journey or anything whatever, passes without any accident, it is an infinitely higher Grace. That is, the harmony is established in such a way that nothing can happen. But that seems to them quite natural. When people are ill and get well quickly, they are full of gratitude; but never do they think of being grateful when they are well; and yet that is a much greater miracle! In collective accidents, what is interesting is exactly the proportion, the sort of balance or disequilibrium, the combination made by the different atmospheres of people. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/23-december-1953#p52</ref>
=Why is Gratitude Needed?=
Physically, materially, upon earth, it is in gratitude that one finds the source of the purest delight. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/messages-for-sri-aurobindos-arrival-in-pondicherry#p12</ref>
==For Knowing the Harmony of Life== Human intelligence is such that unless there is a contrast it does not understand. You know, I have received hundreds of letters from people thanking me because they had been saved; but it is very, very rarely that someone writes to thank me because nothing has happened, you understand! Let us take an accident, it is already the beginning of a disorder. Naturally when it is a public or collective accident, the atmosphere of each person has its part in the thing, and that depends on the proportion of defeatists and those who, on the contrary, are on the right side. I don't know if I have written this—it is written somewhere—but it is a very interesting thing. I am going to tell you... People are not aware of the workings of Grace except when there has been some danger, that is, when there has been the beginning of an accident or the accident has taken place and they have escaped it. Then they become aware. But never are they aware that if, for instance, a journey or anything whatever, passes without any accident, it is an infinitely higher Grace. That is, the harmony is established in such a way that nothing can happen. But that seems to them quite natural. When people are ill and get well quickly, they are full of gratitude; but never do they think of being grateful when they are well; and yet that is a much greater miracle! <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/23-december-1953#p52</ref> ==For Pointing Out Our Weakness==
Therefore, if someone laughs at you, or says something which is not kind, the first thing to do is to look within yourself and see what is the weakness or imperfection which has allowed such a thing to happen, and not to be disconsolate or indignant or sad because people do not appreciate you for what you consider to be your proper value; on the contrary, you should thank the divine Grace for having pointed out to you the weakness or imperfection or deformation that you have to rectify. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/undated-before-february-1960#p3</ref>
 
In all Scriptures meant to help mankind to progress, it is always said that you must be very grateful to those who show you your faults and so you must seek their company; but the form used here is particularly felicitous: if a fault is shown to you it is as if a treasure were shown to you; that is to say, each time that you discover in yourself a fault, incapacity, lack of understanding, weakness, insincerity, all that prevents you from making a progress, it is as if you discovered a wonderful treasure.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-sage#p16</ref>
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...four virtues are indispensable, without which progress is uncertain and subject to interruptions and troublesome falls at the first opportunity:
Sincerity, faithfulness, modesty and gratitude. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/13/conditions-for-admission#p22</ref>
 
To be grateful, never to forget this wonderful grace of the supreme who leads each one to his divine goal by the shortest ways, in spite of himself, his ignorance and misunderstandings, in spite of the ego, its protests and its revolts.
<ref>The Mother, White Roses (Mother’s answers to Huta), p.35</ref>
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By definition, the Ashramite has resolved to dedicate his life to the Divine realisation. But true to his resolution he must be sincere, faithful, modest and grateful in his consecration, because these qualities are indispensable for all progress, and progress, a steady and rapid progress is indispensable to follow the pace of Nature’s evolutionary advance.
Without these qualities, one may have sometimes the appearance of progress but it is only an appearance, a pretence, and at the first occasion it crumbles down.
To be sincere all the parts of the being must be united in their aspiration for the Divine - not that one part wants and others refuse or revolt to be sincere in the aspiration, - to want the divine for the divine’s sake, not for fame or name or prestige or power or any satisfaction of the vanity.
To be faithful and steady in their consecration, - not to have faith one day and the next one, because things are not as they wish them to be, to lose their faith and shelter all sorts of doubts. Doubt is not a sport to indulge in with impunity; it is a poison which drop by drop corrodes the soul.
To be modest means to have the correct appreciation of what one is, and never to forget that whatever are one’s achievements, they are practically nothing in comparison with what one ought to be to fulfill the Lord’s expectation. And above all to feel in an absolute way one’s own incapacity to judge the Divine and his ways.
To be grateful, never to forget this wonderful grace of the supreme who leads each one to his divine goal by the shortest ways, in spite of himself, his ignorance and misunderstandings, in spite of the ego, its protests and its revolts. [The Mother, White Roses (Mother’s answers to Huta), p.35]
==For Curing Egoism==
So I find that devotion without gratitude is quite incomplete, gratitude must come with devotion. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/25-january-1956#p58</ref>
=How is Gratitude ExpressedAwakened?= ...it is you who open all the closed doors and let the Grace which saves penetrate deeply. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/gratitude#p1</ref>
One may seek within oneself, one may remember, may observe; one must notice what is going on, one must pay attention, that's all. Sometimes, when one sees a generous act, hears of something exceptional, when one witnesses heroism or generosity or greatness of soul, meets someone who shows a special talent or acts in an exceptional and beautiful way, there is a kind of enthusiasm or admiration or gratitude which suddenly awakens in the being and opens the door to a state, a new state of consciousness, a light, a warmth, a joy one did not know before. That too is a way of catching the guiding thread. There are a thousand ways, one has only to be awake and to watch. <ref>http://incarfnateword.in/cwm/08/26-december-1956#p20</ref>
There is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of gratitude. One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at a little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly this comes upon you, this kind of emotion—indeed so deep, so intense—that the world manifests the Divine, that there is something behind the world which is the Divine. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/25-january-1956#p57</ref>
<center>~</center>=How is Gratitude Expressed?=
And then there are those who have an innate faculty of gratitude, those who have an ardent need to respond, respond with warmth, devotion, joy, to something which they feel like a marvel hidden behind the whole of life, behind the tiniest little element, the least little event of life, who feel this sovereign beauty or infinite Grace which is behind all things. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/28-december-1955#p11</ref>
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 I knew people who had no knowledge, so to say, of anything, who were hardly educated, whose minds were altogether of the ordinary kind, and who had in them this capacity of gratitude, of warmth, which gives itself, understands and is thankful. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/28-december-1955#p121</ref> ===Grateful SubmissionAn Understanding Gratefulness===
''Last time, in the text it was said: "They [those who have faith in a God, their God] belong to him integrally; all the events of their lives are an expression of the divine will and they accept them not merely with calm submission but with gratitude, for they are convinced that whatever happen to them is always for their own good."
To Thee who hast been the material envelope of our Master, to Thee our infinite gratitude. Before Thee who hast done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, before Thee who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us, before Thee we bow down and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to Thee. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/13/mahasamadhi#p5</ref>
=Acceptance with Gratitude in Yoga=
The… method is for those who have faith in a God, their God, and who have given themselves to him. They belong to him integrally; all the events of their lives are an expression of the divine will and they accept them not merely with calm submission but with gratitude, for they are convinced that whatever happens to them is always for their own good. They have a mystic trust in their God and in their personal relationship with him. They have made an absolute surrender of their will to his and feel his unvarying love and protection, wholly independent of the accidents of life and death. They have the constant experience of lying at the feet of their Beloved in an absolute self-surrender or of being cradled in his arms and enjoying a perfect security. There is no longer any room in their consciousness for fear, anxiety or torment; all that has been replaced by a calm and delightful bliss. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/the-fear-of-death-and-the-four-methods-of-conquering-it#p5</ref>
===Attitude of a Sadhaka===
It is the fact that people who are grateful and cheerful and ready to go step by step, even by slow steps, if need be, do actually march faster and more surely than those who are impatient and in haste and at each step despair or murmur. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/patience-and-perseverance#p9</ref>
It is very difficult to keep up your gratitude; for a time it comes very strongly and again it goes back. The Divine can go on tolerating everything in spite of your ingratitude because He knows fully the how and why and wherefore of everything. He knows why you are doing a certain thing. He knows the full working and that is why He can tolerate it. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/gratitude#p1</ref>
 
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Men hail in my coming the Almighty's force
Or praise with thankful tears his saviour Grace.
 
(Savitri)
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-triple-soul-forces#p233</ref>
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