Being Thankful

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.14.9, King Yudhistira says:

yasmān naḥ sampado rājyaṁ dārāḥ prāṇāḥ kulaṁ prajāḥ
āsan sapatna-vijayo lokāś ca yad-anugrahāt

From Him only, all our kingly opulence, good wives, lives, progeny, control over our subjects, victory over our enemies, and future accommodations in higher planets have become possible. All this is due to His causeless mercy upon us.

In his purport to the above verse Srila Prabhupada has mentioned,
"Material prosperity consists of a good wife, good home, sufficient land, good children, aristocratic family relations, victory over competitors and, by pious work, attainment of accommodations in the higher celestial planets for better facilities of material amenities. These facilities are earned not only by one's hard manual labor or by unfair means, but by the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Prosperity earned by one's personal endeavor also depends on the mercy of the Lord. Personal labor must be there in addition to the Lord's benediction, but without the Lord's benediction no one is successful simply by personal labor."

Everything we enjoy in this material world is due to the Lord's mercy. But we forget this and when faced with some difficulty we start imagining that we are the sole sufferers in the entire universe. Today, I came across a physically challenged person at work. Seeing her struggle to climb the stairs - I was able realise how much ungrateful I am.  Even with gift of two legs in good condition, I grumble when things go astray and forget to thank Krishna for the wonderful things He has blessed.  

In the end of the purport Srila Prabhupada has said , "Any successful man should feel grateful to the Lord for all he has achieved." 

Counting the blessings each day will help us to remember how Krishna has been kind to us and will remind us about our constituitional position as servant of the Supreme Lord. We should not only be thankful to Supreme Lord, but also to all the living entities, for they are all part and parcel of Supreme. One of the qualities which I admire in His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada is his thankful nature. Whether he is addressing a lecture or writing a letter, be it whatever type of communication he was having with people, he thanked them sincerely and  we can see how much Krishna was pleased by this humble and simple nature of Prabhupada that He showered His blessings to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master and spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world.

I pray at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace, so that we always remain thankful to Krishna and engage ourselves in His service to the fullest extent. 

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Sudarshana devi dasi.