When we strive to practice a virtue like gratitude, it is very easy to make it into a ritual that is done externally without holding onto the spirit that actually gives value to that external practice. For example, consider what can happen when we practice expressing gratitude merely externally by saying thanks to someone who has done something good for us. Not only can the internal motive be easily lost, but it can also be replaced by an unhealthy substitute, even its exact opposite: greed.
When somebody does a favor for us, instead of feeling grateful to them for what they have done, we may become possessed by the desire, expectation or even demand for more. Though our mouth may be articulating words of thanks, the emotion that is being manifested in our heart is not gratitude, but greed. Thus, our words of thanks will come not from an inner place of enrichment and contentment with what has been given to us, but from an inner place of impoverishment and discontent about the many things we don’t have.
Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (17.16) analyzes the contentment which is intrinsic to gratitude, emphasizing that it is an austerity of the mind, not an austerity of the speech. This means that such gratitude is a state of mind that we need to seek through mental discipline, till it becomes our default mental disposition. Instead, if we settle for merely the words of gratitude, we will not only not be truly grateful to our benefactor, but also our heart will remain unfulfilled.
Helping us cultivate such an internal disposition of gratitude, Gita wisdom reminds us that our inner life is our bigger life. To the extent we prioritize our inner life and strive to align our emotions with our values, to that extent our gratitude will become real and make our heart rich.
Summary:
When we express gratitude for a favor because we desire more favors, what we are expressing is not gratitude but greed in the garb of gratitude.
Think it over:
- What happens when we merely go through the motions associated with a virtue?
- How might greed replace gratitude in our hearts?
- How can Gita wisdom help us in the earnest activation of gratitude?
Audio explanation of the article is here: https://gitadaily.substack.com/p/outer-thanks-inner-greed-how-gratitude
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17.16: And satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
gratitude be expressed in action