Counting our blessings is an oft-recommended activity for cultivating gratitude and positivity: When we count our blessings, we learn to appreciate what we have and thus feel enriched.

Nonetheless, if we want to feel steadily and lastingly enriched, we need to go beyond counting our blessings to two further levels. Here they are:

Connecting with the One who has blessed us: No matter how carefully we count our blessings, they won’t stay with us permanently, especially if we count as blessings externals that make our life more livable and comfortable. If we want enrichment that endures, we need to shift our vision from outside to inside: to our Lord. He is always present in our heart (Bhagavad-gita 15.15), and he is the ultimate giver of all blessings. When we learn to lovingly connect with him by practicing bhakti-yoga, we happily go beyond counting the many presents with which he has enriched our life to cherishing his very presence with which he is gracing our heart. Pleased with our devotion, he reveals himself increasingly as the embodiment and fulfillment of all our deepest longings (07.19). Being thus connected with him through loving devotion, we are never lost to him, nor he to us (06.30).

Connecting everyone with the One who longs to bless everyone: Krishna wants everyone to relish the supreme enrichment of connecting lovingly with him. If we assist him by sharing with others his message of love, the Gita, we become especially dear to him (18.69). He doesn’t just reveal so much of his supreme attractiveness as to fully capture our heart’s pure love; he also takes us to his personal abode for a life of immortal love (18.68).

One-sentence summary:  

Counting our blessings is good, connecting with the One who blesses us is better, connecting everyone with the One who longs to bless everyone is the best.

Think it over:

  • Why is counting our blessings not enough?
  • How can connecting with the Lord enrich us when counting our blessings may not?
  • How does connecting others with the Lord enrich us supremely?

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18.68: For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me.

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