Thursday 23 April 2009

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

Say Thanks!

Toronto, Ontario

While a dear god-brother came to town, monk Devamrita Swami, to deliver a talk on the environment and it’s relation to spirituality. I was pleasantly harnessed to an appreciation dinner. It was not me that was receiving the “Thanks you’s” although it is common in eastern culture to always give adulation to the priests. I was at the other end of the table, so to speak, acting as one of a host of facilitators expressing gratitude to donors and community members.

The two words “Thank-you!” mean so much to so many people. It provides the fuel to carry on. Any heart-felt expression along the line of offering gratitude goes a long way. What is heart-wrenching is the fact that most people go about their daily routine doing things for others and rarely receive a “Thank-you”.

When people express that their stress level is very high it often means that life’s drudgery isn’t tempered with words of kindness and gratitude. Most people deserve to be honored. Gifts are given, parties are thrown, trophies and plaques of honor go out to those who gave some sweat.

It was an honour to give honour to helpers over the past year when a temple committee here cooked a great vegetarian feast, set up a fabulous- looking dining room, gave some tokens and gifts and expressed some sweet words.

Our guru said, “Thank-you!” thousands of times in so many ways demonstrating the quality of what a perfect gentleman should be.

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