As I read Gurumayi’s poem, I felt it spoke directly to me. At a time of anguish, her compassionate words touched my heart so deeply. The poem filled me with the courage and fortitude to press ahead with patience, generosity, and gratitude. I praise every day the enormous gifts I have been given on my path. Every day I give thanks for Gurumayi’s love and support
Virginia, United States
In the last stanza of the poem, Gurumayi addresses us as “my trusted good souls.” I felt so happy knowing that Gurumayi trusts in my goodness. I will remember Gurumayi’s words when I encounter negative thoughts about myself.
I am grateful to Gurumayi for showering me with so much love, grace, and trust.
Gurudev Siddha Peeth, India
My heart is so full after receiving this sweet
prasad from Shri Gurumayi! When I read this poem the first time, I experienced a gentle wave of bliss flowing through my body, mind, and heart. The poem feels like an acknowledgment of how my gratitude has been deepening exponentially over the years, as well as a reminder of the pitfalls to avoid. Gurumayi's words, each sparkling like a gem on a long
mala necklace, articulate my experience so perfectly. Each time I read it again, certain words jump out for me.
Today when I copied the words to reflect on further for an upcoming Sadhana Circle, my whole body was tingling with
shakti. This sensation reminded me yet again of the power of our Guru’s words and their ability to enter me deeply when I take time to study them. For many years now, it has been my practice to give thanks daily at my
puja for the grace of the Siddhas and for Gurumayi’s palpable presence in my daily life.
North Carolina, United States
This poem continues to make me so happy. I feel like it has changed something within me—there is now more lightheartedness. Yesterday before going to sleep, I recalled several experiences of grace throughout my life. Some of these experiences are so powerful that to think of them made my heart rejoice in awe. I realized how different my life would have been without all of these extraordinary supports. For this, I feel a deep, tender gratitude, along with a sense of nameless wonder.
Hindelang, Germany
After reading this poem by Shri Gurumayi three times, I observed that this poem depicts the conditions of my heart and mind when I am full of gratitude and when I am experiencing lack. I smiled when I read Gurumayi’s words “…your heart was never
not perfect” and “The pure experience of your unblemished heart may temporarily slip out of sight, but it can never be lost.” I remembered Shri Guru’s grace and blessings.
The symbol between “Gratitude” and “A Path to Beatitude” in the title of the poem looks like the symbol of infinity in mathematics and reminds me of the infinite blessings I have received from my Guru.
Udaipur, India
As I read this magnificent poem, gratitude filled my heart. I’m so grateful to Gurumayi and grateful to be alive!
Paris, France
Gurumayi’s words remind me of the immense blessings in my life: my mind that thoroughly savors the teachings, my family, my Guru, my path, my community.
New Jersey, United States
These words of Gurumayi reassure me and connect me to gratitude, blessings, and the abundance of love in my life.
New York, United States
The night before I read this exquisite poem, I dreamed of Gurumayi. In the dream, she was showing me how she was building a beautiful flower. She then left me to complete the creation of this mandala- like flower. The next morning I was filled with love when I woke up. Then I read Gurumayi’s poem. In the poem she mentions an eternal flower. I immediately felt that she had helped me build this eternal flower of love inside. I am melting in gratitude for this divine gift of love.
New Mexico, United States
This poem from Gurumayi is especially important to me at this time when I am facing an important surgery. Gurumayi’s words guide me to focus on the blessing of this situation rather than my fears. I know I have lived in Gurumayi’s love and blessings for many years. I trust her grace to remain in my life as it always has.
Virginia, United States
I am very happy to read Gurumayi’s poem. It reminds me that being grateful to God makes my life more beautiful. When I eat even one piece of fruit or drink a glass of water, I feel thankful for this gift from God and enjoy it. Reading this poem made me more humble.
Mumbai, India
I was speechless when I read Gurumayi’s poem. I felt the jewels of her wisdom enter every cell of my being. I read the poem over and over.
With each stanza, it was as if Gurumayi were planting seeds of gratefulness inside of me, and one day they would grow and blossom into something remarkable.
It was so powerful, I felt my heart was going to burst with gratitude!
Mersin, Turkey
It was raining while I read Gurumayi’s poem. It felt perfect. I recalled the previous few days—the rain had been coming down hard, yet my heart was bright. Times in my life when I had experienced “darkness” surfaced in my consciousness, and I saw that even then, the light of my heart was always pulsating. With these recollections, I felt grateful, gentle, humble.
And then I saw an amazing thing! In the middle of my little Christmas nativity scene, there was a heart I had never noticed before.
I felt blessed. I felt as if Gurumayi were giving me a heart. Now I will always look at it with love and gratitude.
San Giorgio a Cremano, Italy
As I continued to study this stunning, beautiful, and rich poem, I recognized it holds so much more than I experienced reading and hearing it for the first time, when I welcomed it as healing balm for a personal situation.
I now can see that this poem is brimming with good wishes, with redeeming power, with liberating advice. It could serve me as a lifelong guideline, as a lifeline, as medicine, as a “jumper cable” for making a new start into a new world and as a means for maintaining that new start.
Of course, for me to hear and read this most encouraging text is one thing; to assimilate it and to implement it present a high challenge—but one with the sweetest outcome if all goes well. This is my hope, my wish, my intention, my resolution.
Hindelang, Germany
As I was reading Gurumayi’s sublime poem over and over again, I found myself entering the path of beatitude. Her loving words brought me into deep meditation, where it felt like my “restored” heart was being gently wrapped in a meditation shawl woven with sacred threads and permeated with the exquisite fragrance of Gurumayi’s profound and unshakable devotion to each one of us.
What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day I had in Gurumayi’s loving presence. How loved we are! How blessed I am!
Quebec, Canada
As I took my walk on Thanksgiving morning, a dried leaf blew along beside me, tapping on the pavement several times as though it wanted to get my attention. It was as if this leaf had joined me on my walk to keep me company for a short time.
After returning home, I read Gurumayi’s Thanksgiving Day poem on the Siddha Yoga path website. When I discovered her description of a leaf like the one I’d seen on my walk, I thought, “This is the part of the poem I should especially contemplate.”
The leaf blew along so freely with no expectations, with no attachments to “where it will land or what its ultimate destiny will be.” Yet it blew along with such resilience. I thought of verse 99 in Shri Guru Gita: “One should purify one’s mind by following the path shown by the Guru. Whatever transient things are ascribed to the Self should be discarded.”
I need to remember this teaching. Instead of becoming something, I need to just purely be.
California, United States
After reading this poem, I felt elated to the core of my being. This divine prasad from Gurumayi has brought me sweet remembrance of my blessings.
To begin with, Gurumayi taught me the art of gratitude. I am thankful for being able to breathe freely, knowing that my Guru is always present in my heart. I appreciate having the understanding that I am always connected to my Guru through daily sadhana. In byzantine situations, I perceive Shri Guru's hand over me as a symbol of her protection and presence, and I am grateful for it.
On a daily basis, I offer heartfelt gratitude to Gurumayi for the priceless gift of shaktipat diksha, which has changed my destiny. This simple yet profound practice affords me wisdom and tremendous contentment when making important decisions at work or in general. And Gurumayi's teachings inspire me to value and adore nature as an integral part of my life.
The Houghton, South Africa
Gurumayi's magnificent words of divine inspiration could not be more timely for me personally. It is as if she has lifted the curtain that hid the sunlight from me. I had forgotten the teachings about gratitude completely, and to have them represented to me by Gurumayi in words of such power and authority is the greatest grace.
I am always so amazed at how Gurumayi composes poetry and presents her teachings in such an original manner, with such beautiful words and images. There is nothing like this anywhere else. I thank God every day for my Guru.
Kilsby Rugby, United Kingdom
I was deeply touched by the power, beauty, and eloquence of this poem. Each word imprinted deeper gratitude in my heart; I still feel the words echoing in my being. Gurumayi's love for us is so palpable, it brought me to tears, as did the beauty of her words.
I am so grateful to Gurumayi for this reminder to be our most authentic selves and to live through the heart with kindness and gratitude.
Samara, Costa Rica
I found such truth and brilliance in this poem! As I read this, I wish everyone on the planet could read this as well.
I suddenly am deeply aware of the profound privilege it is to be here reading this poem again now, and for my own heart to experience recognition in these words because of the effect of Gurumayi's divine guidance and love. My gratitude for these gifts knows no bounds and cannot be forgotten or obscured by the small, ephemeral problems of life. Reading this poem made me shed joyful tears as my love and gratitude simply overflowed.
Georgia, United States
Reading Gurumayi's words on this special day today was a blessing and a gift. My heart is brimming with gratitude, love, and deep surrender to my Guru, Gurumayi. It was almost as if the Guru had encompassed my past, present, and future within these words and phrases, as she carefully reminded, reiterated, cajoled, guided, and taught me about life's truths.
The gems of wisdom and the nuggets of deep understanding shared by Gurumayi in this poem make me refresh my resolve to see the goodness in every situation of my life, and to feel gratitude for it.
Mumbai, India
When I read Gurumayi’s words, “my trusted good souls,” I actually felt like one—like a “trusted good soul.” The next breath I took felt different— freer. In that same moment, I realized how much I have allowed negative internal messages to impact my life. To that tape-loop of negativity, I now say, “You have had your way long enough. You are now permanently dethroned by my Guru’s love.”
West Vancouver, Canada
This poem affected me strongly, bringing tears to my eyes again and again during this blessed day. For months I have been feeling this “thick, almost impermeable membrane” of guilt for having harmed Mother Earth deeply and irreversibly, and I felt this was “irredeemable.” I pray to find a way out, to be careful that this would never happen again, to stay on the right path.
When Gurumayi assures me that “your prayers have been heard unequivocally / and your heart has been restored to its original state of being,” I embrace the grace in these words, which is so huge that my system literally is too small to comprehend it. Yet my heart knows the immense power of the Guru's words, and that they refer to “lifetimes of false being and behaving.” I feel that I would need to inflate my grateful heart to be as big as the universe to hold such grace!
Hindelang, Germany
This poem evokes in me inner contentment and immense gratitude to my beloved Guru for her guidance, full of love and truth. It inspires me to offer my gratitude for this amazing path. Following it, day after day, step by step, I have the opportunity day and night to experience more love, more compassion, more gentleness. Every day I can renew my wish to serve this world and all humanity so that we may all walk together to the light that is the final destination.
Turin, Italy
As I read these words at the end of Gurumayi’s poem, “my trusted good souls,” my heart offered a full pranam of gratitude, as I sank into the pool of bliss that gratitude evokes.
Massachusetts, United States
I love this title of this poem! After I read it last night from start to finish, I found myself repeating the title “Gratitude: A Path to Beatitude” over and again, even in my sleep!
I feel like the title guides me to everything I have ever wanted. It seems to invite me to attain supreme joy by being thankful!
New York, United States
How deeply golden is this poem on this golden, resplendent Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving—a holiday and an experience that everyone in this world can celebrate fully and with delight. I was feeling quite content and peaceful to begin with after chanting and meditating. But after listening to this poem, I could feel my heart unfolding like the rose in the vase on my puja.
This feast of layer upon layer of beautiful sounds carrying these sacred words from my beloved Guru arrived in my heart like pure, crystalline raindrops, seeping down until I could feel that my peacefulness and contentment were becoming deeper and even more golden.
I am having this most delicious vision that so many Siddha Yogis and their families will listen to this feast of delight, and it will drop nectar into every household and every heart.
New York, United States
I read Gurumayi's poem, savoring each line. I could not help but smile ear to ear as I drank in her blessings on this Thanksgiving Day.
Having some training in design, I noticed with delight that the font used in the main title is one of my personal favorites. It is called Maghfiera, and not only is it a stately script, it captured my imagination because this word is derived from the Arabic word maghfira, which means “forgiveness.”
In the poem, Gurumayi writes, “Praise the Lord for giving you a heart that is capable of forgiving...” and this really resonated with me. In my life forgiveness has cleared away so much emotional debris! It invariably gives me new eyes, allowing me to see the things before me with greater appreciation, celebration, and indeed gratitude.
Vancouver, Canada
What resonated with me as I read Gurumayi's blessings is how she refers to the fleetingness of gratitude. How often have I felt so completely full with thanks for everything and everyone in my life—and then, in the next moment, been irritated with someone's demeanor or action that doesn't match my expectations.
In the same vein, I loved Gurumayi's acknowledgment that we are human and we live day to day with the ebb and flow of our challenges and humanness, which, of course, affects our attitudes. I also completely related to the leaf that “knows not” where it's going. But I know that as I navigate my life, I can offer my heart and my love to others and make this world—my world—a better place.
Delaware, United States
Gurumayi’s exquisite gift filled every part of me with truth and gratitude for her guidance in this life and beyond. I will read this blessing again and again, aligning with my heart and dharma. I will share this blessing with my five young adult children, other family, and friends.
Nora, Sweden
Reading this beautiful poem, I am washed clean, baptized by my own tears as a flood of gratitude is released from my heart. I am so grateful to Shri Gurumayi for her abundant blessings, reassurance, and guidance.
Missouri, United States
What a blessed moment it was as I was reading Gurumayi's words. Each word was enhancing my world of thankfulness. I praise the Guru for everything that I have in abundance: it’s a zone of blessings, a zone of love.
I especially appreciated Gurumayi ji’s reminder to “make a practice of regularly remembering your sadhana.” Immediately I recalled the resolution I took at a retreat in Gurudev Siddha Peeth in 2017. My heart filled up with the fresh essence of Gurumayi's poem that I can fulfull this resolution: I can achieve beatitude! Meditation will support me tangibly; it’s tremendously helpful for sustaining my interest in gratitude in many ways.
What a great day; I'm drenched in the experience of beatitude!
Bhandara, India
I have been having the physical problem of very “dry eyes” recently. This deep poem that sank straight into my heart, and my tears are flowing.
I am so grateful to Gurumayi for bringing me back to the heart. How is it that she knows my deepest wishes? This poem reminds me that my first recollection of true gratitude was at my first Shaktipat Intensive—when I realized Baba was my Guru.
California, United States
Words of my Guru drenched in love
reached the holiest place of my soul.
Blessings she has distributed with both hands
filling the chambers of my heart.
Let me go into the great noisy city.
Let me join the masses of heavily burdened people
and then help me to open my heart wide.
All the twinkling stars of my Guru’s love and my love
spread freely in space and touch the hearts of all.
Unterlangenegg, Switzerland
This “trusted good soul” remembers walking away from a program with Gurumayi at the Shakti Mandap in Shree Muktananda Ashram and experiencing a sudden tsunami of gratitude for my parents and all they had done for my siblings and me.
The waves are only getting bigger. This inspired meditation in the shape of a poem is such a wave—of only love.
Vermont, United States
As I was reading Gurumayi’s words, I saw gratitude emerging from my mind as I recalled the wonders of my life, made up of freedom and beauty and culminating with the experience of beatitude.
The pattern of the text frame led me into the spirit of Thanksgiving and the tradition of Native Americans living in symbiosis with nature.
Thanks to my Guru, and with the support of my sadhana, I strive to see the world through the expansion of my heart and thus to appreciate the modern world as well as nature as forms of the same universal Consciousness.
Rodez, France
I had seen the button labeled “Happy Thanksgiving” for several days. Even though it took much patience to wait until the holiday itself to click on it, I am so thankful that I did.
What a profoundly uplifting way to begin a celebration of gratitude is this poem from Gurumayi! I will let these rays of love shine on all the people in my life today—and every day. I am so thankful for this opportunity—and for Gurumayi's guidance!
Oregon, United States