On Thanksgiving day, we thank God for providing us with all our needs. Nature and God are one and the same. Nature is another name for God. So sometimes if you don’t feel comfortable with the name “God,” you can say, “Nature provided everything.” We should be thankful to the Nature, is it not so? We should be thankful to the Mother Nature, Mother Earth, Mother Sky, Mother Rain, Mother Wind.

We should be thankful always; but if we forget, then at least this one day should be kept aside especially for that. All of the nicest things that we have come from God. God has provided us with everything—even our bodies, our intelligence, the earth on which we live, the plants, seeds, food, and the fruit. God has given us everything. Thanksgiving day is a special day to remember to be thankful always for all the things we have. Not just to God, but to everyone. We always give and take, give and take, give and take; therefore we should be thankful to each other, and every thing in Nature. And, ultimately, to that one great Power, one great Intelligence we call God. It’s not possible for us to return, in-kind, all that we get from Nature. How can we fulfill our obligation? It’s impossible. The only way is to remember and to be grateful.

Not only should we be thankful to everything, but everything also should be thankful to us. How? We should see that all the things are thankful to us by our yogic behavior— treating things well. We should see that we don’t hurt or  harm anyone or anything. Let all those beings be thankful to us also. Everything. Even your book, for example. If you throw the book aside, the book won’t thank you. If you take good care of the book, read it gently, close it gently, and see that the covers are well-kept, then the book also will be thanking you.

So, let us keep this idea in our life and see that we always give thanks to others, and see also that others would thank us for our yogic behavior.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda