Sacred Dance Day Sadhana (Day 38

Gratitude as a Practice

Many now call gratitude practice even science to help stay healthy.

Ancient times have always had a deep relationship to this concept of gratitude practice and made offerings to give reverence to the elements, seasons, animals, and each other in life and in death.

What does gratitude do to the brain?

Gratitude And Neurotransmitters
When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel 'good'.

They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside.

Gratitude might be the ultimate spiritual practice

This is because of its root, meaning “to praise, to celebrate; to be in contact with the Divine.” In other words, being grateful is equivalent to feeling the presence of the Divine in our lives. It is the same as being in a state of bliss.

SAT CHIT ANANDA

Absolute Bliss Consciousness

Sat Chit Ananda, Sat is that never changes, Truth, Absolute Being.

Chit is consciousness.

Ananda is bliss. Absolute Bliss Consciousness.

The whole philosophy of ananda (ānanda), and ānanda as the basis of life, as the sustainers of life, and as that ultimate into which everything dissolves. That ānanda is life. The creation is born out of ānanda, is sustained in ānanda, and will eventually dissolve in ānanda, will evolve from ānanda, will be maintained in ānanda, will dissolve in ānanda.

The cycle of evolution and dissolution which continues forever is in ānanda. And ānanda alone is. This knowledge taught by Bhrigu to his son Varuni is located beyond "akasha" (ākās̄́a).

Akasha (ākās̄́a): space.

Akasha is characterized by sound. Where ever there is sound, there is Akasha. And when it is located beyond Akasha, it means it is located in the field which transcends sound, transcends speech, transcends thought. If you take awareness to that field of transcendental consciousness, you will know that ananda is all that there is, by direct experience.

This verse of the Upanishads comes out to say about Transcendental Meditation (TM). And establishes that in and out of life is all that one element which is bliss. It speaks of life evolving from ananda. Creation coming out of ananda.

Sustained in ananda. Goes to ananda. The entire field of individual, inception, as a wave of cosmic life, is in the field of ananda. Bliss, which is my Self. So, the eternity of ananda is what puts ananda parallel to Sat, never changes. And because it can become a living reality, bliss can become a living reality, this bliss is equated with Chit, consciousness. So, Sat Chit Ananda, Absolute Bliss Consciousness. And because it is ananda, it is fulfilling. Because it is Chit, the absolute attribute less can become a living reality of day-to-day life.