Giving Thanks To Our Fellow Man

“O son of Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.8)

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रसो ऽहम् अप्सु कौन्तेय
प्रभास्मि शशि-सूर्ययोः
प्रणवः सर्व-वेदेषु
शब्दः खे पौरुषं नृषु

raso ‘ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu

“Let’s say that we survive a harrowing situation. Being stuck in a broken elevator, on one of the higher floors in a tall building. Making it through a difficult bureaucratic problem, where it looks like none of the government officials are willing to help. Fixing a software bug that would have otherwise taken down the entire company.

“Should not we be thanking other human beings? Why are we looking towards God? I get it that some people think there is a higher power involved. They feel they have been blessed for some reason. They are fortunate and grateful.

“At the same time, why not blame God for creating the situation in the first place? Why would this imaginary figure get credit for the rescue but escape responsibility for making the trouble? Do you see what I am saying?

“If the worship in the devotional sense is predicated on appreciation, why are we not first going towards other human beings? They are the ones that save us; at least it appears that way. Why should we bypass them for someone we cannot see?”

We can certainly appreciate what others do for us. That is only natural. The Sanskrit word guru applies to more than the spiritual guide. Guru can also refer to the mother or the father. These are respected personalities. In many cases, they do so much for us. We are thankful for their sacrifices, for their counsel, for their protection, for their guidance, for their tough love, and so forth.

But what about human beings that fail to help us? What if someone is not able to come through? What if we make it through a difficult situation and realize that no one was helping us? Are we to attribute the success to randomness? It was just sheer luck, you see. All glories to the roll of the dice.

If it was luck when humans didn’t help us, then why isn’t it luck when humans do help us? If luck is everything, then why do we ignore it so much? Why are we not appreciating fortune itself? That fortune is sometimes on our side and sometimes against us.

This kind of sophistry is easy to take apart. When there is an effect that we prefer, it is natural to appreciate the cause. If we identify the cause as a human being, our appreciation goes in their direction. When we see that no one has helped us, we are left with nothing? Suddenly, we have to invest our faith in this mythological force called luck?

Vedic teachings give the concept of sarva karana-karanam. This is one way to understand God. Beyond dogmatic insistence, more than blind faith, deeper than seeing a picture or statue, this is a tangible position which a person or force holds.

God is the cause of all causes. For the effects that we appreciate, He is ultimately responsible. For the effects that we don’t like, He is also at the beginning. As explained in Bhagavad-gita, He is the ability in man. Man is known as purusha, and the effort that they put forth is paurusham. There is no visible impact to paurusham unless a higher force sanctions the activity first.

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि
गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः
अहङ्कार-विमूढात्मा
कर्ताहम् इति मन्यते

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate

“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.27)

This is not difficult to understand. One person wants to get up in the morning. They put forth the human effort to do so. They are successful. The process is so effortless that they don’t give it a second thought.

Another person also wants to get up in the morning. They are unable to do so. They apply the same paurusham. They might be of the exact same age and stature as the first person. The second person is unsuccessful because nature has not agreed to cooperate. The cause of all causes did not allow for a successful outcome.

The wise person thus extends their appreciation beyond the immediate cause. If man sometimes helps me and sometimes does not, that means they are helpless. They are dependent on some other cause. Bhakti-yoga, bhagavata-dharma, sanatana-dharma, or whatever the preferred term used to describe genuine religion is for appreciating that higher cause. It is as simple as that.

That appreciation can be as nearby as the sun and the clouds or extended to the highest level of the entire cosmic manifestation. Something so vast and amazing, with intelligence embedded into every nook and corner, would have to have the greatest intelligence as the cause. That cause may be known by many names, but in the Vaishnava tradition, through works like Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam, He is known as Krishna.

In Closing:

Through cosmic manifestation shown,
And from shastra pages known.

By Krishna and other names to find,
Sanction of all effects behind.

Because not all helpers to succeed,
Cooperation to first proceed.

Appreciate that original source,
Carrying the most potent force.