What the scriptures say about gratitude
What do the scriptures say about gratitude?
The texts call it kṛtajñatā (कृतज्ञता). Valmiki's Rama is pleased by one kindness and cannot repay Hanuman when he knows what was done for him. They set it against arrogance.
- 94 verses
- 21 stories
- Heals the mind
कृतज्ञमनसा भाव्यं मित्रभावेन चानघ / मित्रात्प्रभवते सर्वं मित्रं धन्यतरं स्मृतम्
kṛtajñamanasā bhāvyaṃ mitrabhāvena cānagha / mitrātprabhavate sarvaṃ mitraṃ dhanyataraṃ smṛtam
Keep a grateful heart and a friendly spirit. Everything grows out of friendship; a friend is the greatest blessing.
Mahabharata · Shanti Parva · Bhishma: Apaddharma
Gratitude in the texts' own words
Verses that show it in a person, or name it outright.
- Bhartrihari
यदेतत्स्वच्छन्दं विहरणमकार्पण्यमशनं सहार्यैः संवासः श्रुतमुपशमैकव्रतफलम् । मनो मन्दस्पन्दं बहिरपि चिरस्यापि विमृशन् न जाने कस्यैष परिणतिरुदारस्य तपसः ॥
yadetatsvacchandaṃ viharaṇamakārpaṇyamaśanaṃ sahāryaiḥ saṃvāsaḥ śrutamupaśamaikavrataphalam | mano mandaspandaṃ bahirapi cirasyāpi vimṛśan na jāne kasyaiṣa pariṇatirudārasya tapasaḥ ||
This freedom to wander at will, food eaten without humiliation, living among noble people, learning whose only fruit is calm, a mind that stirs only gently even when it looks outward for long: I do not know what generous austerity this is the fruit of.
Bhartrihari · Vairagya Shatakam
Shows wonder at a simple sufficient life. our reading
I am glad I was born, glad I suffered so, glad I did make big blunders, glad to enter peace.
Swami Vivekananda
Shows gladness for all of it. our reading
how wonderfully and how hospitably I was received in every country in the West.
Swami Vivekananda
Shows a returning traveller giving thanks for kindness abroad. our reading
- Teacher
अन्नं न निन्द्यात् । तद्व्रतम् । प्राणो वा अन्नम् । शरीरमन्नादम् । प्राणे शरीरं प्रतिष्ठितम् ।
annaṃ na nindyāt | tadvratam | prāṇo vā annam | śarīramannādam | prāṇe śarīraṃ pratiṣṭhitam |
Do not speak ill of food; that is a vow. Breath is food, the body eats food; the body rests on breath and breath rests in the body.
Taittiriya Upanishad 3.7.1
- Narrator
कदाचिदुपकारेण कृतेनैकेन तुष्यति । न स्मरत्यपकाराणां शतमप्यात्मवत्तया॥
kadācidupakāreṇa kṛtenaikena tuṣyati | na smaratyapakārāṇāṃ śatamapyātmavattayā||
A single kindness done to him, however small, was enough to please him; a hundred wrongs he did not keep in mind, being master of himself.
Valmiki Ramayana · Ayodhya Kanda
What it heals
The states the texts set it against.
Practices that grow gratitude
Verses that give something to do, today or in the hard moment.
- Krishna
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति । तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः ॥
patraṃ puṣpaṃ phalaṃ toyaṃ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati | tadahaṃ bhaktyupahṛtamaśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ ||
Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, that offering of love from the pure-hearted I accept.
Shows offering even a little as thanks. our reading
- Bhartrihari
प्रदानं प्रच्छन्नं गृहमुपगते सम्भ्रमविधिः प्रियं कृत्वा मौनं सदसि कथनं चाप्युपकृते । अनुत्सेको लक्ष्म्यामनभिभवगन्धाः परकथाः सतां केनोद्दिष्टं विषममसिधाराव्रतमिदम् ॥
pradānaṃ pracchannaṃ gṛhamupagate sambhramavidhiḥ priyaṃ kṛtvā maunaṃ sadasi kathanaṃ cāpyupakṛte | anutseko lakṣmyāmanabhibhavagandhāḥ parakathāḥ satāṃ kenoddiṣṭaṃ viṣamamasidhārāvratamidam ||
Giving in secret, a warm welcome for whoever comes home, silence after doing a kindness, speaking in public of kindness received, no arrogance in wealth, talking of others without a whiff of contempt: who taught the good this vow, hard as walking a sword's edge?
Bhartrihari · Niti Shatakam
Shows speaking openly of help received. our reading
- Bhishma
कृतज्ञमनसा भाव्यं मित्रभावेन चानघ / मित्रात्प्रभवते सर्वं मित्रं धन्यतरं स्मृतम्
kṛtajñamanasā bhāvyaṃ mitrabhāvena cānagha / mitrātprabhavate sarvaṃ mitraṃ dhanyataraṃ smṛtam
Keep a grateful heart and a friendly spirit. Everything grows out of friendship; a friend is the greatest blessing.
Mahabharata · Shanti Parva · Bhishma: Apaddharma
Names gratitude as the disposition to hold. our reading
- Teacher
देवपितृकार्याभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । मातृदेवो भव । पितृदेवो भव । आचार्यदेवो भव । अतिथिदेवो भव ।
devapitṛkāryābhyāṃ na pramaditavyam | mātṛdevo bhava | pitṛdevo bhava | ācāryadevo bhava | atithidevo bhava |
Do not neglect your duties to the gods and the ancestors. Let your mother be a god to you. Let your father be a god to you. Let your teacher be a god to you. Let your guest be a god to you.
Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.2
Shows those who raised and taught you are to be honoured as one honours a deity. our reading
- Krishna
यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् । यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् ॥
yatkaroṣi yadaśnāsi yajjuhoṣi dadāsi yat | yattapasyasi kaunteya tatkuruṣva madarpaṇam ||
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever austerity you practise, Kaunteya, do it as an offering to me.
Shows each meal and gift handed back. our reading
- Bhishma
मातापित्रोर्गुरूणां च पूजा बहुमता मम / अत्र वर्तन्नरो लोकान्यशश्च महदश्नुते
mātāpitrorgurūṇāṃ ca pūjā bahumatā mama / atra vartannaro lokānyaśaśca mahadaśnute
Honouring one's mother, father and teachers is, I think, the highest duty. One who lives this way wins the worlds and great renown.
Mahabharata · Shanti Parva · Bhishma: Rajadharma
Cultivates reverence toward those who raised and taught one. our reading
- Bhishma
न चाभ्युदितसायी स्यात्प्रायश्चित्ती तथा भवेत् / मातापितरमुत्थाय पूर्वमेवाभिवादयेत् / आचार्यमथवाऽप्यन्तं तथाऽऽयुर्विदन्ते महत्
na cābhyuditasāyī syātprāyaścittī tathā bhavet / mātāpitaramutthāya pūrvamevābhivādayet / ācāryamathavā’pyantaṃ tathā’’yurvidante mahat
Don't sleep past sunrise. On rising, first greet your mother and father, and your teacher or another elder; that is how a long life is won.
Mahabharata · Anushasana Parva · Anushasana
Shows a daily act of respect to parents. our reading
- Seer
यन्मनुष्यान्वासयते यदेभ्योऽशनं ददाति तेन मनुष्याणामथ यत्पशुभ्यस्तृणोदकं विन्दति तेन पशूनां यदस्य गृहेषु श्वापदा वयाꣳस्या पिपीलिकाभ्य उपजीवन्ति तेन तेषां लोको
yanmanuṣyānvāsayate yadebhyo’śanaṃ dadāti tena manuṣyāṇāmatha yatpaśubhyastṛṇodakaṃ vindati tena paśūnāṃ yadasya gṛheṣu śvāpadā vayāꣳsyā pipīlikābhya upajīvanti tena teṣāṃ loko
By housing people and giving them food, he becomes a world for people. By finding grass and water for animals, he becomes a world for animals. When beasts, birds and even ants live off his house, he becomes a world for them.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.16
Shows a household is seen as something many lives rest on. our reading
People who lived it
Someone in the scriptures came to this, and the story shows how.
Is this where you are?
Write a line about today. Your words find their place on the map, with a verse for each.
Questions people ask
What is the Sanskrit word for gratitude?
Which Bhagavad Gita verse speaks about gratitude?
Verses, translations and stories come from the Wisdom library, read with the traditional commentaries. A line marked stated in the text is a link the verse or a named commentator makes; our reading is Wisdom's own reading of the verse.