Does the habit of thanking God builds confidence or breaks confidence in a person?

[renuka]

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Today I had to leave my work for a while to go a to a Government Department for some registration of new staff.

I had never done this before becos previously my husband used to do it for me but since he is not in town so I had to do it myself.

Now the department was in a place that was rather isolated and I got sort of lost but luckily I saw a traffic policeman and asked him for directions and seeing that I seemed unsure he told me to follow him and he would lead me there.

I was thanking my lucky stars to get such a wonderful policeman.

He rode his bike fast thru the traffic and I had to keep up with him in my car and he was clearing the traffic for me too so I managed to drive fast.

Then he got down and showed me the place.

I thanked him a lot for his kind gesture.

Then I later told my mother this and she said 'Only God must have sent that policeman to help you without his help you might not have found the place"

Then I realized that I grew up hearing the Thank God habit by my mother whenever we kids did anything right.
But if we did anything wrong it was entirely our fault!LOL

Even when I started self studying Sanskrit at the age of 37 my parents told me that without God's blessings it would have never be possible for anyone to self study without a Guru.
God must have downloaded knowledge into your brain...otherwise its not possible for you to learn on your own.

No doubt I self studied daily without fail with a lot of effort but I did feel a bit uneasy that they felt that my effort and dedication did not really matter.After all without effort no one gains any knowledge.

So I was thinking by attributing everything good to God does that actually build confidence? Or does it breaks one's confidence.

Then we might just get the Mahabharat Syndrome that is without Lord Krishna the Pandavas would never have won the war.

But does this sort of thinking actually help build the confidence of a child?

Does it instill in a child that without the help of God we might not be able to stand on our own?

I dont know why but even though today seemed like a miracle for me to have a policeman clear traffic for me to take me to where I wanted but I feel that from now on when anything good happens for my child I am going to tell him "Good..you are capable..keep it up"

If some disappointment happens I would tell him "Don't be dejected..learn from our mistakes it would make us more capable of handling ups and downs of life"

But still a part of me feels uneasy to leave an external God out of the picture.

Am I being ungrateful? Just a thought.

 

[mkrishna100]

But does this sort of thinking actually help build the confidence of a child?

To do any job we have 2 things to encounter : 1) Known factors 2) Unknown factors
For eg when I study for an exam say Physics , the known factors are :
1) Type of exam ( i.e diffficulty level )
2) Syllabus
3) Books to be studied
etc and I have to study for the exam and no God will come and write the exam for me .
The Unknown factors :
1) On the day of exam ,I can fall extremely sick or meet with an accident
2) There can be a death / accident of a close family memberon the day of exam and I may have to attend the same skipping the exam
3) There can be a riot in my area that can prevent me from reaching the exam place
and so on .
4) I can myself die before the exam
There is no way I can control those unknown factors and that is where Prayer and God comes in to play and we have to develop humility that as humans we can to an extent control the known factors but we have no power over the unkown factors and hence we incoke God's blessings for the same through prayer and also thank God when a job is done properly as we know that while we did put in the hard effort for the job to be done properly , we were lucky that the unkown factors did not disturb us much .

So we need to exercise our freewill in handling the known factors and also be greateful to God for taking care of the unknown factors . The problem is When there is a talk of free will many take into account that their freewill also includes capacity to handle the unknown factors and hence no need to thank God and also the reverse is true i.e for some people nothing is in our hands and eveything is the work of God . Avodiing the extremes is good .

So in conclusion I will say that habit of thanking God is healthy if we adopt common sense in first handling all the known factors and improve our efficiency in the same (as that is the only area we can improve ) and in the end also have the humility to thank everyone ( including God ) for the same as no one executes an action successfully alone and many people while thanking God also forget to thank the various other individuals who have contributed directly / indirectly to ur success and that is also not good .

 

[renuka]

To do any job we have 2 things to encounter : 1) Known factors 2) Unknown factors
For eg when I study for an exam say Physics , the known factors are :
1) Type of exam ( i.e diffficulty level )
2) Syllabus
3) Books to be studied
etc and I have to study for the exam and no God will come and write the exam for me .
The Unknown factors :
1) On the day of exam ,I can fall extremely sick or meet with an accident
2) There can be a death / accident of a close family memberon the day of exam and I may have to attend the same skipping the exam
3) There can be a riot in my area that can prevent me from reaching the exam place
and so on .
4) I can myself die before the exam
There is no way I can control those unknown factors and that is where Prayer and God comes in to play and we have to develop humility that as humans we can to an extent control the known factors but we have no power over the unkown factors and hence we incoke God's blessings for the same through prayer and also thank God when a job is done properly as we know that while we did put in the hard effort for the job to be done properly , we were lucky that the unkown factors did not disturb us much .

So we need to exercise our freewill in handling the known factors and also be greateful to God for taking care of the unknown factors . The problem is When there is a talk of free will many take into account that their freewill also includes capacity to handle the unknown factors and hence no need to thank God and also the reverse is true i.e for some people nothing is in our hands and everything is the work of God . Avoiding the extremes is good .

Wonderful reply.

I do agree humility is important that somethings are beyond our control..that is where Thanking God comes in no doubt.

But yet the question remains in my mind "that the Pandavas were no match for the Kauravas..Arjuna was great becos of Krishna..no Krishna and all Pandavas could not even fight invading hordes and even Arjuna knew that without Krishna he would not have won the war.

Just like the Devas can never fight the Asuras but they survive becos God helps them by finishing off the Asuras.

So does that mean that a person who is entirely dependent on God for grace has not reached full potential?

 

[mkrishna100]

So does that mean that a person who is entirely dependent on God for grace has not reached full potential?

In fact I would say the reverse is true i.e people with full potential if they have humility can understand the role of God ( as well as the role of many others ) in their success and be thankful to all of them for the same . Mediocre persons trying to be humble will not attract much attention as they have no other choice . Arjuna comes under that Category of a person with full potential unable to come to terms with the wider consequences of the war and hence needs the support of the God to correct his vision .

 

[mkrishna100]

There is joke regarding Prayer and Free will : One person daily prays to God to help him win the Lottery and one day God really gets fedup and says "I will definitely help you win the Lottery but at least you must take the effort to buy the Lottery ticket .Go and get the ticket first " . So this sums up handling the known factors v/s unknown factors .

 

[krish44]

,

Building or breaking of confidence depends mostly on -to what extent man prepares to do the task he undertakes to perform. Thinking of and bringing God into it are all products

of a wavering mind not sure of owns capability to perform the job on hand.

If it gives peace to someone to pray God before starting a job , there is no harm though if it helps him.

They say God helps those who help themself.lol

 

[yesmohan]

1) One has to make "SWOT" analysis before taking /encountering a great task.
i.e. analysis of one's own Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threads.

2) Time Management.

3) Task / event Management(includes hard work)

If a person is well conversant with these concepts, nobody can stop him from winning.

 

[auh]

"I dont know" - is the unknown variable, the x-factor and we tend to err on the side of caution. "what if there were a god?"

If we learn to attribute the results achieved to the ever ceaseless nature and its whimsical ways, we need not "thank" anybody.

 

[sangom]

I feel there is no need to thank an outsider god for everything. If in any particular case, the 'unkn
own factors' become favourable to you, as happened to you today, it is because some of your past karmas were favouring you. You may silently thank your stars and decide to help the needy, poor and the sick as far as you can.

 

[prasad1]

I feel there is no need to thank an outsider god for everything. If in any particular case, the 'unkn
own factors' become favourable to you, as happened to you today, it is because some of your past karmas were favouring you. You may silently thank your stars and decide to help the needy, poor and the sick as far as you can.

I agree with the basic principle, but disagree with the execution. I feel this "GOD" covers everything unknown. Yes previous Karma do play a part, but future may belong to other factors. Secondly if we are humble enough, to thank others, our ego will not get out of control.
I agree with Renukaji's statement.

I do agree humility is important that somethings are beyond our control..that is where Thanking God comes in no doubt.

 

[Lalit]

IMHO, there is no right or wrong answer to these types of queries. It all depends on each and every person's individual spiritual evolution and divine consciousness. As we are all on the path of evolution progressing at different paces though on different tracks, each person's perception based on his/her experiences, subjective understanding and cognitive knowledge besides other externalities - environment, mentors, parents, etc., tends to be dis-similar. There can be no one simple thumb-rule that fits all persons/scenarios/times.
Having said that, I guess, the simple answer that may be considered is to view our role (in the over-all scheme of the Divine Plan) as "co-creators"!

 

[auh]

I feel there is no need to thank an outsider god for everything. If in any particular case, the 'unkn
own factors' become favourable to you, as happened to you today, it is because some of your past karmas were favouring you. You may silently thank your stars and decide to help the needy, poor and the sick as far as you can.

Sir, if we were to go by this logic, then karma becomes "god", which logic again seems recursive.

 

[renuka]

You may silently thank your stars and decide to help the needy, poor and the sick as far as you can.

Dear Sangom Ji,

Yes..I did that yesterday..since I felt everything was just too favorable yesterday I was an in a give back mode and I treated an elderly sick old lady free of charge yesterday.
She is kind of poor and lives mostly alone and still works to support herself.She does not get much support from her kids partly becos they too are struggling in life.

So it was Free treatment for her yesterday.

 

[mkrishna100]

I was an in a give back mode

According to J Krishnamurti , goodness is contagious and spreads quickly . So it is always good to share the positive energy and u can see the ripple effect in ur own life . Of course this should not be done for the gain effect but from a sense of giving back as you did . Your incident is a reminder for all of us to share goodness . Thanks for the sharing .

 

[sravna]

Dear Renuka,

According to me everything that happens even at the micro micro level is destined. We are not the cause of anything.We just experience. When you evolve sufficiently you automatically experience self confidence which cannot be taken away.

 

[renuka]

Dear Renuka,

According to me everything that happens even at the micro micro level is destined. We are not the cause of anything.We just experience. When you evolve sufficiently you automatically experience self confidence which cannot be taken away.

Dear Sravna,

If everything is destined than how does Karma for future lives(Agami Karma) get formed?

Isnt Agami Karma based on actions of the present life?

If everything is destined to happen then why punish anyone for crime?

A criminal can surely bail himself saying "its my destiny..it just had to happen..so I am technically innocent"

Another scenario would be a person having an extra marital affair..is that too destiny?

But I do agree with your last line where you wrote: .

When you evolve sufficiently you automatically experience self confidence which cannot be taken away

 

[mkrishna100]

A criminal can surely bail himself saying "its my destiny..it just had to happen..so I am technically innocent

The Judge will also say that punishment for him is also part of destiny and no one can be selective when it comes to destiny .

 

[sravna]

Dear Sravna,

If everything is destined than how does Karma for future lives(Agami Karma) get formed?

Isnt Agami Karma based on actions of the present life?

If everything is destined to happen then why punish anyone for crime?

A criminal can surely bail himself saying "its my destiny..it just had to happen..so I am technically innocent"

Another scenario would be a person having an extra marital affair..is that too destiny?

But I do agree with your last line where you wrote: .

Dear Renuka,

When you go a level higher than where karma is enacted, it is maya and brahman that ultimately cause everything and so you can see it is all God's play. So how you interpret something depends on which level you are looking at.

 

[sangom]

Sir, if we were to go by this logic, then karma becomes "god", which logic again seems recursive.

Karma will become god, only if for a person who will not be able to imagine karma to be something like a set of laws, and has to find a god somewhere to thank and then justify or glorify it as a sign of humility. If a person can accept karma as what it is, then there will be no such 'god-making' but that does not mean the person will become haughty.

 

[CHANDRU1849]

He rode his bike fast thru the traffic and I had to keep up with him in my car and he was clearing the traffic for me too so I managed to drive fast.

Can we say because of good karma, she had help from a traffic policeman who cleared traffic for her? In the process, others who travelled would have been forced to slow down and sere probably inconvenienced. Is it due to bad karma?

 

[sangom]

Can we say because of good karma, she had help from a traffic policeman who cleared traffic for her? In the process, others who travelled would have been forced to slow down and sere probably inconvenienced. Is it due to bad karma?
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Of course, if anyone was inconvenienced or put to any loss.

 

[Vaagmi]

In similar circumstances I take the help of Google Map, an app in my smart phone. I reach my destination without hassles. The accumulated good karma of many people deposited with Google perhaps comes to my rescue at such times I believe. LOL.