Gratitude. At long last, even mainstream health- and mental- care experts are acknowledging that a daily ritual of expressing gratitude has tremendous positive effects on individuals.

No matter what trials and tribulations we may be going through, if we can search and find a even a tiny minuscule of something to be grateful for and focus on that — we can tweak our attitude to best deal with the very stresses we may be facing.

While Sri Chinmoy has written many songs in both English and in Bengali on the theme of gratitude (kritagyatar, etc in Bengali), I also think of the series of 30 songs that Sri Chinmoy composed in the summer of 2007 entitled ‘I am so fortunate’. These songs are all super short and begin with the same first line and melody “I am so fortunate, I am so fortunate”. The second line being a creative rhyme with ‘fortunate’ (gate, radiate, propogate, etc).

The shortness of the songs could cause one to dismiss them  — but Sri Chinmoy seemed (by my perspective) to give great importance to the series. The first 10 songs were written in June and July in 2007. In September 2007, he composed another 20 songs for the series. And throughout that summer, our song group was asked to perform them frequently.

It was not until the following month, October 2007, that I personally felt their tremendous importance. On 11 October 2007, my dearest Guru entered his Mahasamadhi.

Mahasamadhi is the state a yogi enters when they consciously make the decision to leave their body. This is only possible once they have already achieved God realization.

Wallowing in selfish and pitiful sorrow, I could only think of what I lost with Sri Chinmoy no longer being in the physical. I adored and benefitted so much by just being in his presence. I had a hard time accepting the Mahasamadhi as a positive or inevitable achievement.

Rather than slowing down as he aged, it seemed Sri Chinmoy’s schedule and activities were increasing in intensity. In 2007, he was 76 years old and he invited our song group to sing at nearly every function and while always generous with his kindness, he seemed to be increasing his kindness-intensity too. At some point, being ridiculously narcissistic I actually wondered if I had a yet undiscovered terminal disease and Sri Chinmoy was showering me with attention so my apparently-soon-demise would be enveloped in his grace. It never, ever once occured to me that he was working towards his own Mahasamadhi. And, of course, he was showering everyone with kindness-attention!

In hindsight, I came to refer to the summer of 2007 as my ‘Summer of Grace’. And in my attempt to grasp the new ‘situation’ and despite feeling anything but ‘fortunate’, I forced myself to sing those recently composed “I am so fortunate” songs. It suddenly dawned on me that these songs, or perhaps more specifically the attitude of gratitude, is what Sri Chinmoy wanted his students to focus on — especially now.

In April 2008, I wrote a few reminisces about these songs in an article for the 3rd edition of Inspiration-Sun. 

——

Below is a practice recording of the series of 30 “I Am So Fortunate” songs that Sri Chinmoy composed during the summer of 2007. We recite poems after each set of 10 songs — the words to those poems are also below.

All the “I Am So Fortunate” songs have been published in Enthusiasm Songbook, Part 12 by Sri Chinmoy. (This songbook contains 113 songs composed in English by Sri Chinmoy during the summer of 2007 — note: the numbers on the titles of the scores below are from the songbook)

Please be aware that the recording have slight — and less than slight! — errors by the singers  🙂   As always, this recording is not a performance and is just a *practice* recording for learning purposes only.

 

POEMS (1), read by members of Enthusiasm-Awakeners, 2008

The Road that my Lord Himself
Walked once upon a time
Is now right before me.
Who else is so divinely fortunate?
Who else has this chance
To be supremely perfect?

— Sri Chinmoy,
Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 61, #6001, Agni Press, 1983

I am so fortunate
That my Lord’s Compassion-Eye
Always accompanies me.

— Sri Chinmoy
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 28, #27574 (Agni Press, 2002)

I am extremely fortunate
And extremely happy
That my Lord’s Compassion-Eye
Understands my mind,
And His Forgiveness-Feet
Shelter my life.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 10, #9,919 (Agni Press, 1998)

I am so fortunate
That I am allowed to worship
The sacred dust of my Lord’s Feet
At any moment I want to.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 15, #14,895 (Agni Press, 1999)

This morning I was so fortunate
To hear the soul-stirring whisper
Of my God-devoted faith.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 193, #19,269 (Agni Press, 1993)

I am so fortunate
That God and God’s Patience
Have followed me
So far and so long.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 195, #19,450 (Agni Press, 1993)

My Lord,
You have accepted me,
My all.
How fortunate I am!

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 39, #38,225 (Agni Press, 2004)

Oops! Our practice required much more practice on this one 🙂

POEMS (2), read by members of Enthusiasm-Awakeners, 2008

My heart is so fortunate.
It can make a very short-distance call
To God’s Heart-Home.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 19, #18,797 (Agni Press, 2000)

Who else can be more fortunate
Than I am?
My dream-heart thrills
My Lord Supreme.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 14, #13,001 (Agni Press, 1999)

Those who consciously seek
God’s Blessings and Guidance
Are, indeed,
Very fortunate human beings.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 35, #34,354 (Agni Press, 2004)

We are so fortunate
That our Lord’s Compassion-Heart
And not His Justice-Eye
Presides over our life-destiny.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 44, #43,617 (Agni Press, 2005)

Fortunate are those
Who have the capacity
To spread the word —
About how kind, compassionate,
Self-giving and forgiving
Our Lord is.

Sri Chinmoy,
—Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 43, #42,304 (Agni Press, 2005)

I am so fortunate
That every day
My meditation-moments are fed
By God’s Satisfaction-Heart.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 130, #12,955 (Agni Press, 1990)

We are so fortunate
That our hearts do not believe
In limitation-boundaries.

— Sri Chinmoy,
My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, Part 59, #30 (Agni Press, 2008)

God’s absolute Victory
In and through us
Comes from the feeling
That we are so fortunate
To be chosen by Him.

— Sri Chinmoy,
Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 16, #15,433 (Agni Press, 1999)

A little story (in addition to the article I mentioned earlier):

For the booklet Sri Chinmoy asked me to produce of the first 10 songs, he said I should put a photo of the Enthusiasm-Awakeners (then known as “Parvati’s Group”) on the cover. Then he arranged for one of the photographers to take the photo below…(which, unfortunately, excludes some of our cherished international group members).