George Washington in prayer at Valley Forge
Thanksgiving has been a hallowed and cultural tradition for many years now. Times of thanksgiving, prayer, and fasting have been part of American tradition from before its inception.
When the pilgrims arrived they were poorly prepared for the harsh winter in their new colony. Without the help of Squanto, a sole survivor of the Patuxet Tribe, who showed the new arrivals survival skills such as how to catch eel, plant corn, and was an interpreter with the nearby tribes, the Pilgrims would have been far worse off.
After their first year and a successful harvest the 50 surviving Pilgrims (out of the original 100) invited a neighboring tribe, the Wampanoags, to a thanksgiving celebration. Their chief, Massasoit, had supplied precious food the previous winter for the starving colonists. Massasoit arrived with 90 warriors. Fortunately they brought game with them to supplement the supplies of the colonists; the four surviving adult women supervised the cooking for the three day feast!
During the revolutionary days it was not unusual to have a nationwide day of fasting and prayer to commemorate a battle and provide spiritual strength for gaining independence. George Washington declared a day of Thanksgiving in gratitude for the birth of a revolutionary idea, a constitutional government.
This tradition was continued by presidents down to the Civil War. In the midst of the war Abraham Lincoln declared a nationwide day of Thanksgiving for all the blessings; even in the middle of a terrible war. It was intended to come toward the end of the year, giving thanks for all that was good in the year.
And that idea of setting aside a day for giving thanks has continued to today. A day for gratitude. My first thought of gratitude is for the general lack of wars in this world. While we work for a world free of all conflicts and fights, it is good to acknowledge that the bitter past has been replete with terrible death and destruction as nation has fought against nation; today, thankfully, there are no major wars.
The next point of gratitude is for the plentiful supply of food. Times past has seen widespread famines and lack that made hunger a daily pain. Again, it is relative, but today the world has plentiful supply, if not evenly distributed. This is a good for which I give thanks.
My list would continue for friends, family, and much more, but the last and most important on my list of thankfulness is for my spiritual life. My gratitude goes out to those pioneering souls who surrendered all at the feet of God and whose lives have made our spiritual path possible.
From Jesus and Babaji, to Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yuketswarji, Master and Mother as well as Swami Ramdas, Mother Krishnabai, and Swami Satchidananda, and the multitude of truly worshipful saints and realized beings down the ages, I give humble thanks for the lives they led, the teachings they generously imparted, and the truly superior examples of their lives. They dedicated their lives and their all to the upliftment and enlightenment of this world.
And to you my friends, God has given us each other that we may support each other in gaining the highest attainment in the realization of our oneness with God, and for serving one another with love. For you my heart overflows with love and thanksgiving. May you be blessed with all the good that life has to offer, and most of all to experience the Divine Presence, within and without.