God is loving, not terrifying
Most of us pray with fear to God. You can
When you start seeing and feeling the invisible hand of Existence taking care of you, you will understand that you are wanted here by Existence see mothers telling their children that if they don't do certain things, God will get angry with them. These statements take root in the child at a very young age, and give them a wrong concept of God. This is the conditioning that you give your child at an early age. When they grow up, they face serious dilemmas because of this. Instead of embracing Existence with love and gratitude, they stand apart from it with respect and fear.
Religion, if followed out of fear, will not take you anywhere; it will not pave the way for a transformation to happen in you. You might progress materially by the faith that you have in your asking, but you will remain where you are at the being level. The purpose or real fulfillment of life can never happen on the material path; it can happen only at the being level. People who undergo what is called depression of success will be able to relate to what I am saying in a better way. We have discussed depression of success in the earlier sessions.
Religion has to be followed out of deep love and gratitude for the divine or Existence. Although society teaches you to worship God in the name of fear, I tell you: never do it. Always pray with love and gratitude towards the divine.
A small story:
A Sufi Master, Junnaid, used to pay his gratitude to God five times a day. One time, he and his followers were wandering through some villages where Sufism was not accepted as a religion. In the first village, people accused them of begging, and threw meagre alms at them. The next day, in the second village, the people refused to give them any alms.
On the third day, the village they passed through was so hostile that the villagers drove them out with sticks and stones.
That night as usual, Junnaid knelt down and offered his gratitude to God.
His disciples were watching him. It was too much for them. They could not understand why Junnaid was thanking God. They were furious.
They cried out, 'Master! For three days we have gone without food! Today we were even driven out of that village like dogs! Is this what you are offering your gratitude for?'
Junnaid looked at them and said, 'You talk about three days of hunger! Have you thanked God for the food you have received for thirty years? And know one thing: my gratitude is not for receiving or not receiving anything. It is simply an expression of the deep joy and love in my being. It is a choice-less and prayerful expression, that's all.'
When you live with overwhelming gratitude in you, you have found a space wherein nothing else is needed. It means that you have fallen into meditation. Then, you will not worry about anything else. You are on the right track. Your mind is no longer a hindrance to your growth; your mind has disappeared. The mind cannot step in when you are brimming from your heart. When there is no space for the mind, where will discontentment come from? Discontentment cannot come from the heart. It is purely a product of the mind.
Awaken to the beauty of Existence
Your mind always stands between you and
When you live with overwhelming gratitude in you, you have found a space wherein nothing else is needed.
Existence. It prevents you from hearing, seeing, feeling and emoting with Existence. Once you go beyond your mind and see the beauty of
Existence, gratitude will become your prayer and bliss your being! You will then enjoy liberation and permanent joy!
When you drop the mundane logic of your mind, you will flow like a river β choicelessly, effortlessly, joyfully with the flow of the current. You will then play your role and enjoy every moment of it. You will then understand that you are a part of a wonderful drama, where the more sensitive you are to the director, the more effectively you can play and enjoy your part!
When you go against the current, you need to put in effort and exercise choices. When you go with the current, you don't need to make any effort; you will not feel tired; you will not feel frustrated; you will only feel a flowing lightness! Everything will then appear beautiful.
A small story:
A man was on a cross-country train. He spent all his time in the observation car, watching
When you drop the mundane logic of your mind, you will flow like a river β choicelessly, effortlessly, joyfully with the flow of the current. the passing scenery outside.
An elderly lady was seated next to him and he told her that the best part of the journey was the breathtaking scenery outside. The lady shook her head, sat for a while looking out of the window, and left.
A little later, the lady came back, sat for a short while looking out of the window, and then got up and went.
After some time she came again and this time she sat behind him.
After a few minutes, she tapped him on the back and asked, 'Excuse me, but do you see something that I don't?'
We simply miss the beauty of Existence! We are always looking for reasons to enjoy, reasons to celebrate, questioning what we enjoy, and what not! We have lost our connection with Existence altogether because of this.
Instead of feeling gratitude towards everything around us, we are asking and questioning all the time. We need to get back this connection with Existence again. Gratitude can help bring back this lost connection. It can help you find your roots once again. It can help you commune with nature, with Existence.
A small story:
A man prayed very hard in a temple one day, 'Oh Lord! Please give me 1000 rupees for 15 days. I am very desperate to receive it. I will return the money to you on the 16th day from today when I get my first paycheck.'
The temple priest was listening to his prayers.
He felt very sorry to see the man in that state.
He had with him 500 rupees. He put it in an envelope and gave it to the man saying that God had asked him to give him the money. The man was overjoyed. He took the envelope home and opened it.
He counted the money and saw that there was only 500 rupees and not 1000 rupees. The next day he went to the temple and prayed, 'O God! Next time, please don't send the money through the priest; send it directly. He took half of it.'
We take everything for granted and remain discontented!
Don't take anything for granted
Remember that life itself is a gift to you! Have you worked hard to get it? Can any of you say that you have worked very hard to earn this life? No! That is why we don't realize its value! We simply take everything for granted β our bodies, our daily food, the beauty of Nature β everything is taken for granted. We ask God for diamond rings β but do we thank him for giving us fingers to wear them? With time, even the diamond ring will lose its value to us!
One day, the Geography teacher in a school asked her students to write down the Seven Wonders of the World.
All the kids listed the great wonders like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and so on.
One girl was writing and she kept writing, shaking her head and continuing to write.
The teacher came to her and asked, 'What happened; have you forgotten what you learned?'
The little girl said, 'No. I am a bit confused. There are many more than seven.'
The teacher was surprised and took her sheet and read it. She then read it aloud for the class to hear, 'The seven wonders of the world are: I can see; I can touch; I can smell; I can hear; I can taste; I can laugh; I can loveβ¦'
The class was suddenly filled with penetrating silence.
These small things are forgotten because we think that they are small. Everything becomes small to us when it is easily available. There are so many millions of people in this world who can't see, who can't hear, who can't talk, who can't taste. We never think of all these things. We are always thinking of what more, what better, what next, all the time.
A small story:
A man was traveling on the highway to get to his village.
After just one hour of travel, his car jerked and stopped.
He was panic-stricken and saw that he had run out of fuel.
He walked a few kilometers praying and sweating and panting and finally came to a town.
He spotted a gas station and went in. He explained that he was penniless, but badly needed fuel to get to his village. They turned him away.
He then spotted another station on the opposite side of the road and walked into it and explained his situation.
The manager of the gas station took pity on him and agreed to give him a few litres free of cost.
The man asked, 'Can you give me the money instead? The station across the road is cheaper.'
Until something comes to us, it seems very precious and we remain in a prayerful mood; the moment it comes, it loses its value and we move onβ¦to another prayer!
We always live with a 'what next' attitude. We are unable to relate to gratitude because of this.
For example, if we go to a shop and see a new type of alarm clock with some new features, immediately we feel that our life will be much better with these new features. We will feel that the whole quality of our life will change if those new features become available to us. We will feel that we will become a lot more efficient with this clock in our lives. So we buy it and take it home.
After a few days, what happens? We won't even have the time to wipe the precious clock! The poor clock will be lying somewhere covered with dust and you will even get scolded for buying it and cluttering the house with one more item! And you will have also moved to some other gadget, some other desire!
We always feel that something that we don't have is as big as a mountain without which we cannot survive, but when we actually get it, somehow it becomes too small a thing. This is how we miss the wonderful attitude of gratitude in our lives. We keep running behind 'what next'.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, enlightened master from Bharat, tells God: 'I am so very intelligent. I gave you all that I had, all my life, full of suffering. You in your compassion gave me in return your presence of bliss!'
Bhagavan tells God that he is more intelligent than God Himself because of this intelligent exchange! Such is his adorable sense of
We always feel that something that we don't have is as big as a mountain without which we cannot survive, but when we actually get it, somehow it becomes too small a thing. gratitude towards Existence!
Another small story about Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa:
It is said, that whenever Ramakrishna saw someone from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's place, he would fall at his or her feet.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a great enlightened master from Bharat.
On one such occasion, when Ramakrishna fell at someone's feet, the people around him asked him why he fell at ordinary mortals' feet.
He replied, 'Whether they are ordinary or extraordinary, it does not matter. They are from Baanigaati β where Chaitanya did an important sankeertan. The moment I hear that they are from there, the very name creates memories of Chaitanya in me; that is enough. I pay my gratitude to them by falling at their feet for having brought Chaitanya to my mind. If I had not met them, in those moments, I might have been thinking of something else unworthy. They are therefore instruments through whom divine memories and ideas are kindled in me.'
That was Ramakrishna's reply!
For bringing thoughts about Chaitanya to him, Ramakrishna fell at their feet! Can we imagine this today? This is what I mean when I say, everything and everyone should be looked upon with gratitude for whatever they are doing. They are all part of Existence and they are all moving in some synchronicity, orchestrated by Existence. When we are sensitive to this happening, we will be able to feel gratitude for the way things are happening.
We need to imbibe this sense of gratitude from great masters. This is the only thing we need to imbibe from them; the rest will be taken care of automatically, because when you imbibe this, the power of coincidence will make things happen for you and Existence will simply shower upon you. But today, things are very different.
Listen to this small story:
A beggar stopped a man on the road and asked him, 'Two years back, you used to give me 20 rupees. Last year fully, you gave me only 10 rupees and for the past few months, you have been giving me only 2 rupees. Why?'
The man replied, 'First I was a bachelor, then I married and now I have a baby, that's why.'
The beggar cried, 'What? You are using my money to run your family?'
The beggar says, 'You are using my money to run your family!' Actually, many of us think that it is our birthright to expect another person to keep providing for us and for our needs. And we simply take them for granted.
Understand: Even our own father or mother or husband or wife should not be taken for granted.
So understand: When you change your attitude from seeking discontentment, worries and depression, to seeking the present with gratitude, you will automatically be able to harness the energy of Existence better. You will then be able to appreciate Existence better and gratitude will then become your attitude.
Even our own father or mother or husband or wife should not be taken for granted.
A man went to the market to buy vegetables for his wife.
He bought ladies' finger, came home and showed them to his wife.
The wife saw the ladies' finger and said, 'Oh! These are so over grown. I will not be able to cook them.'
The man went the next day and bought some more ladies' fingers, choosing carefully this time, and came home and showed them to this wife.
The wife said, 'What have you bought? They are too tender to make the dish I had in mind.'
The next day, the man went to the market, prayed to the shopkeeper and said, 'Please give me some good ladies' fingers that are neither too ripe nor too tender.'
The shopkeeper picked the best ladies' fingers himself and the man took them home and showed them to his wife.
The wife saw them and said, 'What? You've bought ladies' finger today also!'
When we take things for granted, appreciation will never come spontaneously for us. We will never appreciate anything including our relationships.
Another small story:
A man came home from work one day to find his wife in a terrible mood.
She screamed at him*,* 'I finally managed to train the maid to do all the work in the house and she has now quit!'
The man asked sympathetically, 'For what reason, dear?'
She replied, 'Well, you are the reason! She claims that you spoke so rudely to her over the telephone that she felt she needed to guard her self-respect and therefore quit.' The man was baffled and blurted, 'But I thought I was talking to you!'
We always take relationships for granted. Learn to treat every individual as a part of the whole and feel gratitude towards him or her; then you will never take anyone for granted. You will then worship and respect everyone for being a part of Existence.
When you don't take things for granted, you will count your blessings. If you sit and analyse, you
Learn to treat every individual as a part of the whole and feel gratitude towards him or her; then you will never take anyone for granted. will realize that we always count what we have not received! However much we are showered, we are not happy because
we are thinking about the things that have not yet reached us!
Imagine if you had to sit down and make a list of things that you feel you have been showered with in life. You can start the list with your own eyes. As I said earlier, do you know how many people have not been blessed with eyesight? Can you even imagine what will happen if you woke up one day and realized that you have turned blind? You will not even be able to get out of bed and go to the bathroom! Every task you performed thanklessly earlier will demand all your effort now.
Anyway, if you started writing a list of things that you have been given in life, it would be a long list. Once you finish this list, write down a list of the things that you feel you have not been given. This will also be a long list... a very long list actually! The list will probably start with a Benz car and end up being longer than the Benz itself! Both the lists are endless, infinite actually, if you write sincerely without missing a single thing.
Alright, now we have the two lists in front of us. It is now up to us to decide which of the lists we are going to focus on. Are we are going to look at the things not given to us and make our lives dull and dead, or look at the things that have been showered on us and enjoy, making our lives beautiful? It is purely our choice!
A person who takes everything for granted will look at the second list with greed and discontentment. When you are greedy, you will automatically feel only discontented, because there is no end to your greed and therefore contentment can never happen in you! Anyhow, this person totally misses out on the joy of life that is there in the first list.
Anything that comes his way, whether it is small or big, will seem ordinary to him and he will only wait for the next thing to arrive. And when the next thing arrives, that will also look ordinary to him because he is already thinking of the next thing!
Whereas, a person who is always in gratitude, will not even know that the second list exists! He only knows to feel and breathe gratitude every moment. Life is an eternal celebration for him. He will be so light and joyful. He will be a treat to watch. He will exude a beauty that is unique unto himself.
Just by being in gratitude all the time, every so-called mundane thing in life can become sacred and wonderful! I tell you that you think that life has become mundane only because of your attitude of taking things for granted. Life is not mundane as you think. Every small thing is beautiful. Your mind is what is mundane; your mind does not allow you to penetrate and see the beautiful way in which Existence is flowing.
Your mind has become a dead pattern that is constantly repeating, 'what next'.
When you are able to look at things with a wonder-filled attitude, with awe, it fills you with such gratitude and fulfillment because you are not questioning at that point in time. You are not allowing your mind to play at all. You are simply resonating with your heart. It is then that you become a child, and when you become a child, nothing is mundane; everything is wondrous!
Learn to look at everything with gratitude and awe. Take your own body for example. Just try this small exercise now. Sit down and close your eyes. Visualize that your little finger on the right hand has been cut in a minor accident. Imagine now that your little finger is only three fourths of its original size.
Life is not mundane as you think. Every small thing is beautiful. Your mind is what is mundane
There is no other deformity in your body that you know of. You have a perfect body. Suddenly, only your little finger is cut.
What will your reaction be? It will be very difficult for you to digest it. For every simple task that you use your hand for, the little finger has a role to play. What will happen to you? You might even become depressed.
Now just think, how many people are there in this world with so many deformities. There are so many people who don't have all five fingers even! From your head to your toe, even if there were a single handicap, you would miss enjoying some aspect of life.
How much you take your body for granted! How much you abuse your body. Some of us even hate our body because we feel it is not beautiful enough. I tell you, if you do this exercise every day and feel deep love and gratitude for every part of your body, you will see that your whole body and face glow with a new radiance altogether.
Your body responds to your mind. Never neglect it or take it for granted. After all, it is only with your body that you are able to enjoy so many things. Even for you to come here today and listen to this talk effortlessly, you need all the parts of your body to function properly.
What more do you want?
An important thing we need to understand is that desire and gratitude can never co-exist. When you feel one desire after another, it means that you are not living with gratitude. When you live with gratitude, you can never have any desires. When you live with gratitude, whatever is given to you will simply fulfill whatever you need at that moment, that's all. Even before you ask, you will be given, so there will be no question of asking!
Things are always perfect when you function with gratitude. Otherwise, things are always lacking and ugly. Man's greed is such that even if he is made king of the Earth, he will think, 'The seas don't obey me; the sun and stars don't obey me!'
In the Shiva Purana (stories on Shiva), there is the story of Shiva and the Brahma Kapaala.
The Brahma Kapaala was a skull that Shiva used as a begging bowl, when he was wandering in the guise of a mendicant.
Your body responds to your mind. Never neglect it or take it for granted.
The strange thing about the Brahma Kapaala was that, whatever alms people put into it, it would promptly swallow!
No matter how hard Shiva tried to fill it, the bowl always remained empty.
This Brahma Kapaala is actually inside all of us. It is nothing but our own ego; the ego that swallows everything and asks for more! The ego that prevents us from enjoying what is being showered upon us.
Whether you want to base your life on asking, or on gratitude, is entirely up to you. Gratitude is not some kind of morality that can be imposed on you from outside. It is an attitude that has to flower from within, out of a deep understanding of Existence and its ways. When real gratitude happens, it can transform your whole perception of life and bring lasting peace and joy for you.
When real gratitude happens, it can transform your whole perception of life and bring lasting peace and joy for you.
Once a man went to Ramana Maharshi and said, 'Bhagavan, I want peace!' Ramana replied, 'From your own statement, just remove the word 'I', remove the word 'want' β and what remains is peace!'
The only way to have a live connection with reality, with Existence, is by dropping your conditioning, your ego and breaking the wall you have built around yourself; then you will be able to see that the connection was always there! You don't have to do anything special; you simply have to drop what is not, that's all!
When you are loving, flowing, and filled with gratitude, you will always feel the tremendous energy of Existence flowing through you and you will always be with a sense of fulfillment, not because of any gains but because it has become your very being! This fulfillment is the ultimate fulfillment that every man is seeking, although he is not aware of it. He searches for it again and again in all material things and keeps missing it.