What is there to be grateful about?

The trouble with many of us is that we only focus on what we do not have, and forget all that we have been blessed with. This attitude makes for ingratitude

Thank you God! Thank you God! Thank you God!

Friends who have heard me speak or read any of my books know that this is my favourite form of communication with God. In sunshine and rain, in pleasure and pain, in loss and gain, in darkness and light, this is a prayer that I love to offer to God. I say this to Him in all circumstances and all events of life. I say it with the fullest confidence that whatever is happening to me at that moment, is a gift, prasadam from His spotless hands.

As I said to you, this is my favourite prayer: but many of the brothers and sisters with whom I have shared this prayer are not convinced by my poor words. “Thank God?” they ask, incredulous with anger and frustration. “Thank God? For what? For inflation and recession? For debts and mounting bills? For the cruelty and indifference we meet wherever we turn? For illness and pain?”

I say to them with a smile, “I am not one of those cruel, indifferent people you are talking about! I know that life is not always smooth sailing for us human beings. But I do know, that God is all love and all wisdom. He is too loving to punish and too wise to make a mistake. Whatever is happening to you must be for your own good—though you may not be aware of it when it is happening. Therefore, I say to you, let the words, ‘Thank you God! Thank you God! Thank you God!’ be on your lips constantly! A grateful heart will make your life beautiful and abundantly blessed!”

As for that question, “What is there to be grateful about?” I must confess that it leaves me speechless with disbelief! What is there that I need not be grateful for—is my response. As for me, I am grateful to be alive; I am grateful that I can see and hear and feel; let me add for your sake: you must be grateful that you can walk and run. As for me, after six months of enforced rest, I am beginning to take ‘baby’ steps after a complicated orthopaedic surgery and consequent stroke, and let me say, I am profoundly grateful that I can come to the satsang and meet my brothers and sisters. I would be an ungrateful person, if I did not express my gratitude to the doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and the numerous brothers and sisters who sent out their prayers for my recovery. I cannot, at present, walk without help; as for running, it is out of the question; but I am grateful that I am still moving despite the pain and the difficulty!

There! I began with a list of things you ought to be grateful for, and I was forced to point out to you that these are things that some of us cannot take for granted! But let me continue with your gratitude list: you can speak; you can eat; you can smell; you can laugh and cry; you can add and subtract; you can read and understand; you can sing and dance. Should I go on…?

"When you stop complaining and start thanking, when you stop criticising and start appreciating, your life will be transformed! You will find yourself living a rich, meaningful, worthwhile life"

The trouble with many of us is that we only focus on what we do not have, and forget all that we have been blessed with. This attitude makes for ingratitude.

Is it not true that many of us just go through life always wanting something or the other, always complaining that this or that is lacking in our lives, homes and offices? Young ladies who are short, want to be taller; young men who are thin want to become muscular; people with straight hair want curly hair; and everyone with an Indian complexion wants a European complexion. Nobody is satisfied; nobody is happy; everyone wants to be something which he or she is not; how can we even begin to be grateful for what we have?

The trouble is that in this mad race of wanting what we do not have, many of us overlook what we have to be thankful for. In fact, we take for granted so many precious things that make our lives worth living.

Believe me, when you stop complaining and start thanking, when you stop criticising and start appreciating, your life will be transformed! You will find yourself living a rich, meaningful, worthwhile life, which is filled with abundance and a source of joy and peace to yourself and those around you!

Try the attitude of gratitude. And see the difference for yourself!