GRATITUDE

GRATITUDE


That feeling of thankful appreciation for favours or benefits received. That warm appreciative response to kindness.

It’s a feeling with which we r fast loosing connection. Though in our life we all more familiar with complaints, with problems, with inadequacies. We all r regular grouches.

It’s as if we didn’t know any better. It’s as if we didn’t come to the path. It’s as if we didn’t have a MASTER at all.



THE MASTER.

Just the mention of HIS name brings a stillness to our minds and to our hearts. HIS name , HIS image, HIS teachings should quiet the confusion, the worries, and the stirrings that have brought us time and again to HIS feet. We want to be in HIS presence even if HE remains silent. For it is then HE speaks to our hearts



It’s no small measure for which we must be thankful that the LORD has put us in touch with the right TEACHER. It’s not by accident or by our own effort that we came to the feet of the MASTER but rather by the lord’s mercy and grace. Indeed , when we take stock of our past before we came to this path, we cannot help but note how undeserving we were of this immense gift.



Kabir sahib says…if a leper who is bleeding from every pore in his body receives gift of initiation from a perfect master then even if he is despised by others he is still more fortunate then kings and millionaires.



Just knowing HIM is greatest gift. And to be HIS marked sheep to be added in HIS fold….is beyond comprehension. We as disciple of a perfect MASTER never quiet understand HIS loving kindness, just as drop can never fathom ocean. Our mind is just like a cup, and HIS love is like an ocean. We try to judge the ocean’s depth with the measuring instrument as small as a cup !!!



Any word of gratitude or any measure of thankfulness is not enough to ever repay HIS love and HIS kindness. And that too when we don’t even know or can never guess how much care HE gives us with our every single breath, how HE supports us, or how much HE ends our sufferings with HIS quiet, silent support. Can we ever thank HIM enough??



Once MASTER said- a MASTER takes care of HIS disciple so much. Which a disciple never knows till he goes inside. That how much support was being given by the MASTER. HE takes care of every single thing in HIS disciple’s life.



And how unaware we live our lives. Of how much HE is doing for us.



Gratitude is that feeling of music and dance in every single pore of our heart and body, when our soul dance with the realisation, how it’s never alone, how it’s being loved and taken care of every single moment . And caretaker is none else then our own ..MASTER… Think of it in this way. GOD HIMSELF is taking care of us and walking with us every single step. Gratitude is when sitting in an office waiting for our turn, or sitting in an airport waiting for flight or some one we came to receive, or going first time all alone from some where to some where, just because no family member was available to go with u, stuck in a nowhere kind of place in the middle of night, with broken down car and no help in sight, yet feeling a presence, a warmth, a cared for feeling, and all fears leaving as we feel HIS presence beside us in each and every circumstance that life choose to push on us.

Gratitude is when we see fellow humans… GOD’S souls living in pain because life becomes to hard to bear, bewildered about things happening everywhere, not being able to fathom any thing in life, not knowing where they are going , what they are doing, feeling compassion for these fellow souls, and realising that HE has made everything so much easier for us. Even though at times we ourselves are helplessly blown with whatever wind is blowing in our life at that time. And yet the feeling of HIS guiding hand never leaves. And inside we know that till HE is our shepherd nothing can go wrong. For HE is taking care. And it becomes easier to handle circumstances. When we have measuring cup as --- will HE be pleased or not? Decisions become easier to take. Gratitude is when other souls are busy trying to keep their mind happy with movies and other entertainments, never understanding spiritual travellers obsession with solitude. When we as soul realise the enormity of that knowledge that HE walks on this earth !!! HE lives and breath with us in this air. And we are the fortunate souls that HE choose to impart this enormous knowledge. Just to know HE is some where among us, walking the same earth while all others pass HIM by unaware, even this much is soooo wonderful. As if we have some secret treasure about which only we know.

And then gradually as we realise that every breath is HIS gift, every lesson is HIS gift, every step taken towards HIM is HIS gift…. Then even words fail to convey such small word as GRATITUDE….

Coz then it’s just LOVE…. HIS LOVE…..



Such a famous yet less appreciated story… less appreciated coz we read it, feel touched and talk about it, and then forget it. This is one story to be absorbed in every breath. Coz this is ultimate truth of our human life and human experience on this earth.





Footsteps on Sand---






One night i had a dream


i dreamed i was walking along the beach with god


and across the sky flashed the scenes from my life


for each scene i noticed two sets of footprints


in the sand, one belonged to me, the other to god.


When the last scene of my life flashed before us,


i looked back at the footprints in the sand.


I noticed that many times along the path of life


there was only one set of footprints,


i also noticed that it happened at the very lowest


and saddest part in my life,


this really bothered me and i questioned god about it


“god, you said that once i decided to follow you ,


you would walk with me all the way,


but i noticed that during the most troublesome time


in my life there is only one set of footprints?


I don’t understand why in times when i needed you most,


you would leave me?”


God replied “my precious – precious child i would never –never leave you during your times of suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that i carried you”.





So we just may never know when and how HE is taking care of us. And when we realise this, the feeling coming in our soul is---- Gratitude.





Think of it--- was it us who come in the way of perfect living MASTER? Or was it our own deeds that made us HIS marked sheep. We could have been met with some MASTER who doesn’t know the path to our ultimate abode and we just mite be worshipping GOD for heaven, never knowing of soul’s own home—to be with GOD. So it was HIM..who has taken us under HIS wings. Can we ever ever ever repay HIM enough for this?





We can only do so by doing one and only thing HE asks from us…meditation. Even this HE asks us for our own benefit…is there no end to HIS love, grace, and kindness?



And by being HIS good children so that next time when we went to meet HIM, there shouldn’t be tear in HIS voice when HE asks us to be good human beings .

But a smile....



oh MASTER ...just smile....



In the spirit


of HIS boundless love,


we try to thank HIM.


And to render HIM service,


but the truth is it’s HE


who serves us…..


Peace to all....