People think that God is far removed from our lives. We feel God exists in some distant place unconcerned about our lives here on earth. We wonder how such an omnipotent and infinite being such as God would even have the time or interest to think about us, let alone answer our prayers. Yet, God’s concern with us is the opposite. God knows about everything we do and cares about us far more than even parents care about their children. God’s prayer line is always open for us. If we were to listen to God’s prayer line and hear all the prayers of people from all over the world, we would find similar conversations. We would hear many people praying to God. We would also notice God answering their prayers. But the moment we do not get something we want, or do not get it in the time we want it, we are disappointed and sad. This is human nature. It is not the case with one person but is common with most people.
Gratefulness is a special quality that many of us lack. We may do a hundred things for someone but that person focuses on the one thing we did not do or did not do to his or her liking. We may provide hundreds of toys for our children but they complain if we hold back one toy. We may help someone thousands of times but he or she focuses on the one time we were not able to help. We may cook ten thousand delicious meals for someone but that person only focuses on the one meal we burned. We may send lovely greeting cards for someone’s birthday for many years but he or she complains about the one year we forgot to send one or could not send it. We may type tens of thousands of pages at our place of work and never hear a word of praise but all we hear about is the one time we made a typographical, grammatical, or spelling error. Similarly, God may send us daily blessings week after week, year after year but we only focus on the one prayer that was not answered.
Why do so many people focus only on the one thing they did not get instead of all the things they do receive? The problem lies with a misinterpretation of living in the current moment. Living in the current moment refers to stilling our mind, and forgetting thoughts of the past and the future. But often people live in the current moment only when it relates to their current desires. People often lack gratitude for what they received as they are focused on only their desires of the current moment. The mind is filled with desires. It keeps us always wanting more and more. The mind makes us forget what we received in the past and focuses only on what we desire at the moment. If we do not get what we want, the mind makes us forget all the good we received previously. This is the way the mind stops us from being grateful. The mind stops us from being grateful for what we receive from other people and what we receive from God.
Why does the mind enjoy it when we are ungrateful? When we are ungrateful for what we received from other people or God, we are in a state of agitation. We begin to feel sad and troubled. In this state of sadness and depression, we are busy thinking about how bad we feel. When we think about this sadness, our mind is not still. Our thoughts are reviewing what we prayed for and did not get. When we are in such a state we cannot still our mind and get in the loop of unproductive thoughts.
We need to express gratitude to God. If we look at all the blessings God has given us, we will find that we could never thank God enough. Whenever we feel God has not given us something, we should stop and think about all the things God did give us in the past. We should not become sad or depressed over what God did not give us today but think of all the millions of things God gave us in the past. This will help us put everything in perspective. If we can live in gratitude, we will be more peaceful. We need to be aware of the mind’s trap to keep us in a state of being ungrateful. We need to realise that if we give in to the mind, we will not be able to stay peaceful and happy as we will always be thinking about our sad thoughts. We want a still mind so we can progress in our meditations and go back to God. Once we go back to God, we will not even need anything anymore as we will merge with the source of all. We will be content and peaceful as we merge in the ocean of love and permanent happiness. Let us trade-off the brief moments of unhappiness we get due to the mind and develop an attitude of gratitude, so we can rise above this temporary world and find eternal happiness in the lap of God.
The author is the head of the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission.
