Words from the Master

Anything deep can never be expressed wholly. Poets may write poems to express it, painters may paint to express it, writers may write to express it, but there will remain a portion that can never be expressed through any of these. Existence can never be expressed by ordinary things. That is why it is so mystical and luring. That is why it is so exciting beyond what words can describe when it happens to you! That is why you can only feel it and not express it. That is why you come here again and again to me!

With me, you don’t have to express any gratitude, because even without you expressing, I will know. When real gratitude is overwhelming in you, I will know it even before you do! I know the beat of your heart! I know it from the depth of the look in your eyes! In fact, when you express to me, you might be deceiving yourself because most of the time, you think and talk in contradicting ways. You might be thinking something inside, but you express something else outside.

Remember: Existence knows when a person is flowering from within. Just feel the deep gratitude towards Existence, that is enough. You don’t have to express it, just become it, that’s all.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

You express your gratitude with words because you are egoistic and you don’t want people to think you lack courtesy. The moment you express it, you belittle or falsify it.

Actually, your very body language can convey the state of gratitude in you. Your eyes can convey it, your smile can convey it, your warmth can convey it much better than words. Tears of gratitude express it better than anything else. When you are overwhelmed, when you are brimming, tears overflow.

I am not asking you to cry! I am only telling you that when you overflow, your body will show it, you cannot hide it, and that is the real indication of the state of your Being.

And remember, these tears don’t belong to any caste or creed or religion. They cannot be classified as Hindu tears or Muslim tears; these tears don’t belong to any religion. They belong to the Being and the Being is beyond all this. Gratitude is one thing that can dissolve all man-made barriers and conditionings; that is why it is the ultimate prayer.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Tell me one thing: When you are grieving the loss of a dear one, do you verbalize your grief? Will you be able to verbalize your grief? No! It becomes such a deep-rooted emotion that it becomes the state of your Being, is it not? You can only feel it; you can never report it. Is it not? Yes or No?

Yes Swamiji…

In the same way, gratitude when it becomes your very Being, will simply become your state; you will not be reporting it. You can never report it also. Of course, saying ‘Thank you’ is alright for social reasons because unless you express it, it doesn’t reach the ears of the other person.

But what I am trying to tell you here is, we need to move from gratitude of the mind to gratitude of the Being. The gratitude that we are talking about, you will never be able to express, because it runs so deep.

People often say to me, “Swamiji, we are so grateful to you for so many things that have happened in our lives after your association.”

I tell you: For reasons of social etiquette, you may thank a person for something, but gratitude is not something that you direct towards a person. When you feel gratitude towards a person for something you have received, it is simply gratitude of the mind. This is the kindergarten stage of gratitude.

Real gratitude is a deep overwhelming feeling inside yourself not as a result of any gain but just at the thought of existing, at the thought of the compassionate Life Force that is Existence, that’s all. This gratitude does not need any relationship, it is not dependent on anyone or anything, it is not under the sway of any emotions like lust, anger, hatred or love. It simply IS, that’s all.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

A small story:

In a Christian household, a girl was sitting at the dinner table with her mother.
Food was served at the table and she started eating her food without saying grace.
The mother was shocked and asked her how she could do such a thing.
The girl promptly replied, “There is nothing on this plate that I have not said thanks for at least once before.”

This is what I mean by the attitude of taking things for granted. It is saddening to see it taking root in young children.

One more small story:

A young girl asked her mother, “Mom, how many more days remaining for Christmas?”
The mother asked, “Why do you want to know?”
The girl replied, “I was just wondering whether it was time for me to start being a good girl.”

This is how we train children to think and behave. We teach them how to do transactions. We teach them that everything is nothing but a transaction. We don’t teach them to be spontaneous and flowing. We don’t teach them to live without a purpose. We make everything goal oriented for them. All these things are utterly nonsensical.

Because of all these things that have been done to them, you have to work hard in undoing them first. Be very clear: All that I am doing to you is only undoing. I am continuously undoing. Imagine the amount of doing that has been done to you! Over generations, people have been passing on their ideas to you. I have to first undo all that and then create a space in you for you to flower.

When I tell people to feel a continued sense of gratitude in them, they go and come back, and tell me, “Swamiji, these days I say thank you to the cab drivers and to the servants at home.” Be very clear - when gratitude becomes your Being, you will not even report these kinds of things.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.