66. *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 – our bodies, our daily food, the beauty of Nature – everything is taken for granted. We ask God for diamond rings – 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 love…'

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 on…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 India, 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 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.

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Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a great enlightened master from India.

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 – 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.

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 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.

456 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. 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.

Just try to spend a few minutes every day in your room by yourself, touching every part of your body with love, and thanking that part for enabling you to enjoy so many things in life.

Have you ever thought about your body in this fashion? 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.