67. *What more do you want?*

An important thing we need to understand is that desire and gratitude can never co-exist. When you feel one desire after another, it means that you are not living with gratitude. When you live with gratitude, you can never have any desires. When you live with gratitude, whatever is given to you will simply fulfill whatever you need at that moment, that's all. Even before you ask, you will be given, so there will be no question of asking!

Things are always perfect when you function with gratitude. Otherwise, things are always lacking and ugly. Man's greed is such that even if he is made king of the Earth, he will think, 'The

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seas don't obey me; the sun and stars don't obey my commands!'

In the Shiva Purana (stories on Shiva), there is the story of Shiva and the Brahma Kapaala.

The Brahma Kapaala was a skull that Shiva used as a begging bowl, when he was wandering in the guise of a mendicant.

The strange thing about the Brahma Kapaala was that, whatever alms people put into it, it would promptly swallow!

No matter how hard Shiva tried to fill it, the bowl always remained empty.

This Brahma Kapaala is actually inside all of us. It is nothing but our own ego; the ego that swallows everything and asks for more! The ego that prevents us from enjoying what is being showered upon us.

Whether you want to base your life on asking, or on gratitude, is entirely up to you. Gratitude is not some kind of morality that can be imposed on you from outside. It is an attitude that has to flower from within, out of a deep understanding of Existence and its ways. When real gratitude happens, it can transform your whole perception of life and bring lasting peace and joy for you.

Once a man went to Ramana Maharshi and said, 'Bhagavan, I want peace!'

Ramana replied, 'From your own statement, just remove the word 'I', remove the word 'want' – and what remains is peace!'

The only way to have a live connection with reality, with Existence, is by dropping your conditioning, your ego and breaking the wall you have built around yourself; then you will be able to see that the connection was always there! You don't have to do anything special; you simply have to drop what is not, that's all!

When you are loving, flowing, and filled with gratitude, you will always feel the tremendous energy of Existence flowing through you and you will always be with a sense of fulfillment, not because of any gains but because it has become your very being! This fulfillment is the ultimate fulfillment that every man is seeking, although he is not aware of it. He searches for it again and again in all material things and keeps missing it.

Have faith in Existence

Whether you accept it or not, Existence is taking care of you and all you need to do is place your faith in it and do your duty with gratitude. You will then be showered upon by Existence.

But we don't have faith.

A small story:

time.

A man lived without any faith in God. Suddenly one day, he fell from a hilltop and found himself dangling from just the grip of a tree's root. He was filled with terror. He suddenly remembered people talking about God all the

He thought to himself, 'Why not try to ask God for help' and he cried out, 'Oh God! I have never had faith in you; are you really there? Can you save me now?'

The voice of God thundered back, 'Sure son, just let go of the root that you are holding and I will hold you from beneath.'

The man cried out again, 'Is there anyone else out there who can help me!'

We are simply not ready to place our trust on Existence! The very quality of trusting the universe in your being will make you live like God on Earth! You are missing out on this wonderful opportunity due to your own ignorance and ego.

If we consciously feel a sense of continued gratitude towards the cosmic energy, we will be able to feel ourselves being taken care of in its very lap. We will feel ourselves being cradled by this energy, like a child is by the mother and whether you accept it or not, this is the truth.

A man dreamt that he and God were walking on the beach through the journey of life.

He told God, 'Oh Lord! I dreamed that you and I were walking on the sands of the beach. When I looked back at the trails on the sand, I saw that at times when life was most testing, at times when I had the deepest troubles, there was only one line of footsteps; the other was missing. How could you move away from me during those times?' God replied, 'Son! It was during those times that I carried you!'

Let me tell you from my own experience: In my days of wandering, I traveled several thousand kilometers by foot. I traveled with just two pieces of clothing and a vessel for begging food. I took a vow not to touch money, and not to save food for the next meal.

People ask me how it was possible. I tell you now: I simply placed trust in Existence and concentrated on my goal of enlightenment, and Existence took care of me; that is how it happened.

When you hear me saying things like, 'Have faith in Existence,' you may think that this concept is for yester-years of justice and saints. Not at all. I am talking from my own experience, from what has happened to me who is sitting right in front of you now! And I think I am the youngest in this gathering! So I am not talking of anything from long ago. Understand that.

Just try living with gratitude and watch the miracles happen. Existence gives, if you are ready to receive without a question, with just a brimming heart.

Thank for what you already have

A man dreamed that he went to heaven and that an angel was showing him around heaven.

He walked alongside the angel.

First, they entered a large workroom filled with many angels.

The room was bustling with activity.

The angel guide stopped and explained to the man, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God that are received through prayer are sorted out.'

The man looked around and saw that it was terribly busy with many angels sorting out petitions written on different pieces of paper - long sheets, scrap sheets and what not. They were from people all over the world, in different languages.

Then they moved on and entered a second section.

This section was also filled with many busy angels and lots of packages and papers.

The guide angel explained, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the grace and blessings that the people asked for, are processed and delivered to them on Earth below.'

They walked on and at the end of the long corridor they stopped at the door of a small room.

To the man's surprise, only one angel was seated there, bent over the desk.

The man asked the angel, 'How come this section is so quiet? Which section is this?'

The angel friend quietly replied, 'This is the Blessings Acknowledgment Section. The acknowledgements sent by the people for the blessings that they have received, are meant to be processed here.'

We all ask and ask, but how many of us thank for what we have received? How many of us include gratitude in our prayer along with our asking?

Try out this small exercise when you are by yourself:

For two hours, keep aside your worries and needs, and focus on all that Existence has already given you. You will immediately think, 'If I don't worry about my needs, how can I fulfill them? Who will take care of my family? What will happen to my business?' Agreed, you have to think about all these things. But just for the next two hours, take all this load off your head and do what I am saying.

In any case, do you think your family or your business is running because of you? Let me tell you, things are running smoothly not because of us, but in spite of us! If Existence had to depend on our intelligence to sustain our families or our wealth, we would all be destitute by now! And be very clear: by simply worrying, nothing can be achieved. I think we spoke enough about worrying earlier!

So just for a few minutes, close your eyes and focus on what has already been showered on you, what you already have. Mentally go over everything – your body, your wealth, the people who support and help you, your house, your luxuries, your vacations, everything. Enjoy all of them in a relaxed and grateful way. Take as much time as possible.

Don't rush and go over it in a hurry. Just live all of it in your mind. Stay with that feeling. Stay with that wonderful feeling of fulfillment for a while. Feel yourself becoming filled with gratitude and overflowing with it. When you open your eyes, you will see that what you have is more than enough to run your life! And you will wonder what more you want!