True Gratitude

In our lives, we cannot get rid of all the bad. Your bad might be someone else’s good. Good and bad are relative, but there is one good that is not. There is one right that is above all the rights and wrongs. It is not what happens in this world—all the waves that come. Your reality is the breath that comes into you. Your reality is that you are alive.

Every day, we have an opportunity to learn how to really be alive. The world’s definition is: You do this, you do this, you do this. That’s not being alive.

People say, “You can’t live in enjoyment. You have to accept what the world has to give, and that’s it.” That’s one extreme. They say, “Do what you are supposed to do, what you are told to do—these are your responsibilities, your duties.” The other extreme is, “Forget about it all—go live in the Himalayas, shave off your hair, and just retire. That’s it.”

No one says, “It doesn’t matter.” The person who has left everything and gone to the Himalayas wants to be happy. And the person who is in the middle of this world doing whatever he does wants to be happy. Happiness and the desire for happiness exist for both.

There are so many interpretations, and they are all based on the premise that you are confused. You cannot afford to be confused. There needs to be a distinct clarity in every step you take. You are not the master of this existence; you are an apprentice.

Be an apprentice. Learn something from life every single day because life is giving you the opportunity to learn. The value of each breath is being taught. The value of this existence is being taught. How important it is for you to be in peace is being taught.

As an apprentice, you learn and learn, and you do your best every day. Every day, you make that effort. Every day, you try to be a little more conscious. As an apprentice, you’re not there to pass judgment: “Today was a bad day!” It was a day.

Learn that, and when you begin to understand, the most amazing thing takes place. A real gratitude emanates from the heart, not from concepts. There’s a gratitude that doesn’t get covered by “please” and “thank you” because it’s so real. It moves me. It involves me—not a society or a concept—but me. It evokes my hunger, my thirst, my reality, my existence. When I feel that true gratitude, there are no words for it.

You will benefit from that consciousness. You will benefit from that realization. And yes, it is possible. You can have that joy. You can have peace in your life. It is possible amidst all the problems in the world.

Maharaji, Prem Rawat

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