Gratitude: The Baskets of Prayers

[Guest guest]

The Baskets of Prayers

By Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj

Sat Sandesh, January/February

2005

There is a story about how God sent two angels to earth to listen to the

prayers of humanity. One angel was asked to collect all the prayers in which

people asked God for something. The other angel was asked to collect all the

prayers of thanksgiving.

The two angels descended to earth and began their task. They agreed to meet

back in a month with their results. The angel collecting prayers asking God for

something, soon became extremely busy. There were prayers that people had to

help them earn more money, or get a windfall, or win a lottery. There were

prayers for God to cure people of illnesses. There were many prayers for

improved health for one’s children, spouse, parents, siblings, relatives,

and friends. The angel filled the basket with prayers that people had for

worldly objects such as a bigger house, newer car, latest computer, jewelry,

expensive clothing, and for their children, new toys. Some people prayed to God

for a husband or wife, for children, or better relationships. There were so

many prayers asking for things that the angel had to obtain a van while on

earth to carry them all around!

In the meantime the other angel traveled far and wide looking to fill the

basket with prayers of thankfulness. One day passed, two days passed, three

days passed, but no prayers of gratitude were heard. The angel visited young

people and elderly people, men and women, people of all countries, all

religions, and all economic levels. Still not a prayer of thankfulness was

heard. All that this angel heard were the prayers asking for things. Wondering

whether it was missing something, the angel got on the angel hot-line to

contact the other angel and ask whether its basket of prayers was being filled.

“Oh, yes, I have not only filled one basket, but have filled many

more,” said the angel. “But in all my collecting, I have not heard

any prayers of thankfulness either.”

For the rest of the month, the two angels fulfilled their mission, and were

ready to return to God. The angel collecting prayers of requests was laden with

many baskets. The angel collecting prayers of thankfulness had hardly any in

the basket. There were a few prayers of thankfulness, but a tiny amount

compared to the prayers of requests.

When God was presented with their findings, God sighed. “This is nothing

new,” said God. “You now have a taste of what it is like being God.

People are always praying for something from me, which is all right because at

least they are thinking of me. But few ever thank me.”

This story illustrates our human condition. In life, many people request others

to do something for them, but how many people take an equal amount of time to

thank them. Similarly, we pray to God for so many things that we want, but how

many take the time to thank God?

It is said that the post office receives millions of letters from children

addressed to Santa Claus before Christmas. Yet, they notice that after

Christmas, year after year, very few children send a letter to Santa thanking

him for the toys they received.

The closest we may come to understanding what it must be like for God to find a

full basket when it comes to requests from God, but an empty basket when it

comes to thanks to God is the plight of those who are parents or teachers. Only

a parent or teacher knows what it is like to give and give and give to

one’s child or students and receive ungratefulness in return. Similarly,

it is such a thrill for the parent or teacher to receive thanks and gratitude

from their children for what they do for them. It is not that they do not

sacrifice and serve selflessly, but it is a matter of personal joy and

satisfaction that the gift of love that they give is received and appreciated.

Let us recount the many things for which we owe our gratitude to God.

First, we are extremely fortunate that our soul was born into a human body. If

we look around at all the various species of life, we see what a horrible

existence they have. If we live in a city, most of the contact we have with

animals is limited to visiting zoos, seeing animals sold as pets, and observing

the birds, insects, and reptiles around us. We probably have seen movies,

television programs, and documentaries about animals. They have a life of

suffering in which they worry about from where their food will come, finding shelter

from the elements, and living in constant fear of predators. Most of them have

a short life that often ends tragically. Even pets are still enslaved. Pets

still cannot benefit from knowing who they are and finding God. They lack the

faculty that humans have in which we can think and be conscious of who we are.

The animals’ lives are restricted to feelings and survival instincts, but

they cannot contemplate who they are, why they are here, and where they are

going. Thus, we are fortunate that we have been born into the only species

created by God who can know who we are and know the Lord. For this, we should

thank God every day of our lives.

How many thank God for our health? When we are in the throes of a serious

illness, or have an accident and are in pain, we send up loud prayers to God to

help us, to take away our pain, and to heal us. But how many of us send up

prayers to God in gratitude for our health? We may utter a “Thank

God,” when our illness ends or our pain ends, but then we do not thank God

for each day thereafter that we are healthy.

There are a few people who undergo a tremendous amount of pain and they remain

grateful on days when they are pain-free and thank God for that. But most of us

take our health for granted. Even if we have some physical problems, some pain

that we all live with to some degree, we should still thank God that we can get

up in the morning, go to work, and enjoy our life without being limited in the

mobility of our various faculties. If we find that we spend time complaining to

God about our physical condition, but it is still bearable and we can still

function, we should take a look at those who have serious handicaps. When we

see how dependent they must be on others, we can reevaluate our own situation

and see how fortunate we are. There are people who have handicaps yet they are

grateful that they are alive or that their suffering is not worse than it is.

They have learned to be grateful to God for whatever blessings they do have.

So, let us thank God for our health. As we look at our ailments, we should be

grateful they are not worse than they are. Let us thank God for each day that

we are able to do our work, enjoy our family and friends, and are able to sit

in meditation.

Next, we should be grateful to God for providing us enough money to have food

in our stomachs, a roof over our heads, and clothing to wear. There are people

all over the world who are starving to death, who have no homes, and cannot

afford clothing. In many countries now, there are enough social services to get

assistance for food, such as food stamps. There are also soup kitchens

sponsored by charitable organizations, places to get clothing donated by

others, and homeless shelters. But there are people born in the world who have

no access to these services. So each day we should thank God that we do not

have to worry about food, clothing, and shelter.

We should be grateful to God for our jobs to help support ourselves and our

families. There are times we may be without work, but somehow God seems to

provide for us so that a job appears when we most need it to keep us going.

There are so many things we take for granted. We do not realize that there are

places around the world where people cannot get any work at all and cannot

support themselves and their families.

We should be grateful to God for our education. Again, education helps us have

many more options in our life and career. We have choices for the subjects we

want to learn and in which fields we wish to specialize. There are many people

who do not have the education to have choices, and must take any work they

find, even if they do not like it. In some places, if you do not have an

education you can only work in certain jobs, and they may be overfilled as

well, with no chance to find work. So we can thank God daily for the education

we have and how it has helped us in our lives.

We should thank God for our family, our spouses, our parents, our children, and

our relatives. We often find a million reasons to complain about members of our

family, but we seldom realize how helpful it is to have a family. Some of us

may be living alone now, but when we were growing up, we had a family. Think

about how difficult life would be without parents, siblings, a spouse,

children, or relatives. Friends can only help us so far, but family members are

committed to being there for us through thick and thin. They are there when we

are sick. They are there when we have no money and they tide us over. They are

there to listen to our problems, and they are there to help us. They may not

have the greatest personalities and may have many emotional problems of their

own, but think of how difficult our lives would be without them. So, we often

find reason to complain to God about our family members, but how many thank God

that we have them? Oftentimes, we only appreciate them when we lose them

through death or separation. So let us take time to thank God for them and also

show them how much we appreciate them. When was the last time we told our close

ones that we love and appreciate them? So let us make that a part of our

thanksgiving celebration, so we can add our thanks to the basket of the angel

who collected prayers of gratitude.

Life is more than just our material and physical comfort, or our intellectual

achievements. There is another aspect of life for which we need to be grateful

to God. Many people live and die without ever knowing who they are, their

relationship to the Lord, or who God is. Some saints from the past used to be

very strong in their words when conveying spiritual truth. Some would say that

the lives of human beings were not much better than that of animals if one does

not know one’s self and know God.

In this connection, a man went to heaven and God told him that he was lucky to

have had a human form. The man asked God, “Why are humans so

special?” God said, “Peep down upon earth and you will see what

makes humans so special.” So, God first showed the man the insects.

“See the insects,” said God. “Notice that the ants and the

crawling creatures all have their heads down towards the earth. Even the bees

and mosquitoes fly around with their heads looking down.” The man said,

“Yes, I can see that.” God said, “Now, look at the reptiles.

The snakes and lizards crawl around with their head facing down to the

earth.”

Next, God showed the man the birds, saying, “Even though the birds fly,

their heads are always pointing down to the earth. You don’t see any

birds with their heads flying face up, do you?” The man said, “No,

You are right. They all fly with their beaks down facing the earth.” God

said, “Now look at the mammals. They all crawl around the earth on four

legs, with their heads hanging down.” The man said, “So, what makes

human beings different?” God said, “Humans are the only creatures

that can look up. They are the only ones that can lift their sights from the

world to see God in the spiritual realms above.” Thus, human beings have

been blessed by God with a special faculty by which we can gain spiritual

knowledge. That opportunity is offered to every human being, but few make use

of it.

God sends us continual messages hoping to call us back Home. God sends saints,

mystics, and prophets to the earth to awaken the desire in humanity to find God

and return to their true Home. Some people remain only engaged in taking care

of their physical, emotional, and intellectual needs. But some begin to

question their existence and the meaning of life and death. When a sincere

desire to know the answers awakens, God provides a means to help that soul find

the answers.

If sometime in our life we have asked questions about who we are, is there God,

and what the purpose of life is, we should be grateful to God. If God has put

us in touch with a saint or Master through which we can find the answers, we

should be eternally grateful to God. Once we come under the protective wings of

a Master, our emancipation is ensured. The Master is committed to see us come

Home. He offers us a way to gain knowledge of our true self and of God. Through

the process of initiation, the Master opens our inner eye and ear to see and

hear the Light and Sound of God. On this current of Light and Sound, our soul

transcends body-consciousness and traverses through inner regions of the

astral, causal, and supracausal regions, until we come to the region of

all-consciousness, all truth, all Light, called Sach Khand. It is there our

soul merges back into God. What a gift God has offered us! It is for us to be

grateful for this gift.

The gift can be put to best use if used, though. It is not enough to receive a

gift and not open the package. This is a gift we do not want to leave on the

shelf unopened. As Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj would say, “Of what

use is the medicine given by the doctor if it is kept on the shelf!” The

spiritual gifts are only useful if used. To use them, we need to meditate.

Hazur would also say that he went around to each disciple with his basket of

spiritual gifts every morning at three o’clock, but found them sleeping.

Thus, he had to return with a full basket because there were few to whom he

could distribute the wealth of Naam. By daily meditation, our soul can achieve

reunion with God. Thus, we are the only species that can make use of that gift.

We are the only species who can know itself as soul and realize that it is a

part of God. So let us make use of that gift by sitting in meditation for at

least two and a half hours daily. In this way, we can avail of the gift of Naam

given to us by the Masters and slowly and steadily reach our true Home in the

lap of God.

The next time the two angels are sent by God to come to earth to collect the

prayers of human beings, let us not disappoint the one collecting prayers of

thanksgiving. Let us be among those who can thank God for the gifts we have

received. We should thank God for our human birth. We should thank God for our

health. We should thank God for our food, clothing, and shelter. We should

thank God for our families. We should thank God for our education. We should

thank God for our work.

Those who have come to the feet of a great Master should thank God for leading

them to someone who can take them back to God. But we should not just thank God

with words. We should thank God with our deeds. The deed most appreciated by

God is that we put the teachings of the Masters into practice. We can do so by

meditating daily so we can connect with the Light and Sound of God. We can do

so by leading ethical lives of nonviolence, truthfulness, chastity, humility,

and selfless service. We can further help ourselves by attending satsang. In

this way, we can differentiate our lives from that of the lesser creatures who

do not have such a golden opportunity to find God.

Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj has written the most beautiful prayer of

gratitude in one of his verses:

With every breath I must bow to my Friend,

For I owe my life to his grace.

Let us each learn to pray as he did. Let us consider how we owe our physical

life to God, but our spiritual life to the grace of the Master. It is God who

sent us into the world, but it is the Master who will take us back to God. For

that we should be eternally grateful. We can show our gratitude by taking the

steps laid out by the Masters and return to God in the shortest possible time. §