26-2-2005 (Pune)

Talk by Ellaeenah:

Gratitude.

Gratitude comes in different forms and generally, when we think of gratitude and being grateful, we look at the ‘good’ things that happen to us, in our lives, and we are grateful for them. So I could say that I’m really grateful for having two such beautiful children and I am, at present, truly, truly grateful for my beautiful niece living with us for a considerably long period of time. These are the wonderful things that are happening in my life. I am grateful for being who I am. I am grateful for the huge amount of growth that is happening to me, which I am so aware of, every moment. But those are the nice things. Those are the easy ones to be grateful for. It’s easy to say ‘thank you’ when someone offers you a chocolate cake, but it’s very difficult to say ‘thank you’ when someone takes it away from you and says ‘starve’. We don’t ever think of saying ‘thank you’ to that person. And, true gratitude is in that. True gratitude is to those people, events and incidents in your life that are tough.

Have you ever tried roller-skating? If you have a very good pair of roller-skates and a very, very smooth marble floor, you will skate even if you are not very adept at it, and it will be very easy. But once the skates get old and they get worn out and the floor gets bumpy, then your skill at roller-skating is truly shown. We have come into this world to show our skill at living, not in existing; ‘existing’ anyone can do. But we have come to show that we are skilled in the art of living and if our roller skates were smooth at all times and the universe gave us a wonderfully polished marble floor, how would we boast about how skilled we are? So we need the bumps on that floor and we need our skates to get old and worn out and shabby, ugly; those are the skates we resist putting on. Have you ever resisted putting on a new pair of shoes? It’s what is ugly that we resist, but it is in that, that we show our skill and when anyone gives you the opportunity to prove to yourself, again and again and again, how skilled you are in the art of living, you must say thank you.

That’s the attitude of gratitude; to turn around to that person who puts you down, to that person who invades your space, to that person who disrespects you, to that person who behaves high and mighty so that you feel small, to that person who gives you the biggest lesson your life can ever put before you. They are the bumps in your road. But it is on that road that you will show the skill you have accumulated over lifetimes.

And the universe is so wonderful; to those of us who are not very skilled, they give the marble floor, but to those of us who are ‘professional’ at it, they give us the dusty road. They say, “No polishing for you at all. What the hell are you a professional for? Are you an amateur? Yes, if you are an amateur, take the marble floor but if you want to shout out to the universe that ‘I am a professional at this’ then the dusty road is the one you follow.” And what are the roller skates they will give you? The worst pair in the closet; maybe the wheel will also be loose so that you cannot even find your balance on it unless you are very, very skilled. So let’s thank the universe for the bumps on the road, for the dust, the rocks, the rubble, for those very, very worn out roller skates and for all those people and all those events that give us the opportunity to tell the universe, “I am a Master”. That’s gratitude.