Gratefulness: The Only True Prayer There is

Written by Naren on March 15, 2009

In today’s world, the word “prayer” seems to have lost its true value and meaning. Rarely can we find a person who prays for no reason at all. Whenever you see that somebody is praying, surely something is wrong. He is praying for money, job, success, and so on... Or, he prays and remembers God when he is in deep trouble and utterly helpless.

There always seems to be something hidden in our prayers. I don’t deem this activity as a prayer at all, because it’s not authentic and truthful. It’s not a pure song coming out of our joyful heart. It is more like dry, dull prose soaked in our selfish desires. Thus to me, this type of prayer is simply a begging, asking, requesting, or petitioning to the unknown, divine, or God for the things that we have always wanted and may have failed to achieve by ourselves. Hence, our prayer sounds more like a demand, a dull, irritating melody of complaints and grumbles. We only pray when we want something badly. We pray when we fail. We pray because we think life has stripped us of all the right opportunities. We pray because our jealous mind cannot tolerate other’s success. Others have more; I don’t have that much…

How can we call this a prayer? There is nothing joyful in it. There are no signs of truth, authenticity, and pure innocence in it. It’s just a sorrowful lamentation of our unfulfilled, trembling soul, which is immensely thirsty – thirsty for big dreams, high hopes, and sky-soaring ambitions.

We complain and whine about life. We complain about God, or the existence. We blame them for our miseries and failures, and for not having provided enough opportunities, but have we even paid a single thought to what has been given to us? Existence has bestowed us with so much, and all for free, in abundance, without asking anything in return. And look what we do? We grudge, complain, and go on demanding without offering gratitude for anything that has been given to us.

I would say for this selfish behavior of ours we don’t even deserve all these blessings. Still, existence keeps on showering us with immense joy. And, what have we done? What have we given to the existence? Not even a single word of thankfulness or the silence of gratitude.

But, look around. Look at the beauty of nature. Look at yourself. Such beautiful eyes to enjoy all the beauty. We have been given consciousness, which can attain the highest peak allowing us to flower like Buddha, Lao Tzu, Gurdjieff, Christ, or Zarathustra… I mean, what have we really done to deserve such a beautiful heart, which is capable of blossoming in love. Moreover, what have we really done to deserve this life, where we could utilize its utmost potential to experience profound bliss and ecstasy…

Meerkat Manor

The other day, I was watching “Meerkat Manor.” It’s a beautiful, television documentary series that depicts the real life and death events of a group of meerkats called “Whiskers” in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. Life is difficult for these little animals. They work hard for their daily survival while protecting themselves from the birds of prey hovering above, dangerous predators crawling all around, as well as from their arch-rival gangs of other meerkats known as “Lazuli.”

Now, if anybody has the right to complain, than these little animals do. But, they seem perfectly content. They have accepted life with utmost courage as it comes and the challenges that life brings.

Look at the trees, the birds… Do they complain? And, look at us, humans. We are never content and are hard to please. Humans live such a miserable life, never happy. Always running here and there, chasing relentlessly mundane dreams, and caught up in the trivial affairs of life.

Demand or Prayer

Then, what? We demand. And we have given a beautiful name to that demand, a prayer.

Humans are the most selfish animal on the planet. We take everything for granted. We have done nothing, yet existence has provided us with so much, out of love and compassion. Yet, we complain about not having enough. We are unsatisfied. Our lack of satisfaction is nobody’s fault but our own. We cannot blame this on others; it is our own inability and lack of understanding to see things in clarity that has prevented us from realizing the truth.

All we need is to open a small aperture of understanding in our being. A single ray of awareness is needed to realize that so much has already been given.

If we become aware of this, once this realization penetrates our soul, surely our whole being is bound to be filled with a tremendous surge of gratitude. Suddenly, the closed doors and windows of our hearts will open by themselves; the tears of gratitude will start flowing from our eyes as it will be impossible to contain the inexplicable waves of joy and bliss inside our being. Our ego, our array of fake personalities will dissolve, and we will start loving who we are. We won’t be demanding anymore. We won’t need to. Because then we will be utterly blissful and content simply because there is already so much available. And we had never even asked for it. For instance, we never asked for this tremendously beautiful universe. We never asked for this infinite sky, the deep blue ocean, the starry night, the beautiful birds soaring up high in freedom, and the green leaves dancing in the music of a cool and refreshing breeze. Yet, we are here, to enjoy, to live in delight and ecstasy. Look at the compassion of existence, God, divine, dhamma, Tao, Zen, give any name you like… All these have been given and available to us for no cost at all, and in abundance.

A Sincere Act of Gratefulness

So my suggestion is just to be a little grateful, even though existence hasn’t asked you to do so. Don’t make so much fuss about your life. It is the most gracious gift ever, so do not take it for granted. Enjoy it, live it, when you have it. It’s totally in your hands. You have the key. Open the door and the window of your heart. Allow the sunlight to enter there. Life is immensely beautiful and full of bliss; it’s beyond our imagination.

Let’s say you are dying of thirst, and a stream is flowing right next to you. Now, there is no way the water from the stream is going to rush to you and quench your thirst. The stream is flowing in its own direction. It cannot change its course just for you. You simply have to approach the stream, bow down a little, stretch your hands, and reach for the water. It is available to you. You just have to be a little receptive and humble, and then after you fulfill your thirst, just be a little thankful. Be grateful to the stream for letting you quench your thirst. Remember: the stream does not ask anything in return. You just have to be respectful and humble. Just a small, sincere act of gratefulness from your inner being. That’s it.

Likewise, in life, we have been blessed with millions of divine opportunities. I call them divine, because every moment, every breath, every beat of your heart is showering you with profound blissfulness and an experience of the divine. All that is needed is to bring the lamp of awareness a little closer and we can easily see, experience, and taste these moments. And it is absolutely possible. Enlightened souls like Bhagwan Buddha, Gurdjieff, Lao Tzu, Bhagwan Osho or Christ have been giving us a glimpse, a taste of this profound source of joy and blissfulness that life can offer each moment. But, we have closed the doors of our heart, and turned a deaf ear...

Final Thoughts

Like I have been insisting, just a little bit of awareness, alertness, watchfulness is needed from our side that life is not to be taken for granted. Just a simple flame of understanding that everything is already available without being asked. Just change our attitude of asking and begging, into thankfulness. Yes, we don’t need to do anything. Existence hasn’t asked us to pay for what has been offered to us. Then, why can’t we be just a little grateful? We don’t have to speak out loud or even utter a single word. Existence can hear even our silences. Just a feeling of gratefulness, just a drop of gratitude is enough unto itself.

This feeling of gratefulness that rises from the innermost core of your being is the truest prayer. All other prayers pale compared to this one. A single feeling of gratefulness that has made you realize why existence is showering so much for no reason is the only authentic prayer there is. Because, other prayers simply reduce you to the level of a grieving, ungrateful beggar, as you are simply asking, demanding, and begging. On the contrary, the gratefulness that arises from your heart is not entrenched in desire. It is purely a joyful song of gratitude, a true prayer, a sheer feeling of humble thankfulness.

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