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Individual 1: [male]
I feel grateful in life if I have a job where I can work with my heart....
Individual 2: [female]
It’s being thankful, thankful for things you have, and you just feel.
Individual 3: [male]
You can’t explain it, man, it just, you know, it’s a warm fuzzy feeling—like just being appreciative of what everyone has done for me, around me....
Individual 4: [male]
There’s definitely not enough gratitude in the world. And I feel like people who don’t feel gratitude are typically like, more sad and like, depressed and like, kind of grumpy and gloomy all the time....
Individual 5: [female]
Gratitude, actually, to me, is having a heart of appreciation—you’re not thankful because you’ve got everything. But you are thankful for that which you already have.
Prem Rawat:
True gratitude is felt when the heart is full. Gratitude has the power to transform you—because it fulfills you. It is not created by you, but emerges from you. And it is felt by the heart and expressed by the heart.
Continuing onscreen text:
PROJECT: GRATITUDE
Prem Rawat:
I’m so glad that I’m here—and have this opportunity to talk about something that’s very profound—very misinterpreted but nonetheless, very profound. And of course, I’m talking about gratitude. Now, why is it misinterpreted—because people say to themselves, “Oh, I should feel more thankful in my life.” But you don’t. That’s the fact. Should you; yes.
That’s like, you know, making a New Year’s resolution. But you don’t go through with it—because what will you do the next year? You need to keep that one going, so you can say, “Oh, yeah, yeah, this year I’ll do it; this year I’ll do it.” And this is how we work.
But true gratitude is not manufactured; it’s real. It comes from within you—when the things are right. (Not when they are wrong. When things are right.) So, what are the things that have to be right for the truest gratitude to flow from a human being? One of the things that has to happen is there has to be appreciation—but appreciation of what?
Interestingly enough, a few days ago, (it was at nighttime and I was up). And in my bathroom, I have a notepad. So, I wrote something on the notepad—and what I wrote was, “S-L-Y”—which of course, in English is “sly.” (Which is not such a nice word.) “S-L-Y.”
So, there it is—what does that mean? (“S-L-Y.”) And what had come to my mind that night was, “Someone loves you.” Just that, “Someone loves you.” So, instead of writing “Someone loves you,” (it was dark), I just wrote “S-L-Y.”
Now of course, who is this “someone”? (Immediately, “someone.”) Well, the “S” could go for “something.” It doesn’t have to be “someone,” it could also be “something loves you.”
It’s like, pointless—to even, even try to figure out who that “someone” is, because you don’t have the capacity to figure.... You can have an imagination, but your imagination will fall short of the reality of who that “someone” is.
So, knowing that is a futile attempt, I don’t even go there. “Hah, but ‘loves you!’” That’s good. And how do I know this? I know this because this gift of breath comes to me. I have been given an opportunity to be alive.
And it is merely looking at the gifts that I have been given.... And it’s taken a long time in my life, a long time in my life to realize the gifts that I have been given outweigh all the problems I have in my life.
So, I’m working my way towards getting to that point where you can appreciate, and once you can appreciate something, (right?), you can then have gratitude.
But when we come across our problem, we are so intrigued by that problem, and so willing to find a resolution to that problem that we blind ourselves to still, what is going on around us—that this breath still comes into me. That I still have an ocean of answers in me.
That I have an ocean of clarity in me. That I have an ocean of kindness in me. That I have an ocean of joy in me. That I have simplicity in my life. That I have light in me—these things, regardless of what is happening.
You see, in Australia it was the first time I talked about these two walls—and they’re like the big-time walls, right? The one wall you come out of—and then there is another wall you go through—and you’re gone. So, you come out of one wall and you’re here—and then there is the other wall. And then you hit that wall and you’re gone.
Where you go, nobody knows. You’d like to know. Because you’re so curious about everything—you like to know—like, if it’s going to make any difference. It isn’t. But you like to know.
Why are you not curious about the force—the force that keeps these two walls separated? They could have been like this—one after another, “Whhit, whhit, gone!” And they do. Sometimes that happens. But for you, this was pried open.
And people, I know, in certain stories—there are stories like this in India and of course, in the West as well—where the ocean was parted. This is more than the ocean parting. This is the two walls that would love to be just together—and they’ve been forced open. And the amount of force that it takes, amount of force that it takes to pry these two walls apart is immense!
And what is that force? It is expressed to you—that force that is so powerful, so powerful that it can separate those two walls—expresses itself to you in the most gentlest of ways you can imagine, as a breath coming in and going out. And so far that keeps happening, my friends, those two walls cannot touch each other—and that’s it.
What appreciation do you have of that? What appreciation do you have of that? Do you know the value of kindness in your life? Do you know the value of clarity in your life? Do you know the value of joy in your life?
So, that “someone” who loves you has given you these to use as you wish, as much as you wish. You think there is a limit to kindness? You think you will ever run out of kindness—ever? Can you technically run out of kindness; is it possible for you to run out of kindness? No! Is it possible for you to run out of joy? No!
But when those problems come, we choose sadness (in that self-pity) rather than the joy and still celebrating life, and still celebrating that these two walls are still pried apart.
When people talk to me, who know, who can smell the other wall—they can smell—and you can smell the other wall, by the way. It has a smell. And you can smell it; it’s in the air—it’s like, (sniff, sniff), nasty. It’s coming, as you get closer and closer and closer.
I say to them, “No matter what happens, remember this breath. Remember this is a gift.” A gift is not measured in quantity, by weight, by volume. A gift is measured in the generosity of the giver—that even this was made possible.
That inside of you resides this most amazing experience. Most—absolutely the most amazing experience, an experience of those very things, of that very power, of that very, (uhh, what can I say), that is prying the two walls apart. And all it requires is for you to know how to turn within and tap into it, just witnessing. Just witnessing.
And such is the power of this—such is the power of this that it leaves you with peace. Such is the power of this that it leaves you in that simple, profound joy.
And all of a sudden, slowly, everything starts to fall away. Everything doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the ride itself, the ride with the breath—to slide with this breath, like those waves in the ocean, this breath coming in, this mighty force that has been made so gentle, holding apart those two walls: “I exist—and I appreciate my existence.”
And when, unencumbered—when, unencumbered! Unencumbered. When that question that I asked, “Who is that ‘someone,’” that has never been answered.... It has never been answered. And that question is still there. (I’m a human being. I have that question like you do.)
But I have ridden that board; I have ridden that moment called now. And now I got an answer—here’s the tricky part—I got an answer to a question that I hadn’t even asked. And I’m satisfied, even though that one question still remains unanswered.
And it’s okay; I’m full! I’m not full because of some thing, but I have found the fullness of my clarity in me. I have taken that plunge and dove in—and loved, and know....
I know I did not touch the bottom. And for as far as I could see, I saw clarity. There was no end. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve taken a dive in the ocean of kindness—and I did not touch the bottom. I didn’t even try. And I was overwhelmed by its vastness.
I am full—because I have been shown the fullness of this life. This is what you should do too. I tell you this—I tell you this because if I can do it, you can do it.
