Divine Words of wisdom by Sathya Sai Baba – On Gratitude 1. You need to show gratitude for everything you receive Your browser does not support the audio element. 2003-04-02 Document Download Audio Social Share Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Description One has experienced so much. Having experienced so much how is one showing the gratitude? God does not expect anything in return and He does not wait for it. But one must do one’s duty. One must express one’s gratitude. An ungrateful person is worse than the worst. People experience much, receive much and progress in many ways and therefore should be grateful to the persons from whom they have received. “Matrudevo bhava, pitru devo bhava,” mother is God. Father is God. A mother carries the child in the womb for nine months, makes many sacrifices and endures many pains in bringing up the child. How grateful must one be to such a mother?! That is why is said, “Mother is God.” She is like God to a child. “Pitru devo bhava”, father is God. A father looks after the child sacrificing his own comforts and providing for the child financially. What gratitude is one showing to such father? The kind of gratitude expressed towards one’s parents today will be received by one from one’s children in future. People speak enduringly in front of others but foster wicked thoughts inside. This amounts to demonic nature. Demons are courageous at night and during day they are powerless. Night is likened to all things wicked. Ignorance is night. Day symbolises wisdom. In the darkness of ignorance one only encounters bad and wicked things. Only demons would want the darkness of ignorance. People wanting wickedness cannot be called as humans. Man is the child of immortality. Human birth is the rarest of all births. It is big mistake to behave like a demon having taken birth as a human. Even animals show some kind of gratitude and love. But today’s man has no limits and has no gratitude. Hence one must redeem one’s human birth by living like a human. Every human is an embodiment of the divine. There is none in the whole of the universe who is not divine.   2. Are youth having any gratitude towards society Your browser does not support the audio element. 2002-04-13 Document Download Audio Social Share Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Description The main quality gifted to man by God is “gratitude”. In the ancient culture of Bharath, it was the tradition to offer “surya namaskara”- salutations to the Sun god. There is an interesting word in the hymns of salutations- “krutagnyagnyaya namaha!” The glory of the Sun god is present in man in a miniature form as sight of the eyes. “chandrama manaso jathaha, chaksho suryo ajayatha!!—moon is the presiding deity of the mind and that of the eyes is Sun.” The man who forgets all the help extended to him is an ungrateful wretch with eyes of no use. Such people can be called blind people as Sun withdraws His light from that person’s eyes. One should never forget the help received. One may give up one’s life but never the quality of gratitude. One receives so many favours and so much help but one is not mindful of those due to selfishness. Man is leading such foolish life today, how can such men be called as humans?   4. One needs to have gratitude towards society