Today, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj delivered the last program of his current stay in Chicagoland before departing on his world travels. The spiritual Master spoke of the many gifts we have been blessed with that can help us progress spiritually. He said we often focus on developing virtues such as nonviolence, compassion, love, and truthfulness. However, we forget the most important virtue of all: gratitude.
Gratitude to God brings tremendous joy into our lives. Through an interesting anecdote, we were reminded that we can choose to adopt an optimistic outlook on life or a pessimistic one. All that happens, though it may not seem so at the time, is for our highest well-being. Yet, we tend to focus on what we do not have or wish to have, forgetting to express gratitude for all we have been given.
God loves us tremendously and has blessed us with many gifts. Sant Rajinder Singh Ji outlined many of the blessings we have received. First, our soul has the human form, the only life form with all the faculties required to know God. As humans we can discriminate between right and wrong and find our way back to God. Second, among over eight billion people living in this world, relatively few have been blessed with the desire to find God. These individuals question the deeper meaning of life and embark on a spiritual quest to discover life’s true purpose. This yearning for God is the second greatest blessing. An intense desire to find God does not go unanswered. God connects such souls with a spiritual Master who can guide them back to God.
Sant Rajinder Singh Ji said that our lives are better than we think. We may bemoan the challenges that come our way, but, in hindsight, we find that even the challenges in our past served a purpose. When we are grateful to God for all that life brings, we begin to live by the principle of “sweet is Thy will,” trusting that God knows what is best for us. Life becomes peaceful, loving, and calm as we live in this manner. The key to experiencing God in our lives and growing in gratitude is to sit in silence and connect with God’s love and Light.
