Gurudev : Which is better, to thank deeply or superficially?
Everyone in unison : Deeply!
Gurudev : No, superficially. (Everyone is baffled.) Thanking needs a separation. Thanking means there are two. If you are deeply thankful, it means you deeply feel the separation.
Deep within there is no need to thank, because there is one-ness. But superficially you can thank. Thanks are like ripples on the surface of the water.
When you say "Thank you," you complete something. You are finishing a transaction, a relationship, a process. "Thank you" is like "good bye." You can complete all transactions at a surface level, but deeper inside is only one-ness.
Thankfulness always exists in relation to something else. You don't thank for nothing at all, you thank for something. But in this case, something is less than nothing! At the deepest level, thanking has no meaning. Does one hand thank the other hand? The deeper you go, you see there is no "other" to be thanked.
John : So we should thank superficially and feel deeply?
Gurudev: Feeling is also superficial. If you think the feeling is the depth, then you have not gone deep. Feeling is deeper than thinking. But feelings change. Whatever is the deepest doesn't change.
So thank superficially, not from the depth. Deep thanks indicate deep separation!
Steve : Maybe we should say, "I thank you from the tip of my tongue"! (Laughter.)
