LIFE CANNOT BE LIVED WITHOUT EXPECTATIONS.
Life cannot be lived without expectation. Now, what do we mean by expectation? That is the question. Because within expectation, there is planning. If you want to go on a journey, you have got to plan your route. And by planning your route, it would imply that you expect to reach New York if you are going to New York.
If we are bound on the mundane level by expectation, how should the expectation be handled?
These little expectations are the things that make the world run. But in the expectation, the quality that is required, the quality which would not bind you, would be non-attachment. If you were attached to an idea, then you would feel disappointed. But disappointment would not be there if you were not attached to the idea contained within the expectation.
You cannot live a life free of expectation. That kind of freedom comes at a far later stage when you are just about to merge away into the Divine. Then you do not expect the mergence, for even expecting the mergence with Divinity is also a form of attachment, an attachment to the idea.
STRENGTH IS WHAT WE TEACH
All externalities can have no effect if we have the strength within. And that is what we teach. Strength, hope and courage!
Let all calamities come, and by facing them, the calamities dwindle. We need that strength. We need to strengthen ourselves in such a way that come what may, we accept it. I accept the responsibility for what comes my way and will do something about it.
Expectations can be used constructively or destructively, depending on how much you are attached to them.
Planning is necessary. You plan to drive from here to San Francisco, and you Are not going to drive expecting to have a puncture or the car breaking down. The drive would be unenjoyable then because what would loom in your mind is the thought of the puncture or the breakdown, not the beautiful scenery that you are passing.
The journey of life becomes a living hell instead of a living heaven. And yet, we expect to reach San Francisco. But what is the idea in the mind? The puncture and the breakdown or the beautiful scenery on the way?
THE SECRET BEHIND EXPECTATIONS
There lies the secret behind expectations. With a little conscious effort and a little positive thought, one can definitely and truly change one’s entire pattern of thought, which is another word for expectation because thought is the main constituent of expectation. People who do not expect in this practical, daily life would be people without any mind. They should be in a lunatic asylum. They become mindless.
Having the strength, fearlessness, confidence, and all the expectations that I have are potentially divine, and within my expectations, being of divine nature, no disappointment can befall me. Do you see how practical it is?
Again, we come to the attitude of life. As we proceed through life with all the expectations, acceptable, but do not be attached to the expectations, and no disappointment can befall. When there is no disappointment, then the result is joy. Then, you fulfil your appointment with destiny. Destiny is knowing one’s inner self. Therefore, the Bible keeps saying, “Man, know thyself.”
Knowing thyself as man includes all the opposites, for life can only exist here employing polarities. There has to be contraction and expansion. Without expansion, there is no contraction. Without contraction, there can be no expansion.
When we say that we live with expectations and are not attached to expectations, we automatically rise beyond the polarities, beyond pain and pleasure. We rise above it and find that equilibrium. You function within that equilibrium. The waters have become still, and you swim in the still, transparent, beautiful water. That is what we are doing. We are swimming in this world that is called life.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1980 – 03
