Bodhi Shuddhaanandaa
(Formerly Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari)
It is one thing to be happy when our expectations are fulfilled. But how do we sustain it? Can we keep the externals in our control all the time? Can we overcome the internal loop of anxieties and worries as we wish? How do we sustain happiness? Only when we connect to the Source within, the Peace within, the infinite ocean of Bliss within can we sustain it eternally. Never before! As we transform our inner world, we see life is an opportunity that we don’t want to miss!
We can never solve the problems of our life by solving the problems; this is the first lesson we need to learn in life. We need to first understand we have to set right our inner home first by living in our own mind where we create an environment of least expectations, perseverance and unwavering faith and trust in the divine who resides in our own heart.
We come to the world not only for ourselves. Our wives, husbands, children, parents, and society all have reasonable and useful expectations for us. Alas, we cannot go to a quiet monastery, or deep in the jungle, and automatically find peace. There are problems there, too. We need to find God through our daily prayers so that we find happiness in everything we do in our householder life.
Many times we face situations that are not up to our expectations. They say, man proposes and God disposes. BUT God never disposes; H/She is so intensely loving that nothing but the ‘good’ of the child could be the divine design.
We can rest assured that our sincere prayers are always granted. Maybe not in the time frame of our mind’s expectations, but the Higher Intelligence knows what is best for our evolution of consciousness. So the timing of the grant is always in the hands of the Divine.
When we talk of unfulfilled prayers, we are talking of prayers that had expectations to begin with. Prayer with a wish list is no prayer at all. Sincere prayers have never gone unheard. Sincere prayer has no expectations, but deepest gratitude, deepest communion with the whole of existence.
Ego creates that illusion of incompleteness and pulls our mind out to the world of expectations and attachments bringing all pains and sufferance in life. Our emptiness is only due to our lack of awareness of our inner fullness, the Divine within. Our need for all the externals is only a distraction from the reality that we are complete within ourselves. As we pray and meditate we realize that when we are unplugged from all distractions of the external world we experience an ecstasy that is unparalleled. We are not our ego but an ever-blissful soul unscathed by any external contaminations. We are peace, we are love, we are whole and holy.
Mind has a tendency to feel depressed if the outcome is not as per our plans or expectations. But let us take note of the Wisdom “You have rights to duty but not to rewards thereof” (Bhagavad Gita). If we find time to sit quietly and connect to Divine within, then we will learn to trust in the infinite intelligence of the Divine and put all our heart into our efforts and leave the results to the safest hands of the benevolent Universe. True success is when we are no longer clinging to results but all our actions are offering to our Beloved with prayers “May Thy Will be done”.
Furthermore when our mind is restless we hardly can help others. We need to first calm down, spend time observing our breath and breathe with love and joy. Then we pray to the Lord of our heart without the contamination of any expectations, as we do what we can to help.
When we give we are miserly, we count what we get in return. But when we watch Nature we see that she gives to us in abundance. God gives to us through million ways. Yet we pin all our expectations on those who are miserly when it comes to giving, sharing, and caring. We forget that if only we could have used the same energy to love God and converse with Him through our prayers, thoughts, feelings and emotions, through our experiences, then we would move faster on our way to freedom from self created shackles and bondages. Let us give our love first to the Divine whose love for us is unconditional, and then feel the love that comes from everything that embodies God. Let us live to experience the glory of love beyond expectations.
