Don’t Expect

Baba Ji explains that pain comes from expectation. He points out that if we expect something from another as a reward for what we have done, we will definitely be disappointed.

Consider first the karmic arena in which the Lord has placed us: Whether we are married or single, healthy or sick, employed or not, part of a family or alone, don’t most of our problems stem from expecting something from another party?

Second, any dissatisfaction we feel about this path usually comes from our expectation, built up by an intellectual concept of how we think we should spiritually progress, based upon the effort we feel we have made.

In most cases, isn’t our expectation rooted in pride? We think first about what we should be getting rather than considering what we should be giving.

Baba Ji further elaborates that when we stop expecting things from everyone else and focus instead on what we should be doing for the reality within us – our soul – we experience contentment and peace of mind. It is difficult to do this at our level, entangled in the world and slaves to the mind as we are. But as all the Masters reiterate, when our first priority is turning inward to the Lord, nothing is impossible.

When initiated, we should do our simran and bhajan without expectation. The Lord and the Master, omnipotent and omniscient, will make us conscious of the Holy Name, the Shabd which will take us homewards. Only beyond the mind regions, will our pride be overcome.