Is expectation the cause of unhappiness?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
shall we accept that expectation is the biggest cause of unhappiness if so then what should we expect to keep ourselves happy and what should we not expect expectation is not the cause of unhappiness it is misdirected expectation so if you want to become completely expectationless it is actually impersonalist or voidist philosophy because it is the nature of consciousness to perceive and when we perceive some things naturally we will desire some things after perceiving we want some things so the Vedanta Sutra tells us enquire about spirituality when will we enquire when we have some expectation of getting some answers if a person says we may usually talk about expectation in terms of say desires you know I expect I will get this I expect I will get that but even in terms of the Vedanta Sutra is telling us to enquire that means there are certain intellectual expectations I will get some answers so if you become expectationless it is not possible also but if you try to become that way there will be nothing left for us to motivate us in life so it is not that expectation is the problem what is misdirected expectation misdirected expectation means that we want to actually become competitors to Krishna that means we want to become the central enjoyers and we think whatever field I am in that I will become the number one I will become the best and I will become all attractive if not all attractive as attractive as possible and in that way we basically try to become competitors of Krishna but at the same time because we are parts of Krishna Krishna is all attractive and just as Krishna attracts everyone we also have a nature to attract others because we are mamai vamsa jival but rather than being competitors we are meant to be cooperators with Krishna so when we serve Krishna at that time also we become a devotee becomes spiritually attractive if you look at Prabhupada he was a 70 year old man from India and here there were western people who were hippies they would not respect even their own elders so what was it that attracted them to Prabhupada that is Krishna is all attractive that was manifesting through him in some way so when we strive to become servants of Krishna and our expectation is Krishna please keep me engaged in your service as we chant that is the expectation that we have Krishna please engage me in your service so that is the expectation how we serve, where we serve all that may change but if we focus primarily on Krishna please give me the strength to serve you please keep me engaged in your service with that expectation when we move forward in life we will see that Krishna will give us more and more fulfilling, more and more stimulating more and more challenging services but we will grow through those services so rather than thinking that expectation is the cause of frustration it is misdirected expectation thinking that I can become an independent enjoyer if we focus on serving Krishna and actually we see that we have a desire to control, we have a desire to enjoy it is not that Krishna consciousness denies that it is that we integrate that with Krishna’s control, we integrate that with Krishna’s enjoyership so a spiritual master becomes a controller spiritual master becomes a controller of the disciples but that is in the service of supreme control when we become guides when we share Krishna consciousness we become guides so at that time we also gain some control over those who are guides that is in the service of supreme control So, it is misdirected expectation, the expectation of doing things separate from Krishna, that is the problem.
Now, we are a part of Krishna, a part, but presently we are apart from Krishna. So, that is our problem, instead of striving to be apart from Krishna, we can strive how I can be a part of Krishna.