Christmas and New Year’s Trip to Malaysia, February 2006

Expectation and Hope

My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
I do not want to live anymore
In the expectation-world.
The expectation-world is
   Very, very painful.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!⁹

Commentary:

There are two English words: expectation is one word, hope is another. Expectation is frustration. When you expect something, then inside your expectation, frustration looms large. Expectation is in the mind, the vital and the body, what you call the physical.

But hope is in the heart, hope is in the soul. The existence of hope inside the heart is very sweet and very pure. Hope is very pure, so you have to see the difference between expectation and hope. Hope is something very, very sweet inside the heart, inside the soul. When you hope, God may not fulfil your hope, but there is tremendous sweetness in the word hope. You can hope to become a great singer, dancer, musician – everything, but God has His own time. When there is hope, God fulfils that hope, either today, or tomorrow, or in ten years, or twenty years, because it is something inner and deeper.

But when we expect something, most of the time God keeps His big ears sealed so He does not hear. Then we suffer, so it is better to have hope. Remember there is a big difference between expectation and hope. Hope belongs to the divine inner world. Expectation is in the mental world, vital world, physical world. We suffer so much when we expect something from someone or from something. You should know the difference between hope and expectation.

7 February 2006 Malaysia