Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
30 April 2020
Hope (7)
“Expect”
Why do you hope? And when did hope begin? Primitive man did not have a mind with hope. Primitive man did not have a mind with thoughts. Primitive man had a mind not yet evolved by life.
In modern mind with evolved thoughts, man hopes that what he likes should not end and what he does not like should end. An end makes man hope. Hope is a state where man is stuck between hope not to end and for a hope to end.
Observe your mind. You hope for a better life. What do you mean? You actually mean that you want a better life which should not end. Mind wants something to be present always.
I want a good wife, meaning always. I want a good job. I am hoping for a good job. What do you mean? You mean that anything that you want should not end because fear is always within man’s mind.
When end stares at man, man will hope because he believes that there is an end in life. How sure are you that something ends in life? What is your proof that something ends in life?
The end which you believe in is actually a beginning of a new. You cannot separate an end and a beginning from each other. An end and a beginning are not independent entities in life because life entirely is energy.
Understand that this energy can neither be created nor destroyed. If the very basis of life cannot be created or destroyed, understand that there is neither a beginning nor an end in life.
Life is energy. Whether you like it or not. Whether you hope or not. It is always here. Has been. Will always be. An end is a beginning. And a beginning is an end. Both are included in each other. Such is life.
What do you hope to end if nothing can begin? What do you hope to start if nothing can end? Understand that what you hope for is nothing but a thought in your mind.
You want a thought, which you like, not to end. You do not want a thought and you like it to end. Whether you like it or not, whether you want it or not, understand that the thought, which you want or do not want, will come and go.
The wise understand that every moment will come and along with it what is meant to come. The wise understand that every moment will go and along with it what is meant to go.
The enlightened realise what is meant to come will come and what is meant to go will go.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V.S. Shankar 2020
Editor’s Note:
Almost everyone and everything in daily life is measured. It is a way for man to secure himself and his environment: when where you born?; where do you live?; what is your national insurance number?... Thus there is a known reference point, albeit illusory, for living, for thinking, for planning, for doing, etc. Furthermore, whatever is measured has a beginning and an end and is the result of human endeavour. The concept of what is meant to be or meant to happen is rarely accepted or understood. On the contrary, approval or disapproval is the order of the day. Whether you like it or not is not an accepted option. The understanding that the measure of a man’s entire life in every moment is by the intelligence of life is gifted here by the wise. Realising this brings freedom from the cage of mind with thoughts, if it is meant to.
Julian Capper. UK
German Translator‘s Note:
Hope, beginning and end; the connection between these ideas becomes obvious in this article. To live life as the singular movement which life ist, while in the mind everything seems to have a beginning and an end, is wisdom. To understand hope as illusory is a key to enlightenment. Enlightenment means nothing more than living life rather than considering as real the thoughts about life that inevitably happen or do not happen. A distance is created between the witnesser and thoughts that come and go as illusions of sound. This distance allows serenity to happen.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.