Expectations

Hello friends, this is Mohanji.

I used to do podcasting many years ago when I was in Dubai in the mid-2000s. The podcasts were called, ‘Mohan’s World.’ It was in a studio, run by a man called Peter Hall. It was quite a cozy and comfortable makeshift studio, in a car shed. In the podcasts, I used to talk about something; (it was) one show every week. There were a lot of listeners from many parts of the world. People used to connect to me, talk to me, that is, and communicate with me.

This was the period before Facebook started and YouTube had just begun. There were much communication and many interactions (through the podcasts). When I stopped it, many people complained saying that we want it back! Due to various reasons, many years passed by and I couldn’t really put myself into a position where I could have steady communication. Now we are attempting to start a kind of communication, directly, from me to you. This is an attempt to connect using the waves of sound.

I like the radio. Radio has its charm. We are in the world of no visuals. Of all our senses, the one that consumes the most energy are the eyes. So I like the idea that we can close our eyes and listen, and it really makes sense to me. I like it. A type of communication, where you cannot see my face but you can only hear my voice and you accept my sound as it comes, and you remain as you are, at that point in time.

We will try to do one podcast a week, like I used to do earlier or if possible more. During this time of Corona, we have more time and I’m in one location, and so we will try to do more. The whole idea is that we are talking and we are communicating from a distance, where you don’t see my face and you’re only listening to my voice, and you accept it. You probably would like to assimilate it at your own pace. That is absolutely fine.

So, what are the subjects that we could talk about, or what do we talk? It depends on you. If you can tell me, if you have a particular subject that you would like me to address, I’m really happy to do that. And this subject should be relevant to the world. It should not be personal because that will not make sense. You have a personal issue and if I talk about it to the world over a podcast, it doesn’t make sense. So we should talk about something which everybody can relate to. That’s very important.

For every podcast, I will choose a subject, which would most likely be a universal topic, maybe something I heard of or something which I listened to or somebody asked me something etc. such that everybody can enjoy it. This is my idea.

Today, what do we talk about? I do not want to talk about anything serious today, because this is the introduction. We have started a podcast channel. We are now trying to get back to our old communication mode. Let us keep this episode very simple, very mild. And we will talk about the details of various things later; we have time.

Today, a little while back, I heard a particular speech by Osho. I didn’t listen to it fully. I listened to it for a few minutes, in which he said, “I’m happy that you don’t believe in me, because if you believed in me, it would have been my responsibility. Since you don’t believe in me, I’m relieved. I’m free. If you had actually believed in me, maybe you would have even taken revenge, because you would have come with expectations. And if you had come with expectations, and those expectations were not fulfilled, you might be angry; you might be disappointed; you might be upset. And you may take revenge on me. So, I’m relieved that I don’t have to tackle your revenge”.

It is ironical; it’s slightly skeptical or even satirical. But if we think deeply about it, isn’t that the truth? We connect to somebody with an expectation all the time. All of our relationships have an expectation, inbuilt in them. Have we thought about it? And what happens to that expectation? If it is fulfilled, you are happy and you would develop more expectations. If you don’t fulfil it or if it doesn’t get fulfilled, then disappointment happens. And that can even take to the edge of revenge. Is that person responsible? Absolutely not! It’s we who are connecting with an expectation, which is responsible for our reality. Thus, every time, our reality is completely controlled by how we are, what we are. This is very important to understand.

On that note, I will leave you today. This is food for thought. I would like to give you food for thought each time so that you can think about it.

A man who can contemplate is a human being. Human beings have the capacity for contemplation. We have the capacity for meditation. So, let us contemplate, let us analyze, let us understand, and let us assimilate. I am with you; I will talk to you again, later.

Wish you a great week ahead and be happy always and be safe.

Lots of love.

Transcribed by Rakshitha Ananth

Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan