Once upon a time, there lived two pandits in a little village. The month of Shraadh was about to begin. The people offered sacraments and charity, in the name of their ancestors. As they were aware about the rituals and the sacraments, they were invited to a town, to carry out the puja. They went to the town, and were asked to live in an ashrama, under the guidance of their Guruji. They used to go a house everyday, carry out the rituals, with appropriate mantras, and returned merrily. One day, they were invited by a multi-millionaire man of the town. They went merrily, and performed the puja. They used to frolic as they remembered their death 24*7, and offered prayers to Lord, incessantly. The practices made them blissful. On that day, one of the pandits returned with a dull face, and the other one was as merry as was in other days. Guruji inquired about the sadness prevailing in his mind. He asked if he had received less respects from the family members, with respect to his colleague. The pandit nodded in no. Guruji asked if he received less goodies and edibles in prasaad. He nodded in no. Then, Guruji felt that he had received less dakshina from the house. He nodded in no, again. Guruji was puzzled. The other happy pandit replied that he was aware that the rich man was enriched with riches, but was a grave miser. He had expected that he would receive two rupees as a dakshina. The other pandit uttered that he would have received eleven rupees in dakshina, but a meagre amount of five rupees, didn’t fit his frame of expectation.
Thus, it is said, expectations bring doom. No matter if we serve our life, garnished with gold, on a platinum platter, we should be prepared for the worst. Some polite words from the world should be taken up as bonuses. We should have expectations only with God. This is the secret of happiness.
