Q:It is hope in life that keeps you going, but when we start hoping and wishing that our hopes come true, life becomes difficult and leads to frustration and depression. How can I keep myself motivated and still not be affected even if my hopes do not materialise?

A: The biggest misconception about hope is that it keeps you going in life. It is not hope which keeps you going, it is the understanding which keeps you going. Therefore, one needs to have a deeper understanding of the necessities of the body and the immediate family. With this understanding alone, one can live one’s life with the right amount of action.
And no action can be done without using a deeper strategy. Planning is required to shape up what you need. I am not saying what you desire – I am saying what you need. If you know what the difference between need and desire is, only then can you use this understanding to upgrade and uplift yourself to live your life with the right amount of action.
So it is not hope, because if you are going to live your life on the basis of hope, then you are definitely going to share a bountiful of sufferings, because when your hopes will not be fulfilled – you will be in pain and anguish, but when your hopes are fulfilled, then you will be very happy.
I believe that a sadhak has to live in such a way: “I will get what I deserve and I should strive to be a better person; a giving, loving, caring person irrespective of what my destiny will return to me.” As such, destiny is none other than the sum total of your own accumulated past karma. No one else is determining what you will and will not receive in your life.
So, it is not hope which gives you a perspective to live your life, but it is the deeper understanding, in the absence of which you are in a very problematic situation. So live your life without hope, but with understanding.