Around 1975 I was living at the Sivananda Ashram in Perth Western Australia. Swami Vekatesananda was in residence at that time. He was both a renowned Sanskrit scholar and yogi, Swami Venkatesananda like his master, Swami Sivananda, can be regarded as a sage of practical wisdom.
I have only ever remembered one thing that he spoke of while I was living there.
If there is suffering, unhappiness, separation and conflict in our lives, it will have something to do with one, or all of these three things ~
COMPARISON, EXPECTATION & BLAME.
So many other things are connected with these three words, but from my experience since that time, these three words are the foundation of suffering.
It was a simple, yet profound observation that he shared.
In gratitude