Baba says, ‘this is a battle‘. This is a point to be understood deeply and imbibed in the intellect.

This is not a physical battle, Baba says, but rather a subtle one between God’s children and Maya (the vices). She has held you captive for half the cycle, I have come to liberate you and make you virtuous again.

In a long battle, one side does not win all the time. If that was the case, it wouldn’t be a long battle. Sometimes, we have the unrealistic expectation that because we are God’s children, we should win every time. That’s not how it works.

God is not here to wave His magic wand and make all the bad stuff go away. Baba says, ‘I am the Commander-in-chief of this army and I teach you how to fight‘. Every morning, He cautions me about different aspects of Maya, teaches me how to spot them from a distance and the weapon to use to finish them. Let me learn well and prepare myself for the day’s battle.

My enemy can attack at any time and can come in any form. ‘You should be brave and not faint or have a heart attack‘, says Baba. ‘You are Shiv Shaktis. You take power from Me, the Almighty, then why should you be afraid?‘, He asks.

Do I faint in my mind?

In this battle, we come face to face with our own darkness that we didn’t even know we had. As Baba says, ‘storms will come‘. But it is not the storm that is so important, it is how I respond or fight back. Do I shake in my boots and drop my weapon? Am I so shocked that I forget what to do? In other words, do I reject myself, become fearful, do I feel disheartened, do I fall into the trap of guilt and shame? ‘Baba sets the standard, I am not at the standard‘, ‘I am a bad person, if only anyone knew how bad I am…‘ etc. That is fainting in the mind.

Baba says, ‘this is a battle, imbibe this in your intellect‘. Yes, I will face many tough enemies, they will come from all sides. But that’s okay. I will of course have a few scars, a few wounds…its part of fighting in a battle, it’s how I get strong. I have Baba leading me, I simply need to get back up and fight again. Let me not faint at the sight of a little blood, a few scars.

But it is also important to not fall for the same traps and tricks of Maya again and again, else, I become weak. I fell once, let me learn from it such that when a similar situation arises again, I can sense it from a distance..well in advance, and know exactly how to respond. Baba says, ‘perform the funeral of that sanskar such that it never comes back again‘. If it does, it is as if a ghost has come, He says. If it has come back, don’t feed it time or focus or energy by brooding over it, describing it or being shocked by it. It needs to die.

Baba’s remembrance helps me emerge my spiritual powers- am I practicing using them? Arjuna (the mythical warrior from the Mahabharata, the friend of God) was known to practice his bow and arrow every day. He practiced seeing the target and aiming at it accurately- he did it again and again and again. Am I that diligent and disciplined? If not, I might end up using the wrong power (wrong weapon) at the wrong time.

Sometimes, we are afraid when we come face to face with others’ sanskars (traits). ‘I thought she/he was so tolerant…never thought this too could happen!‘, we see someone behaving a certain way, we get so turned off, we reject them. Baba says, ‘don’t reject the soul, reject the sanskar‘. Yes, it is important to know what is right and what is wrong but don’t let the feeling sit in your heart. If I do, it will get in the way of my own effort-making, it will get in the way of my remembrance, corrupt my attitude and make me bitter. That’s how Maya wins. It’s as if I switched sides and went over to Maya’s camp.

Baba says, Maya will come and she fights with champions…like a champion. The stronger I get spiritually, the bigger the test papers or storms or forms of Maya. But let me never forget who I am and Who is with me.

This is a battle, sometimes one side has the upper hand, then, the other. But for those with faith in their intellect, Baba says, victory is guaranteed.