Baba says, ‘this is not a satsang, this is a school‘. A satsang (religious gathering) is where people come together to either listen to a lecture from a saint or scholar, sing hymns together or read from scripture. They feel good for those few minutes, then they go back to their old lives.

Baba reminds us that this is a school. Here, He says, you have an aim.

When there is an aim to work toward, it becomes the north star that guides everything we think, feel and do. It brings about change. I care about how and on what I spend my time. A good student always pays attention to staying on course to achieve their aim. To help them do that, they set up goals for themselves along the way to their aim.

In this school, our aim is to become soul-conscious, divine human beings.

To get there, we might first start by examining our daily itinerary, our food, our company, our lifestyle to evaluate if they are in keeping with the spiritual code of conduct. The next level is examining the subtle (and often harder) stuff – my thoughts, words, attitude, my attachments to people, things, position, status etc. Are these subtle threads holding me down?

Just as with any study, we might each go about it in different ways, set different goals for ourselves, even use different tools to teach ourselves – some use pictures, some use commentaries, some like solitude and silence to contemplate, some take on workshops. But the end objective or aim is the same. Our Teacher is the same. Our study is the same.

Because I have an aim, I am happy because it gives me direction, purpose, meaning. It gives me something to work toward and in this case, God has helped me set my aim. Let me check, am I happy? I am becoming that which I was – a divine human being. I am transforming this world from hell into heaven. Is there a more elevated aim? I think we’d agree that there isn’t.

And yet, Baba says, it is a wonder that the children are not always in happiness.

Maya (the vices) makes us forget. The gross and subtle bondages of this old world pull us. And so the effort is to live in this corporeal world without being pulled by it. Baba says, while walking and moving around, practice being in the incorporeal stage, a point of light. And while doing service, practice being in the angelic stage. This balance of the incorporeal and angelic stages will help me go beyond the physical, the corporeal.

We’ve gone through half a cycle wandering aimlessly, having forgotten who we are, Whom we belonged to and what we are here to do. Baba has reminded us. Let me check today- am I still wandering looking for my identity in relationships, in service, in positions or anything else in this old world? or do I have my vision set firmly on the aim, the one that God Himself has given me and is helping me reach in His school?