Baba says, ‘this is about practical change, not theory‘. Here, you come not just to hear good thoughts but to actually bring about change.

In bhakti, devotees go to the temple or to the church and listen to the scripture. They nod their heads and even say, ‘this is true’, or ‘this is very good’ but then once they return home, they promptly go back to their own ways. There is no change, it is only theory.

This is a school of practical transformation, says Baba. Here you come not just to listen to good thoughts and words and feel good but to actually imbibe the teachings and bring about change. Unless I bring about change, I cannot return home.

I have come a long way from home in the last half of the cycle. I forgot who I was, I forgot my Father and I lost my inheritance to the vices. That then led me to learn many wrong things including wrong ideas about what is really important. I chased after temporary attainments in the hope of finding happiness and spent my days in fear of losing something or someone that I depended on.

Baba comes and reminds me that I am a soul, His child. He reminds me of my innate qualities that are within me. He shows me the way back to them, to my truth, to my self.

That path back is through remembering. To the extent that I can remember throughout the day, I will be safe from Maya, I will find happiness, peace and contentment. But the children forget, He says. I listen to the Murli in the morning and nod my head when I hear the elevated versions and say, ‘this is so true…’ or ‘this is so elevated…’ but as soon as I leave there, I forget all that I heard and promptly fall back to my old, acquired way of living.

This is not bhakti, says Baba. This is knowledge. Knowledge means understanding, then imbibing and bringing about change.

Some children, Baba says, have one foot in the old world and one in the school. They think – well, the knowledge is for the future anyway. That will happen when it has to happen. I need to be comfortable here in this world and so they think they have to follow the old ways and behaviors to ‘fit in’ and ‘be successful’. You deprive yourself of your own inheritance, He says. I forget that in order to have a future I first need to return home and that cannot happen unless I change and become pure again. My future is dependent on my present.

You don’t take the knowledge with you to the new world, He explains. What will you do with the knowledge there, no one needs it. What you take with you is the result of applying the knowledge now.

In bhakti, it is about learning and remembering the verses in the scripture and reciting it. Here it is not about memorizing or reciting the knowledge I hear, it is about understanding, realizing and applying it in my practical life to bring about real, lasting change in my character. It’s about making it part of my natural nature, my sanskars. That’s what will go with me wherever I go.

Now is the only time in the entire cycle that this school is set up, that God Himself becomes my Teacher. This is the only time, I get to learn about and see my entire story through the cycle. This is the only time where I get to work on myself with God such that I achieve my highest potential – becoming an elevated human being.