Baba says, ‘be obedient‘. When you are, you receive the fruit in the form of blessings.

Baba gives us Shrimat or directions for everything from when I wake up for Amritvela right up to when I go to bed at night. He teaches me how to think, speak and act and interact. He has explained how my attitude needs to be, how my stage needs to be while I perform any action – that I need to be loving when I do the task and detached from the outcome.

Do I follow these directions accurately? or do I follow them selectively?

He says, ‘wake up at Amritvela and remember Me alone’. But because I don’t understand the value of the time, because I forget Who is telling me, I become careless about it. I do wake up but I don’t remember Him alone…I remember a lot of other things. I appease myself by thinking: ‘I did wake up and I did remember Baba for a few minutes, that counts..’.

God is very deliberate about what He tells me. He doesn’t speak a single word that isn’t required or is not important. So if He is telling me something, clearly there is value in it and I must do it. Amritvela sets me up for the entire day. But because I take it lightly, I lose the opportunity to strengthen my stage and therefore, when I go through the day, my stage is controlled by the people I meet and events that occur. I lack the power to be in charge.

He says: ‘do not have waste thoughts, do not look at, listen to, speak or do anything wasteful’. But I routinely engage in gossip or read the news cover to cover or watch that movie I didn’t need to. I think: ‘it’s okay to watch a movie or two, I am not a recluse!’, ‘I do need to know what’s going on in the world..’. Even though the news or the movie did nothing but trigger negative or wasteful feelings within me, I decided it was important.

He says: ‘let whatever thoughts you have be positive. Let those positive thoughts be filled with good wishes. Remain beyond the body consciousness of “I” and “mine”, because these are two doors through which Maya can enter you‘. I understand this intellectually and I agree but when it comes to practical life, I allow myself a different set of rules that are ‘more practical’: ‘I can have good wishes for everyone except this person…she is so selfish and dishonest…’, ‘ I did the work, I certainly won’t let him walk away with the credit’, ‘this is my project, my house, my…’. Sometimes, I say to myself, you just have to put people in their place. If Baba were in this world, He’s do the same! Then, of course, I have a hard time thinking of anything other than what I said or did…I certainly can’t remember Baba. I feel disheartened.

My seniors tell me to do something and immediately my first thought is: ‘what’s in it for me?’. I don’t do anything just because Baba has or my seniors have asked me to…I analyze it. What if Baba had asked, ‘why do I need to help these souls? change this old, dirty world? it’s not like I live here anyway and I’m not even going to get to go to the new world even though I create it! what’s in it for Me?’

Sometimes, I am asked to do something and I feel less than confident that I can handle it. I think: ‘I’ve never done something like this before, what if I fail, I will let everyone down’ or I think, ‘everyone will laugh at me’. If Baba has given me a task, He has done so knowing what I know and don’t know. He is perfectly capable of giving me the tools, making sure I receive the co-operation I need to get it done. Let me not fool myself into thinking that ‘I’ am doing something. This is God’s domain, His service will get done. I simply need to co-operate. When I do, it builds my confidence.

Other times, I think I know too much. So when Baba tells me to do something, I tell Him why it is a bad idea. ‘Baba, if we do this, we will lose the project..’, ‘You are trusting the wrong person Baba…’. God smiles at His innocent children who forget Who is telling them…

Being obedient is not something I can do in fractions. I am either obedient or I am not. When I remember Who is telling me, I don’t question or analyze or debate, I simply obey. Such obedience requires faith and self-respect. When I have faith in the One that is teaching me, I am able to surrender my own thinking. When I have self-respect, I don’t have trouble following instructions because I don’t see that as a you vs me thing, I see love. But when I lack this, that’s when the ego feels free to kick in and say: ‘I know what is right for me, I will do what I think is right’, ‘I don’t need to be told what to do..’, ‘this may work in the new world, but not here..’ etc.

Being obedient also requires love for the Father and a sense of responsibility. The Father’s task is my task. I follow His instructions not out of compulsion but because I want to. I want to usher in the new world just as much as He wants to! I want to transform myself just as much as He does because I KNOW that He wants nothing more than for me to be happy. I KNOW He wants me to be a sovereign again.

When I am obedient, every action I perform is according to the directions and so it is automatically elevated. So, none of my acts would cause a disturbance in my mind or intellect. I will never struggle with: ‘did I do the right thing or not?’ Because I have done everything according to Baba’s direction, I am able to let go… I fulfilled my responsibility, it is His responsibility now. I remain light. I am content with myself and others are also content with me.

Continue to follow directions, He says, because these are the basis of your claiming blessings from God. Because of receiving these blessings, obedient children always remain light and fly. What could be better than that?