Baba says, ‘it is because you become body conscious that there is conflict‘. You have to become soul conscious in this.

For half a cycle, I had thought of myself as the body and was caught up in the massive expansion of the many types of I and mine- I am a name, gender, nationality, title, bank balance; my role, my relationships, my accomplishments, etc. My days were spent trying to manage all these Is and mines and each time one of them would fall to the ground, I would die a little. My life was based on constant fear and anxiety, chasing and protecting. Inevitably, there was nothing but sorrow.

Somewhere deep down I felt there was a different way and that there was Someone that could show me the way. I called out to be liberated. God came and liberated me by reminding me of who I am and Whom I belong to. You are a soul, not a body, He told me. You are My child. In other words, He liberated me from the web of expansion that I had trapped myself in by returning me to the essence, the truth. He gave me my true I and mine – I am a soul and mine is One Baba.

‘You have found the Father, the Sun of Knowledge. You have now awakened and you therefore have to awaken others‘, He says.

I awaken others by reminding them of who they are and Whom they belong to. The whole world is body conscious, says Baba. Everyone is caught up in the same false web of deception. This is why there is so much conflict in the world, He says. When I see myself as a body and others as bodies, I see only difference- mine vs yours, I vs you. Everyone has an opinion that they believe to be right, there is no unifying force and so there is a lot of infighting. In fact, if we were to take a look back at history, looked at the great empires and their emperors, one of the key reasons why those regimes fell was because of a lack of harmony between the stakeholders. Nothing got done, citizens became unhappy and neighboring regimes took advantage of the vulnerability.

Despite the lessons from history, despite knowing this truth deep down, we continue to be sucked into body consciousness which at its core is selfishness. If I want to serve the world, awaken souls as Baba wants me to then I have to sacrifice the I and mine. ‘You have to sacrifice your bones in service‘, says Baba. The bones are I and mine- they are old, they are brittle, they cause nothing but aches and pains for me and others. They have to be replaced.

Become soul conscious and you will be able to remember the Father and you will continue to progress in service, He says. Soul consciousness brings purity and purity is the basis of unity. When I see myself as a soul and others as souls, I see sameness. To be clear, unity is not uniformity, it does not means we have to be clones of each other. Unity means I see beyond the nature and sanskars, I see us all as children of the same Father. Soul consciousness cleans my thoughts, makes them benevolent and compassionate. It cools down my sanskars. It activates my powers of tolerance and merging.

Let unity be visible among you in every situation, in your thoughts, words and deeds, says Baba. Brahmin means one; not one hundred thousand, but one. This is called unity. Even while there are many, you become one. This is called unity, He teaches. If I am thinking: well, I am ready to be united, but these people are not’, then, in fact, in thinking that thought I have caused disunity. I have created a division of I vs them. I become an instrument of unity when despite any upheaval, I can stay positive, if I can maintain my good wishes and pure feelings toward all. Baba says: if one person raises his hand to clap and the other one doesn’t give his hand, there won’t be any sound. Even if someone is causing a stir, I don’t have to join in, I maintain my unity. Then, when they don’t find endorsers, they will have to join too. There is transformation.

Coming into conflict is to have bad omens over you, says Baba and then, so much effort therefore has to be made to remove those omens. It’s true! The moment there is even a thought of conflict or disunity, my stage falls, I lose my happiness, I am lost wandering in the jungle of thorns again. I lose time and energy and most importantly my power and happiness.

Look at the picture of the ladder, advises Baba. Look at the history. You have been descending down the ladder as a result of body consciousness. With it came all the other vices. You lost everything to these vices and became bankrupt. Now it is your time to ascend again. Baba has awakened me from the deep sleep of body consciousness, of ignorance and reminded me of who I am, He has given me the knowledge of the cycle and time. Let me not roll over and sleep again like Kumbhakarna, let me remain awake and do the service of awakening others.