Baba says, ‘the eternal drama continues to turn‘. There is no need to be confused about anything in this.

The aim of this study is to be a self-sovereign i.e. to be a ruler of the self. It is impossible to be that if I am not a detached observer. To be a detached observer means exactly that…to detach and observe. I cannot detach and observe if I don’t remember that this is a drama, an unlimited drama and that I and everyone else are actors.

When someone says or does something, if I forget I am the actor, multiple things go wrong. One, I take things personally and two, I judge whatever happened. But when I remember this is a drama, then as an actor, I am naturally detached from the role i.e. I don’t confuse myself to be the role I am playing. So I am constantly observing both my own performance as well as that of others. So when someone says something, I don’t think they are saying it to me – the actor, I know they are simply speaking their lines, emoting their part. Also, I don’t judge and think: how can someone be this way!, how could they have done this?!, I realize that it is a scene, it was in the drama. All the actor did was play their role.

When I forget the knowledge of the drama, I go through life talking and thinking about good and bad scenes. I hold grudges against people and often regrets about things I said or did myself. All of this makes the soul heavy and unable to move forward on my journey. I am bogged down by feelings of : they shouldn’t have done that to me or I wish I hadn’t said that etc. But when I am stable in the knowledge of drama, I realize those scenes were integral to the story. The drama is not good or bad, it’s perfect! nothing in this drama that comes to a Brahmin soul is useless. There is always a lesson or a lift or something there to move me forward in my journey.

But I can only see it that way when I am able to detach and observe. I am both the actor and a member of the audience. I play my part and observe- learn from my and others’ performances and keep on improving. If I were to reflect, the scenes I regret are the ones where I forgot the drama and that we are actors and took offense to what happened, reacted, was overwhelmed by an event etc. I jumped in and tried to correct the scene or fix it or became afraid of it. I became hurt, angry, insulted, fearful, experienced loss etc. In some cases, there was praise and I was carried away by it. Either way, I stepped out of bounds of my script, of the Director’s instructions.

Sometimes, I wasn’t in the scene, but I saw something happen to someone else and took sorrow from it. I felt the person was treated unfairly etc. But I forget that I don’t know the full story! It is as if I walked into the movie theatre half way through the movie right when the scene played. I don’t know what happened before then, what actions occurred in the past that would explain the current. But here’s the thing: I don’t need to know what happened, I just need to trust the drama to be perfect. That allows me to detach and apply a full stop to any expansion.

Never get off your seat of the detached observer, says Baba, then you will always be safe and happy. I am not my role, I am the actor, this is a drama. Full-stop.

To be a detached observer is also the means to attain success in service. Yes, there are many different sanskars but I don’t have to be caught up in it, I don’t have to judge it, I simply have to detach and observe. This is what Baba does and is therefore able to serve the way He does. He sees all our sanskars, our defects, our weaknesses, our acts, and yet He only offers love and understanding. How? He detaches from the scene and becomes an observer. So He remains uninfluenced by whatever happened and when He reenters the scene, He is still able to play His part the way He should, without any contamination.

The world at this point in the cycle is degraded and full of all kinds of sanskars. Unless I have practiced and mastered the art of being a detached observer, I cannot remain stable or happy. I will constantly be influenced and in upheaval. Throughout the day, practice detaching from the body, says Baba. Practice the bodiless stage, tour the three worlds, observe yourself as the actor coming in and out of the scenes of the drama. To be corporeal and incorporeal at the same time is a bit of spiritual acrobatics, but an essential practice that pays huge dividends.

You have to be like the lotus flower, says Baba. You have to be able to be in the midst of the swamp of impure sanskars and still remain uninfluenced, remain happy and continue to bloom. That is the path to self-sovereignty.