Baba says, ‘Constantly remember Me alone, that’s all!’ This is the greatest hospitality.

I was in sorrow and suffering for half a cycle. I was an orphan wandering, looking for my lost identity and belonging. I called out to God to come and liberate me. He has come.

The Father feeds me the nourishment of knowledge and yoga and gives me great hospitality. He reminds me of who I am, gives me His introduction and tells me the story of beginning, middle and end of the cycle. He makes me belong to Him. ‘I have come to give My children the inheritance of heaven’ He says and so you children should have a great deal of happiness.

If I am not happy, then there is a lack of contentment which in turn implies, I have not accepted the Father’s hospitality. Instead, I have accepted Maya’s.

When you belong to the Father, Maya offers you greater hospitality, cautions Baba. She becomes more powerful and fights with those who are powerful. Then, because of body consciousness, you turn your faces away from Shiv Baba; you stop remembering Baba. It is as if my Father has come home after a long time bearing gifts, bearing the key to my happiness. I have waited for this moment for so long and just then…the phone rings. My intention, of course, is to tell the caller to call back another time. I pick up but…it turns out to be my ‘best friend’ and before I could say a word, she blurts out a piece of juicy gossip. It was so shocking that I had to listen to the whole thing!

As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s what Maya manages to do with Baba’s children.

You have time to eat, to talk, and yet you don’t have time to remember the Father who makes you into the masters of the world! Many good children forget Shiv Baba and become body conscious. Should you not even remember the Father and write a letter to the One who has given you the donation of life?, asks Baba. Maya catches hold of you by the nose and leads you away. Follow Shrimat at every step, He says. Then, you receive an income of multimillions at every step. You become wealthy to such an extent that your wealth is uncountable. You receive wealth, prosperity, land, everything, He explains.

Sometimes, I offer Maya hospitality! She was just passing by but I invite her in and offer her tea and warm biscuits.

There is a tiny situation or just one inconsequential waste thought. Rather than finish it with knowledge, I create many more thoughts: “What happened? This happened….” I can’t believe I had this thought that I didn’t even have before gyan and so I make it into a big thing rather than simply let it go: “Why did Maya come? Where did she come from? She shouldn’t have come.” Okay, she came, big deal! It’s her job to come but I don’t have to give her a place to sit! Chase her away!, says Baba. If you think “Why did she come?” she will sit down. Don’t go into this expansion, don’t become afraid, just overcome it. This is passing with honors.

To think, Baba says, is to give hospitality to Maya. By your offering hospitality to Maya you experience sadness as you move along. You feel that you are neither moving forward nor moving backward. This is what the influence of Maya does, explains Baba. You have the power of knowledge, the weapons. You are master almighty authorities, you are trikaldarshi. Use it! finish all waste in the bud. Go into the depths of knowledge, not into the depths of the situation.

Remain constantly happy and content and continue to offer hospitality to others according to Shrimat, He says.

Sometimes we think offering hospitality to others is to give them our ear and listen to all that they want to tell us – about this one and that one and all the rest. We think we are being polite. Baba says, ‘don’t listen to gossip. You mustn’t listen to or speak about anything other than gyan and vigyan (yoga). The company of those who speak wrong things is bad. You mustn’t keep the company of such ones’. Baba repeatedly cautions you: ‘Don’t speak about wrong things with each other. Otherwise, you will destroy all the truth within yourselves. You will also destroy all the truth within others and the status would then be destroyed’. Instead, He says, ‘you should have the interest to go and relate this knowledge to many others. Only those who do this are true children of the Father. This is the hospitality you must offer to others, He says.

I am the only altruistic server, says Baba. I don’t take anything from the children. You mustn’t even bow your head, He says.

He says simply, ‘constantly remember Me alone, that’s all! Don’t listen to anyone else! Listen to Me alone! Remember Me alone!’ He is the Father, the Beautiful Traveler from the faraway land Who has come here for me. To remember Him, therefore, is the greatest hospitality I offer Him.

Wishing you a happy holi! May our lives be filled with spirituality and may we color each other with the eternal colors of purity, love, peace and happiness.