Baba says, ‘Now recognize the Father and remember Him‘. When you followed the directions of Ravan, you defamed the Father.

Sometimes, we think defaming the Father refers to what I did on the path of devotion when I called God omnipresent or that it refers to the stories in the Bhagwath. The Father comes and explains what defamation is. It’s one thing to defame someone when I didn’t know them, out of ignorance. It is, however, a different matter when I defame them after being introduced. This is the greater defamation, the one that hurts.

Many live with ‘I think He loves me’ mentality when it comes to God. I think I have to earn God’s love. When I think God is pleased with me if and when I perform well, then when I don’t do well, when I make mistakes, I’ll think God goes and finds someone else to love. After all, human nature says, if you do well, if you perform, if you treat me right, I’ll love you but if you disappoint me, let me down, I’ll find someone else. But God is not like people. To think that He is, is to defame Him. Let me stop trying to earn His love. There is nothing I can do that will make God love me any more or less. His love is a gift, I simply have to receive it.

‘Well’, I think, ‘Baba does ask me to keep a chart!’ Yes, He does but He suggests the chart as a tool to enable me to improve in areas for my own sake, He doesn’t ask me to do it because that’s what will make me worthy to Him. Let me realize that God loves me right now, as I am! He loved me when I was a devotee and didn’t know Him. He loves me when I am wrong just as much as when I was right. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. His love is imperishable, it is over me as a canopy of protection. If I went way up on the mountain or way down into the ocean, He would come there with me. I can’t get away from this love even if I tried!

I may have had a rough past full of bad company, bad habits…whatever, He still loves me. Nothing I’ve done has changed God’s love for me. Maybe I still struggle with my temper, it still doesn’t change His love. His is a great love, it is God’s love. To reduce it to anything lesser, is to defame Him. Often we talk about how much we love God, but what’s even greater is how much God loves us. It is one thing when God says that I belong to Him but it is a completely different thing when He says, He belongs to me! Do I experience this?

He tells me to write to Him and then says, ‘I receive your words even before they are written‘. He is not Antaryami but He knows my thoughts before I think them, my words before I speak them. Do I really think that there is anything I can do to make God stop loving me? How must God feel when I go around thinking: ‘I haven’t done anything that bad, so I guess He must love me?’, ‘I didn’t miss Amritvela or Murli all month, so I know Baba must be pleased with me’. I think when I don’t mess up or when I follow the disciplines, then God is pleased with me. Yes, I mustn’t miss Amritvela or Murli, but that’s for my own sake, not His! Sometimes I think God loves those who have certain talents like giving a lecture, teaching the course, running a center etc., and that He doesn’t bother with those that are in the back cleaning the dishes.

Baba says, ‘only a few out of a handful know Me as I am‘.

God doesn’t love me because I performed well or because of my talents, He loves me because I am His child. God doesn’t care about what it is that I do, He cares about who I think I am. Do I think of myself as His child, as His prized possession, as the jewel of His eye, as His favorite? He says:, ‘whether you are a carpenter working with wood or a king, simply remember Me. Your hands may be busy but let your heart be connected with Me’. God’s vision fell on me, this is not a small thing! It didn’t fall on the clever ones of the world, it fell on me! He is a part of my destiny! Do I celebrate my fortune? or am I still trying to awaken it? Because that’s what will show on my face, that’s what others will see. If they see the same self-doubt, fear, and feeling of lack that they feel on my face too, then what I am really saying is that there is no use of knowing God. Isn’t this defamation? God is not impressed by ‘perfect’ people, He loves the flawed, imperfect ones- this is the praise of the procession of Shiva. When I learn to simply receive His love, I live with a bold confidence. I will stop trying to earn this love, I will live secure knowing that my Father loves me no matter what.

God loves me fully and unconditionally, He doesn’t hold back. All through the day, let me have this song in my heart, ‘I am the one that He loves’, ‘I love You Baba and I know I am the one You love!’. In the Mahabharata, Arjuna speaks to Krishna (depicted as God) as His Friend. He once takes an impossible oath to kill an enemy by sunset upon which Krishna questions his wisdom in taking such an oath. Arjuna calmly tells his Friend that he trusts Him to ensure that he will be able to fulfill his oath. He never said: ‘Krishna, you are my friend, aren’t you?’, ‘won’t you please help me?’, ‘Krishna, please have mercy on me!’. He spoke and acted based on his right over his Friend.

This is what makes God smile, this is what makes His day! when I approach Him knowing that He loves me, knowing that His love is my right, knowing that He is longing to be good to me. What moves God is not just my love for Him but recognizing His love for me. It pleases God when I know that I are dearly loved. It pleases Him when I go to Him boldly. It doesn’t bring Him any pleasure when I go around insecure, beating myself up over past mistakes, trying to earn His love. If my child came to me with his head bowed down, ashamed, and begged for mercy, for a little salvation or if he came to be with fear or with a feeling of being unqualified, then I wouldn’t feel sorry for him, I’d feel bad about myself wondering what I have done wrong that my son feels so insecure to approach me, feels so unworthy? This is defaming the Father. Here He is waiting to give me the world, while I feel unqualified to even approach Him! When I experience God’s love as my right, I will believe in my destiny…not because of who I am but because of Who my Father is.

Let me not doubt for a single moment that I am God’s favorite child. He is not just saying this to make me feel good, it is the truth. God has the amazing ability to treat each one of His children as His favorite. He isn’t like people, He doesn’t have to pick and choose. He has unlimited love. He doesn’t just show love, or simply express love, He is love. It’s not what He does, it’s Who He is. Will I receive this love? or will I reject it and defame the Father? Will I let the condemning voices of Ravan convince me that I am washed up or will I believe that despite my failures, God loves me fully and will take me to my destiny?

The great love is not so much that I love God but that He loves me, He belongs to me. To experience this is to recognize the Father.