Baba says, ‘There should be the intoxication of imperishable things. There shouldn’t be any intoxication of perishable things‘. Those who are soul conscious are sensible.

The word ‘I’, Baba reminds me, is the one word that takes me beyond body consciousness and also brings me into body consciousness. I know ‘I am a soul’ but then that I also believe: “I am so-and-so”, “I know everything”, “I am no less in anything”, I can do everything”, “I am doing this”, or “I am able to do this”, I know what I am and what I am like”, “I know how I am tolerating everything”, “I know how I overcome all the problems”, “I know how I have died and continued to move along”, “I know how I have renounced everything and am continuing to move along…”. Instead of a correct list of “I”, this wrong list becomes a subtle attractive thread. Baba says, ‘there should be the intoxication that you are souls. There should be the intoxication of imperishable things. There shouldn’t be any intoxication of perishable things‘. Souls are imperishable, bodies are perishable and so are the things that pull me when I am in body consciousness. Yes, I may be so-and-so today…but things change and I might not be that tomorrow. I am able to do something today but standards might change tomorrow and suddenly what I do is not so good anymore. Attaching myself to perishable or temporary attainments/titles/labels/roles is setting myself up for a life of fluctuation- up one day, down the other.

Often I try to break this thread simply based on the power of my understanding of the knowledge. I know this is ego, so I try to become egoless by telling myself I have to be this. But understanding alone does not bring about transformation. It needs the right awareness. Baba says, if you stabilize yourselves in the incorporeal stage first and then become egoless, you will automatically become viceless. When I practice this, I automatically embody all the qualities of the soul and discard the falsehoods of body consciousness. When I come into interactions with other souls and someone says something rude, I feel compassion, I automatically tolerate. When I try to become egoless without this first step of stabilizing myself in the right awareness of being an incorporeal soul, it feels like labor; I feel anger but because I have the knowledge, I bite my tongue and suppress my feelings. I feel like a sacrificial lamb and end up with a heavy heart. After a point, I inevitably blow a fuse, say and do the wrong things and then regret my actions. Because this consciousness or practice does not become natural and part of your nature, you are not able to stabilize yourself constantly in the egoless stage, He points out. Constantly have the awareness that you have come from the incorporeal into the corporeal and are performing your task, practice this stage.

To become Maya proof, Baba says, you have to therefore become an embodiment of knowledge and yoga. This means not just understanding the points with the intellect but accepting them deeply with the heart. Unless I realize the truth in each point, experience that truth for myself, I won’t be driven to change. Follow the Father’s shrimat at every step, He says. You have been given orders for every moment and every action. Check all the orders in the timetable that you have been given to follow from amrit vela in the morning till night time. Check your attitude, vision, thoughts, awareness, service and relationships. If something feels off, if you are unsatisfied with your effort, the reason for this is that, somewhere or other, you are not following one order or other, He teaches. So the moment you feel any lack or have the slightest confusion about your effort, your success in service, or in receiving love and co-operation from others, check: Which order is being missed out?

Doing this is called having a loving intellect for the Father at the time of destruction. I realize and have deep love for the One Who is teaching me, I have a deep realization of the current time- that it is the time to return home and that I cannot return without becoming pure, I have deep love and appreciation for the Shrimat He is giving me because I realize it is for my own protection. By following these instructions, I protect myself from wrong action and the repentance that follows. I protect myself from labor and heartache. So I detach myself from the false love for bodies or objects, love for regard, love for name, love for honor or love for a ‘special’ soul etc. and love the imperishable Father instead. To love the Father and follow His Shrimat is to love the true self, the imperishable self. The Father asks: Isn’t this the sensible thing to do?