Baba says, ‘When you surrender yourself to Me, I will make you ever happy for 21 births‘. Don’t forget it is by following shrimat that you become elevated.

To surrender means to surrender completely – mind, body and wealth. To surrender the mind means I cannot use it without Shrimat. It is easy, Baba says, to use wealth according to Shrimat, it is also easy to use the body but the stage where the mind does not create even one thought without Shrimat is what is called surrender.

Sometimes we hear this and think of Shrimat as something harsh. But really, Shrimat is linked to two words- protection and progress. I listen to Baba’s knowledge and I set out on the path to transformation. But while I move along on the spiritual path, the old self- the habits, the personality- do not just automatically disappear. For half a cycle, no less, I was polluted by wrong choices, wrong beliefs, wrong types of satisfaction and fulfillment, and I was lost in it; those tendencies still exist even as I tread the path of transformation. They rear their head all the time, hence the term ‘habit’ or ‘sanskar’. These habits are so strong, the emotions that emerge from the vices are so overwhelming that they cloud my intellect and take over any conscious thinking. That’s when I perform wrong actions based on anger or ego or attachment etc.

I need protection from myself…my ‘old’ self. This protection comes from Shrimat.

The spiritual principles are working all the time and when I unconsciously break them, I reap sorrow and suffering. This is what I have been experiencing for half a cycle and this is why I called out to the Father- to help me break this cycle of sorrow. He liberates me with Shrimat. Following Ravan’s directions has only brought you sorrow, He points out. Now, you have to follow only Shrimat. That’s how I break the cycle of sorrow and make progress.

But this requires faith in the intellect. Where there is faith, there is surrender. Surrender means, I no longer follow the dictates of my own mind or of others no matter how convincing they may seem. I become a trustee and follow whatever the Father says, even if I may not completely appreciate it at that moment. For example, there is a project I feel strongly about but Baba says no. Despite all the reasons my own intellect or others give me, when I am following Shrimat, I step away. That takes faith- I don’t understand why Baba said no but I have faith it’s the right thing because I have recognized Who is telling me. I have faith that in time, everything will be clear and I will stand to benefit.

The Father can never give you children directions for sorrow, says Baba, He can never cause you a loss. It is Maya that makes you unhappy.

When I recognize the Father’s love in His Shrimat, when I recognize how it protects me at every step, I want to be accurate. I don’t make excuses and mix my own dictates with Shrimat, thereby diluting it. I follow them accurately. Accuracy shows my honesty toward Baba, but also toward my aim. Why am I here? if I am here because I believe that I am really a deity soul and that I am transforming into a deity soul once again, then I will believe that sorrow and violence are not my religion. It is not a ‘nice idea’, it is a decision, a realization, it is something that is deeply personal to me. And so I wish to be honest toward this aim. I stay attentive.

And the #1 shrimat I receive at this time is Manmanabhav!, remember Me alone. But why?

Because when I don’t develop this muscle of remembering who I am, Whom I belong to and my aim, then there is no experience of these things. When there is no experience, it is hard to make it personal. When it is not personal, I don’t pay attention and Maya easily deceives me.

Remembrance means I have directed the focus of my life in another direction- toward the One Who is capable of really liberating me, Who can give me true love and protection, Who is giving me purpose. Without this purpose, I would have continued to do whatever I was doing all these lives. You surrendered yourself to many others all this time, now surrender only to Me, He says. Remembrance is how I commit, how I forge my partnership with God.

Baba says, ‘Wake up early in the morning and remember the Father with a lot of love‘. Amrit vela is a specially appointed time to celebrate a meeting with the Father, with the true Beloved, with the Friend. I am connected to Him soul to soul. This practice enables me to experience His pure love and fills the soul with power. But this practice has to be daily. Then, it keeps the soul alive in spirituality. Remembrance becomes a living experience, not just a point of knowledge. When I love someone, I want to experience their presence often, all the time. Daily practice is what brings firmness to the new direction I have given my life; it is what shifts the consciousness. Then, I am able to appreciate other souls no matter what they are like. When I remember who I am and the Father, automatically virtues start to work with no struggle. Remembrance takes me into the heart of Baba where I find safety and inspiration. Even in bhakti, when devotees prayed with an honest heart- like Meera- they received a response from Baba. That response gave them so much power and enthusiasm to do things. How much more do I receive as a child of Baba?

Remembrance not just makes me more aware of myself but also more aware of the new time that is coming. I am the instrument to usher in the golden age. The consciousness in the golden age is – the soul feels complete. Purity is to feel complete. Where I am complete, it means I have no needs and this is why Maya cannot exist there, she cannot deceive me. So to become complete, let me remember the self in the complete stage. Baba says, ‘remember Me and the inheritance‘. Only when I am complete can I have meaningful relationships with Baba and other souls, else I am needy.

I called out to Baba at the depth of sorrow and said: Come and make me pure, liberate me from sorrow. He is here now and says: I have come to purify you and take you back home with Me. But you have to take the first step of courage – you have to follow Shrimat. When I follow His directions, He is able to give me multi-million fold help and co-operation. He fills me with power.

Brahma Baba took this offer 200% and surrendered Himself completely to the Father. When Shiv Baba gave the signal, Brahma Baba followed. There were no ‘if’s, or ‘but’s, he followed. His mantra was; ‘I must do it’. Where there is courage, there is faith and determination. And where there faith and determination, there is victory. Baba shifted his consciousness from that of a householder to being the Father of Humanity, into Shiv Baba’s first angel. Shiv Baba says, ‘follow father‘.