Baba says, ‘Now, forget everything including your body. I am a soul, a child of the Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul. Simply practice having this awareness‘. 

Too often I base my value on how someone is treating me, how successful I am, how perfect of a life I’ve lived. This is the body conscious way of living by which I have lived for half a cycle where I associate my value with transient, or temporary and therefore, false things. The obvious problem with this approach of course is that all of those things can and will change. If I base my value on how people treat me, then when they hurt me, I will feel devalued. If I measure my worth by the title behind my name, then when I don’t have that position anymore, I will feel lost. When I measure my worth based on ‘perfection’, then when I make mistakes which I have and will, I will live feeling insecure and inferior. No wonder the world is full of peacelessness and sorrow.

Baba comes and reminds me of who I am and Whom I belong to. He gives me my true identity and belonging. Always remain in the awareness, He says, that your value is based solely on the fact that I am a soul and the child of the Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul.

How someone treats me, what they say or do does not lessen my value. Mistakes made don’t decrease my value – it’s what I did, not who I am. I might buy a bigger house, drive a better car but that does not make me any more valuable – it might reflect my net-worth but has not connection to my self-worth. I am already valuable in the small apartment with no title behind my name. I may be a housewife which means I may not have the same influence as a CEO but I have the same value. My value is not based on what I do, whom I know or what I did, my value comes from the Creator.

Of course, Maya will work overtime trying to de-value me. She would love for me to go through life letting what people say make me feel inferior, comparing my life to someone else’s, thinking that I’ll feel better when I catch up to them, when I move into that same neighborhood. She would love for me to believe that when I ‘perform’ perfectly i.e. make no mistakes, or when I finally change that sanskar, then I’ll feel valuable. Baba reminds me daily that I am valuable right now! Nothing I can do, nothing I can achieve, nothing I can overcome will make me any more valuable. To realize and deeply believe this in my bones is key to my staying alive and well on this spiritual path. I know who I am, my Father tells me every day- I am a soul, the child of God.

Many of us live in a proving mode. I can’t feel good unless I prove to my family that I am important, prove to my co-worker that I am smart, prove to my critics that I am doing okay. There are times. It’s quite freeing when I realize I don’t have to prove anything. I don’t have to out-do, out-drive, out-dress, out-perform. I don’t have to impress people, let me take the pressure off. It takes a lot of energy to compete, to prove and to impress because living in a proving mode is like being on a treadmill. When I am done proving to one person, there will be someone else I need to impress. I am working hard but not going anywhere! Let me get off this treadmill. ‘I am the child of God‘- practice this awareness throughout the day, He teaches. There is nothing wrong with owning it, wearing it, or driving it but let me not let it be the reason I feel good about who I am. Let me be sensible and understand where my value comes from.

Let my Father tell me who I am. Let me get my value, approval, self-worth from Him. He says, I am a world benefactor, a self-sovereign, a master of heaven. He tells me that every one of His praise is also my praise. He is my creator, He is the only One Who knows me truly, He is the only One Who knows my whole story- beginning, middle and end. In other words, only He knows the truth which is why He is Truth. Truth is by definition permanent, constant, never changes. People can’t change my truth and I cannot change my truth. It is who I am. Let me always remember this and never place my power, identity, value in someone else’s hands.

When I base my value on people, possessions, or accomplishments, it pushes me down because when things don’t work out, I take sorrow, feel let down. When people leave me out, I feel offended, lose my peace, try to pay them back etc. Baba says, ‘when you don’t remain in the awareness of who you are, you fall back into body consciousness and make many mistakes’. Even if people are well intentioned, they cannot keep me constantly happy, approved, validated all the time. It is not their job. For this, I have to go to my Father. My Father gives me this truth about who I am and Whom I belong to as my inheritance. When I receive it, I touch base with my own peace, happiness, love, freedom and wisdom. I become liberated from all the falsehoods of who I thought I am, from all the bondages of attachments and temporary attainments, from all the dependencies. The omens of Saturn that had kept me wandering, chasing, searching and seeking for half a cycle, depart and the omens of Jupiter come over me. When I start basing my value on what God is saying about me, on the truth, it’s going to push me up. I keep being my best irrespective of external circumstances because I realize that they don’t change my worth or determine my destiny. I’m going to have a smile on my face, and a spring in my step. I experience the Father being proud of me, celebrating me, always thinking about me…not because I’m perfect but because I am His child. I ascend. This, Baba says, is the time of ascension.

If I want to recognize my value, I have to see myself the way my Father sees me – as most valuable, as a sovereign, as unique, amazing, and wonderful. Life will make me feel anything but valuable. Disappointments, rejections, mistakes, betrayals will try to steal my sense of worth. But all through the day, despite what thoughts are telling me, despite who left me out, I need to actively remind myself of who I am and Whose I am. Let me not forget and fall back into body consciousness and feel ordinary when I am extra-ordinary. And so the Father says: Just remember!