Baba says, ‘No one can receive an inheritance from the creation; it isn’t the law‘. Only the Father, the Creator, gives you the inheritance every cycle.

For half a cycle, I lived as an orphan in Ravan’s world, looking for happiness, peace, love and respect from people, possessions, achievements, positions and religion. Not only did I not find it, the more I tried, I emptier I became. I wasn’t rising, I was falling. Baba came and reminded me of who I am and Whose I am. He reminded me that I am a soul- not just any soul, but a most elevated, deity soul- and that I am His child. At that moment when I recognized the Father, I went from being an orphan to a child with rights, from a beggar to a prince. He gave me my identity and belonging as my inheritance and with that came all the other attainments I was looking for – happiness, peace, love, respect- automatically. The key, however, is to remember, to stay in that awareness.

It’s great when people believe in us, cheer us on; I appreciate it when that coworker stays late to help me on a project. But I cannot become so dependent on people that I get my worth and value based on how they treat me. It’s easy to become addicted to the compliments, to the encouragement and on others cheering me on. Now, I count on them to keep me feeling validated, feeling good about myself, feeling approved. Like a drug, if they don’t keep me fixed and meet all my expectations, I feel discouraged, inferior and work overtime to earn their approval. This is classic body consciousness where I am trying to get from people what only God can give. My worth or value does not come from other people, it comes from my Creator. Baba says, ‘No one can receive an inheritance from the creation; it isn’t the law. Only the Creator can give you the inheritance.

If I rely on souls I will be disappointed because souls at this time in the cycle are all struggling themselves having been on long journeys. Sometimes, they just get busy, other times, they might even turn on me. I might be celebrated one day, and shrugged off on another day. If I depend on others, I will become needy and a burden, expecting others to keep me fixed. It’s not just hurting me but it’s also unfair to others. No one else is responsible for me, let me learn to receive my inheritance from my Father. ‘Now that you belong to the Father you have become the masters of His property‘, He reminds me, ‘you don’t need anything from people‘. If I depend on people to respect and love me, then, when they stop or change their mind, I will feel devalued. But if I go to God, I will always feel valued, no one can take away from me what He gives me. My self-worth is not based on how people treat me, on if they praise me or insult me. My self worth is based solely on the fact that I, the soul, am a child of God.

If others are leaving me out, insulting me, spreading rumors, it doesn’t even matter. If I didn’t get the credit I deserved, it means I didn’t need it. What people say or do cannot stop my destiny, it cannot override my fortune that is pre-destined in the drama. That person that made hurtful comments- let me shake off the disrespect. Let me not believe all the lies anyone is telling me or about me- that I am not smart enough or good enough or something else enough…. What people think or say doesn’t determine my value, or lessen my self-worth. The only power they have over me is the power I give them.

Brahma Baba had all kinds of people come against him – politicians, religious leaders, haters, critics – trying to discredit him, make him feel inferior, to cause him to give up. He could have taken the bait and thought: ‘I must not be the father of humanity, look at all this opposition, look at what they are saying about me, look at how they are treating me’. But he knew that his identity didn’t come from people, it came from his Father, from his Creator. People’s approval or disapproval didn’t make a difference to him. His attitude was: I am receiving my inheritance from the Father and so, I must follow the Father’s directions. In the same way, I don’t have to have people’s support, encouragement to move forward. Sure, it’s convenient when it’s there but it’s not a dependency. My destiny is not contingent on others behaving right, on them cheering me on. My Creator has put everything I need within my power. Baba says, ‘He is the Father and Mother and is telling you who you are, listen only to Him‘. Let me learn to build myself up, encourage myself, compliment myself based on what my Father is telling me. I am responsible for claiming my inheritance from the Father, no one else can do it for me. If I look to people, eventually I’ll become resentful, bitter, start holding things against them and the truth is…it’s not their fault.

Only God can make me whole, not people. Sometimes, I think I will feel better if so-and-so would apologize to me for something they did, if they would admit that they were wrong. The Father says: ‘You mustn’t get caught up in praise and defamation. There are many who very quickly become upset. From the copper age, you have been body conscious in the kingdom of Ravan. This is why it takes a lot of effort to become soul conscious.‘ The truth is no one owes me anything! This is Maya working overtime to get me to live upset and bitter and when I am body conscious, I take the bait and oppose my own brothers and sisters rather than oppose Maya. When I am soul conscious, I keep the right perspective. I feel compassion rather than anger and indignation. I observe the scenes of the drama as a detached observer. Only when I am detached, can I be loving to myself and others.

The Father says: I guarantee that I come every cycle and purify you children. There isn’t a single impure being in heaven. The outcome of this purification process is that I become a self-sovereign, and a vital aspect of the purification process is developing within me equanimity in the face of praise and defamation. In my journey, God will use people’s compliments to keep me going for a while but in time, just as a mother weans off a baby of the bottle, God will wean me off people’s compliments. The objective is to grow me up and get me to a place where I am not dependent on others to feel good about myself. I don’t rely on people for my inheritance, I learn to go to my Father. The higher my destiny, the more the opposition, the disapproval there will be and I will not become all that I can be if I allow one little comment to ruin my whole weekend. As long as I am following the Father’s directions, being my best, I don’t need to depend on people’s approval; the less I depend on others, the stronger my spiritual muscles will be and the higher I will go.

In the Mahabharata, Arjuna and his cousin, Duryodhana, who were to fight each other, both went to God to ask for His help in winning the war. He promised He would help them but they would need to choose- either Him or His vast army. Arjuna was wise enough to know that all he needed was God on his side to win any war, and overcome any obstacle. Baba is teaching me the same thing- that I don’t need the army – that I don’t need all my coworkers to support me, or all my friends and family to cheer me on.  Baba says, ‘He gives us the happiness of all relationships. He has the sweetness of all relationships. All other friends and relatives only cause you sorrow. Only the one Father gives everyone happiness‘. God and I are a majority. When I realize this and learn to rely on Him rather than people, when I build up my own self-worth based on what He is telling me about myself, I will live confident, secure and reach the fullness of my destiny. That is, I will claim my full inheritance.