Baba says, ‘Don’t spoil your head when you see someone’s defects’. The Father makes you into the masters of the land of happiness, so have mercy on yourselves.

We all go through things that aren’t fair. Someone betrayed me, I worked hard but I was sidelined. I can’t stop life from happening, but I can choose how I respond. If I go around feeling offended- ‘why did they say that about me?’, ‘that was wrong!’, ‘look at how they behave!’, then, I am opening the door to bitterness. When I am bitter, it affects every area of my life. It poisons my attitude to where I start seeing everything in a negative light.

I might have a good reason to be bitter but holding on to it only makes it worse. It steals my dreams, robs me of my joy, and keeps me from my destiny. I have to let it go! Baba says, ‘The Father is sitting here and He receives all the news. The Father knows each one’s stage. Never look at anyone’s defects. “So-and-so is like this and he does this and that.”‘ He knows what’s going on, what wasn’t fair and He knows how to bring me out better. Let me let it go and trust Him. Bitterness is a root. The longer I hold on, the harder it is to get rid of. The more I relive it, let it bother me, the deeper it gets planted. The key is to forgive quickly. When I feel the bitterness taking root- ‘why did this happen?’ ‘this isn’t fair!’, ‘so-and-so shouldn’t have done this’ – right then, I have to turn it over to God and trust Him to take care of things.

Instead, when I let the bitterness take root, then I poison myself. Not just that, I then feel the need to share my feelings with others- tell them how I was treated, what so-and-so did and in doing so, I end up poisoning their minds too. Baba says, ‘Don’t waste time in defaming others. Your duty is to remain engaged in doing service‘. Maybe a co-worker made me look bad in front of people. When I am soul conscious, I simply see it as a scene in the drama and don’t take it personally. I don’t take my value from how people treat me, my value comes from being a child of God. So, I see the whole thing as a detached observer, feel benevolence and compassion for the other soul, and let it go. I don’t allow anyone or anything to affect my stage by polluting my pure feelings, and therefore, my peace and happiness. That is my inheritance, my birthright and so, I protect it. This, is self-sovereignty.

But when I slip into body conscious, I lose courage. Then I start dwelling on the offense, start thinking about how to pay them back. The next time I see them, I give them the cold shoulder. The longer I keep at this, the deeper the roots of bitterness will go and pollute other areas of my life. Maya deceived them into doing what they did, let me not allow her to deceive me into giving over my inheritance too. Maya’s strategy is to divide and conquer. When I am body conscious, I end up opposing my own brothers and sisters, I see them as the enemy and Maya as a friend. Sometimes, I even complain about them to Baba and give Him advise on what He should do! Then, when I don’t see Baba do what I asked, I sulk with Him too. Maya whispers- ‘yes, they did wrong; yes, that wasn’t fair; so, yes, you should be bitter, you should feel offended’, ‘you told Baba and He didn’t do anything, it’s no use, you should just leave’. And just like that, I lose my purity and with it, my peace and happiness. Worse, I might even leave Baba. The Father says: I have come to give you children full sovereignty. Therefore, remain courageous and demonstrate it practically.

Guarding my heart against impure feelings, is my most important responsibility. This life in the confluence age is too short, too valuable, to live offended, not forgiving, bitter over what someone did. I have a finite amount of energy each day, not an unlimited supply. It takes an immense amount of energy to hold grudges, go around offended, jealous, bitter. It is energy I need to learn the things Baba is teaching me in order to reach my destiny. Baba says, ‘Don’t waste it on useless things. Sit and study whenever you have time. You continue to receive teachings of every type’. When I get careless about what I allow into my heart and lose my joy, my zeal and enthusiasm, my energy, then I call out to Him: ‘Baba, help me!’. The Father says: There is no question of blessings or mercy in this. You must have mercy on yourself. Stay in remembrance and continue to take power.’ I am part of the Shakti Army of Shiva, He reminds me. I am no one ordinary! In fact, I am so powerful that I can change the whole old world and make it new. That old world exists in my mind- that’s where the battle is taking place, and that’s where the victory has to be had.

And so the Father’s mantra is: ‘Manmanabhav!, remember Me alone. Only I am ever pure’, He reminds me. ‘When you remember human beings, you become impure, only the remembrance of the Father purifies you. He is the Ocean of Purity, Peace and Happiness. You souls purify yourselves with the power of yoga‘. Let me not remember what so-and-so did, let me remember God. When I remember Him, I draw in His power, His purity, His virtues of benevolence and compassion, of love and understanding. The more I draw in the purity, the more it cleans out the toxins, the pollutants that have contaminated my mind and stops new pollutants from getting in. It’s like placing an glass of dirty water under a tap of clean, running water. I don’t have to work on removing the dirty water, I just have to keep the clean water running. When I do, I change from human into a deity in a practical way. ‘Don’t doubt this or your efforts will become slack‘, cautions Baba. I won’t when I remember Who is the Purifier, Who is in charge. It is remembered that it didn’t take long for God to change humans into deities.

He and I have made this transformation successfully countless times before. On this auspicious occasion of Rakshabandhan, let me re-dedicate myself to being good to myself, let me re-affirm my vow to keep my thoughts, words and actions clean and pure. Then, together with God, I create the new world.