Baba says, ‘You are constantly a carefree emperor‘. Once you have handed over all responsibility to the Father, there is nothing for you to worry about.

I come to make you into sovereigns, into the king of kings, He says. A king of kings is an emperor and an emperor, Baba reminds me, doesn’t carry burdens. For half a cycle, I have been accustomed to carrying heavy burdens in the kingdom of Ravan. I was a bankrupt orphan there and so Ravan made me work hard to earn my place in the world. I was constantly carrying heavy burdens of worry, stress, pressure that I wasn’t designed to carry. The good news is that I am no longer in Ravan’s kingdom because God came and already rescued me. He didn’t rescue me so that I could continue to struggle. He didn’t come so that I could continue to have this hard life and just struggle and be frustrated all the time. And He especially doesn’t want me to struggle to make this Raja Yogi life work. So, He gives me faith. It’s amazing the problems that are solved the moment I trust God in everything.

Sometimes I wonder if I have any faith at all. The truth is that everyone has faith and I use it all day, every day. I have faith every time I sit down in a chair! I don’t check it out before I sit down, I just sit on it with the implicit faith that it will carry my weight. I have faith when I send my kids to school each day. I have faith when I drive into the traffic each day. I have faith when I buy groceries from the store each day. I use so much faith every single day and yet, I have trouble when it comes to putting faith in God. He says, ‘I am not just an ordinary great soul (mahaan atma), but I am your Father’. It ought to be easy to trust my own Father! And He isn’t even my temporary, biological father, He is my true eternal Father. He is called Truth. It ought to be easy to trust Truth! He is Almighty Powerful, All Capable. If not Him, whom else can I trust to take care of things?

Other times I think: ‘well I do have faith in God’ and yes, most of us do but to what degree? Is it to the point where I am no longer confused or worried or stressed about anything? Because that’s where God wants me to be. If I am confused, I’m not operating in faith…at least not about the thing I’m confused about. The moment I trust God, there is no more confusion. Why? because the moment I trust God, I don’t have to figure things out anymore and when I don’t have to figure things out, I am no longer confused! So yes, I may have faith but do I use my faith? Faith is a powerful force that can move mountains. It is only faith that allows me to enter into the rest that God is offering me. He says: Give Me your burdens. He knows the struggle, the drudgery I’ve endured for half a cycle. He is the Comforter of Hearts and brings me rest and comfort. But I can only step into it when I exercise or use my faith.

I’ve tried the other way of relying on my own abilities, my own strength, for half a cycle. Baba says, you don’t need to do that even a moment longer. That life is finished! Now, give Me your burdens and rest. Let me dare to take His offer. Where there is faith, there is surrender. I surrender to the Purifier. Rather than fight my flaws and weaknesses, let me learn to surrender or partner with the Expert. I don’t have to do it alone, I am not meant to. Let me stop apologizing for myself 25 times a day and instead learn to receive His love and learn what he is teaching me. He is not watching me fail and rolling His eyes at me. He is showing me the things He and I need to work on together. Let me stop trying to impress God, or earn His respect with my ‘perfect performance’ and instead, start loving Him, take His hand and partner with Him. Maybe He is telling me to make peace with that person at work- maybe that’s the karmic account that I need to settle before I can move to my next chapter. Rather than be a lawyer and try to make a case for why ‘I am right’ and ‘they are wrong’ and why my having to apologize is ‘unfair’, let me simply obey. It doesn’t matter who’s right, God is asking me to make it right, to be a peacemaker. Where there is peace and unity, there is blessing, there is power. He is not a random guru asking me to do it, He is my Father. What He says is greater than how I feel or don’t feel, see or don’t see.

He has not asked me to make an inventory of every flaw and figure out how to fix them. He has asked me to remember -who He is telling me I am, Who He is, my relationship with Him. When I remember the truth, the false dissolves automatically. That’s the co-operation He as asked for. He has asked me to spin the discus of self-realization and look at my elevated fortune throughout the cycle, that’s the co-operation He has asked for.

Often, I can have something and never put it to good use. I can have a coat in the closet and still freeze when I am outside, I can have food in my refrigerator and still go hungry. Having something is no guarantee that I will use it. And what is worse is when I don’t even know that I have it. Peace, rest, comfort, joy, love, happiness – this is my inheritance and an inheritance, by definition, is not something I have to try to get, I already have it simply by virtue of being God’s child. If I am aware of this, and simply accept it in faith, then I will automatically behave more rightly. Faith can’t work if it’s in the fridge or closet, I need to take it out and use it.

And so, I have no excuse to feel like I am constantly under attack, that I am tired carrying burdens – I just need to use my faith. Once I surrender myself and my burdens to Him, let me not take it back. Sometimes, I give Him a burden but in the corner of my mind, I’m still unsure if He will actually help me. I wish He would just tell me He is taking care of it or reveal to me how He is going to do it. But then that wouldn’t take faith! I have given Him my burden, now, I simply trust. And He might not do it the way I want or expect and it might not happen on my timetable but none of that changes what I need to do- I still continue to keep trusting because He is God and He is my Father. He may not get me out of every situation but He will give me the courage and strength I need to go through the situation and to do so with a smile. If the situation weren’t serving a purpose, He wouldn’t have allowed it. And He is there in the situation every step of the way with me. Let me learn to trust.

Faith moves mountains, solves problems, and makes me light, instantly. So when that situation comes, or if there is that sanskar that I can’t seem to get past, rather than feel tense or complain, let me see this as an opportunity to simply trust God and enter into rest. That’s how I learn to trust and grow my faith- by using it. It’s how I learn how great God is and just how great I’m not, without Him. God is my Father, He is here to take away all my trouble, all the pain and suffering of half a cycle and give me rest and comfort. The Father’s offer is: Let go of the burden and become constantly carefree.