Baba says, ‘There was no war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. You are conquering Ravan.’

Baba explains that we are all unique. Each of us is at a different point in our journey with God including some that may not have started on the journey yet i.e. may not have recognized or accepted God yet in their life. And while God is aware of these differences, He loves everyone including those who don’t believe that He even exists, equally and unconditionally.

His very name, Shiv, means the Benevolent One. He only has feelings of benefit for everyone. As My children, He says, you too must be benevolent.

To have benevolent feelings for those that are nice to me, that bring me benefit- well, even those without knowledge can do that, He says. But to have feelings of benefit even for those souls that have an attitude of causing harm is called being a benevolent soul. But often I fall into the trap of ‘being right’ and think I am justified in feeling angry or offended. I don’t realize that this is bait that Ravan dangles in front of me hoping I’ll take it. It’s bait because the moment I get into thinking ‘but I am right, and she is wrong’, I give myself permission to feel bitter, then comes resentment and then I am overcome by a full-on feeling of unforgiveness for the other soul. So not only does Ravan sow division between me and my brothers but once there is bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart, it is hard if not impossible to have a deep, meaningful connection with God. It breaks my link with Him. And that, is Ravan’s ultimate goal- to separate me from God.

Baba says, ‘this is the same great Mahabharata war being fought now. There was no war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. You are conquering Ravan, he is your enemy. Conquer these vices and you will conquer the world. There is no question of fighting in this.’

The Pandavas and Kauravas were brothers with differences in sanskars, and in their level of recognition of God. But this is no cause for war! God never asks me to fight my own brothers, that’s what Ravan does! When I am under the shadow of Ravan, I consider him to be my friend and oppose my own brothers and sisters. I might even oppose God: ‘Baba, how come You don’t do anything despite what they do!?’, ‘Baba, this is not fair, I deserve better’. If Baba were to have this same limited attitude toward me, I would never be liberated. He would not want to have anything to do with me, He’d have left a long time ago. But God, the Ever Pure One, the Purifier, teaches me by example that purity and righteousness is not about ‘being right’ or having a ‘holier than thou’ attitude, it is about feeling love and benevolence for EVERY soul. It is about staying in the midst of impurity and serving it. To have benevolent feelings, a benevolent vision, a benevolent attitude and benevolent actions, even for those who may cause you loss- this is known as being a benevolent soul and this is the very occupation of you Brahmin souls, He reminds me.

With your benevolent attitude, you have to transform the other soul, that is, you have to forgive them, says Baba. To forgive when it’s hard, to be benevolent even when I don’t think others deserve it, that is conquering Ravan. That, is how I forge unity and brotherhood and destroy Ravan’s chances of disrupting the Father’s work of establishing the new world. You are master oceans of forgiveness, Baba reminds me, your forgiveness will become a teaching for that soul. Sometimes, I hear this and I grudgingly think: ‘fine, I forgive them..’ even as my mouth is all bitter and my chest is in twists! Sure enough, the next time I see that soul that I have supposedly ‘forgiven’, the memory of what they did comes rushing back to my mind, and I can’t stand the thought to meet them face to face. So before they can see me, I quickly turn and walk the other way! When I hear someone else praising that soul, I am rolling my eyes inside my head thinking: ‘let me tell you what they’re really like!’ Superficial forgiveness doesn’t work, it has to be from the heart, it has to be honest, says Baba. Don’t just talk forgiveness, the time of giving verbal teachings has now passed, He says, you have to demonstrate through your actions. Now give them love, give them respect, give them co-operation, have good wishes and pure feelings.

Yes, it’s hard but then the reward is big, He reminds me. I am teaching you how to become Narayan from an ordinary human being. To live offended, bitter, holding grudges and filled with unforgiveness is to live an ordinary life, the same one I lived for the last half of the cycle. Ravan wants to keep me ordinary and mediocre, dragging through life, hunched over carrying the weight of negative emotions. Baba comes to liberate me, to purify me and enable me to fly. He comes to help me claim my lost sovereignty from Ravan. He says: ‘don’t go by the dictates of your own mind or those of others, only follow My Shrimat’. Even though I might ‘feel’ offended and ‘feel’ that I need to talk back, I now recognize that these feelings are based on half a cycle of wrong conditioning, of vicious thinking. And so now, I don’t go by what I ‘feel’, I go by what I ‘know’.

The special duty, dharma and karma of confluence-aged Brahmins is to bring about benefit for the world. It is not difficult to carry out the duty for which you are born, says Baba. Every day, at amrit vela, bring into your awareness your position: your position of being a world benefactor. When you are set in your position, you will be saved from facing opposition.