Baba says, ‘This is your spiritual pilgrimage of the intellect; only you true Brahmins can go on this pilgrimage.‘

There are many types of physical pilgrimages but only one spiritual pilgrimage, says Baba. This is a pilgrimage of peace to the land of peace. Only the One Father knows the way to the land of peace, His home and the home of us souls and therefore only He can be the Guide to take me back. Only those that recognize the Father as He is can go on this pilgrimage with Him. Baba says, only you true Brahmins can go on this pilgrimage with Me.

This is a unique pilgrimage too. The physical pilgrimages are undertaken in search of God. Devotees believe that God, the Lord of Immortality, lives somewhere up in the mountains and that He expects His children to come to where He is. On this spiritual pilgrimage, God comes to where I am and becomes my Guide. He takes me back with Him to our home, the land of immortality. Devotees undergo many hardships with many choosing to take the journey by foot. Here, there is no difficulty for the body at all. I don’t go anywhere, in fact, I take this pilgrimage sitting down! On those pilgrimages, devotees go to ask for forgiveness of their sins and for liberation. This pilgrimage, on the other hand, is for a kingdom. The purification occurs on the way, during the journey, not at the destination. The world doesn’t know that Lakshmi and Narayan claimed their status by going on this same pilgrimage, explains Baba. It’s not as if they came from up above and simply got given the kingdom of heaven by God! No, they too took this journey during which they were made new from old.

This spiritual pilgrimage is so wonderful, says Baba, it is not a pilgrimage of the four dhams (pilgrimage places), this is a pilgrimage of the intellect’s yoga. He says, ‘Manmanabhav!, belong to Me in your mind. Follow only My directions. Only He, the Supreme Guide, knows the way back and therefore, it is in my best interest to only focus on what He is telling me and follow His guidance. There will be many storms on this pilgrimage, He explains. These aren’t physical storms like the ones devotees face but rather storms in the mind. But you must never let go of your faith, He teaches. Ravan is the one who brings storms and tries to make you faint from the tiredness of disheartenment so that you will come to a standstill, or worse, turn back. But you must remain firm like Angad and simply continue to remember the Father with your intellects. You don’t have to sit in one place or keep your eyes closed for this. While walking and moving around, and while using your hands to do your work, simply remember Me.

He is the Boatman and comes to take me from the land of sorrow to the land of happiness. I take you across the ocean of poison, He says, simply remain seated in the boat and trust the Boatman to take you across. It is on this journey that I, the soul, am transformed from impure to pure, from tamopradhan to satopradhan. Often, I make the mistake of expecting the transformation to be instant, but this is a pilgrimage, Baba reminds me. It takes time, patience and the resilience to fight back storms and persist. And so He says, keep the Father and the inheritance in your intellect, spin the discus of self-realization. This is how I keep my faith stirred up and build strength.  

You will try to remember Baba and Ravan will break your intellect’s yoga, this will happen, He says, but you must never become weary. Otherwise, the mercury of happiness will evaporate and the pilgrimage will seem arduous. Then I think: ‘if only I could get a glimpse of the future kingdom, if I could have a vision of my deity form, then I could move forward.’ It takes faith, says Baba. You know with your intellect’s yoga that you are to receive a kingdom, that you are studying for the kingdom. I don’t have to see to believe, I simply have to recognize and realize, says Baba. He says: While living at home with your family, live like a lotus. Continue to break your attachment away from the old world and old bodies. Remember the one Father alone. You first have to go to the Father and then to the new world. Remember the Father and the inheritance. Then, when we come back down here, that will be our reward.

This study or this pilgrimage is your true income, He teaches. When you imbibe this knowledge, you won’t then have to make any effort. Once you attain your kingdom, you simply experience the reward. In fact, then you won’t even know that you are experiencing a reward for then you would also remember that you made effort. You forget both effort and reward. Now, you know the full story- the past, present and future. This is such a wonderful pilgrimage!, says Baba. People have been going on those physical pilgrimages for birth after birth since the copper age, whereas this spiritual pilgrimage is just for this one birth. When you go to heaven, you will then not return to this land of death.