Baba says, ‘Those who are making the elevated effort to become the most elevated beings never disobey shrimat or perform wrong actions‘.

This is a war, Baba reminds me daily, this is a very powerful war. But this war is incognito, it is being fought internally between the real me and the false me. It is the war between the soul conscious me and the body conscious me. Baba came and adopted me through Brahma – I was born again into God’s family and so I became a new creation. But this doesn’t mean that the old/false me isn’t still there! It is and wakes back up from the dead, so to speak, to make itself seen and heard. But it is up to me to decide whom I am going to allow to rule- the old me or the new me. When the old, body conscious me rules, I am doing things against shrimat, I am holding grudges, compromising on my values, taking the easy way out, etc. My goal becomes keeping the ego happy but as is clear from half a cycle worth of experience living this way, I won’t like the results. Every time I make a body conscious choice, an ego-driven choice, I lose my self-respect, I fall in my own eyes, I lose my dignity and with it my joy, my peace and my happiness. Then, before long, I will get spiritually tired, feel defeated and might leave.

Baba says, ‘I come to make you into the most elevated beings but you have to remember the Father. This is how you become satopradhan from tamopradhan. There is no other way.‘

When I decide that I will not allow the old me, or the ego to rule my life, I am committing to doing the right thing when it’s uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel good at the time but when I choose it, I reap the benefits in the end. But it’s hard to do the right thing when that coworker insults me…I want to insult them back. That will satisfy the ego but I won’t grow spiritually. A lot of times, my heart is right but when it comes time to doing the right thing, I simply lack the strength or the power to keep the ego down. That power can only come through remembrance. Knowledge will open me, help me discern right from wrong but it won’t give me the power I need to make the change in my life. For that I need to step in and touch base with my own truth and then move upward and connect with the Father. He is my reference point and connecting with Him reawakens my truth, strengthens it, and keeps the ego or the falsehood down. To reawaken my truth is to become satopradhan.

Baba says, ‘you have to die alive from all that is false‘. This is not a one time thing, I have to die alive every day. Every day I have to make the choice to say ‘no’ – no, I won’t make that sarcastic comment; no, I won’t watch that movie; no, I won’t get angry or irritated; no, I’m not going to get impatient with my kids or while in traffic. To allow the ego to rule is to continue to live selfishly– it’s all about me, my preferences, my convenience, my likes and dislikes, me, me me. To live as a blessing to others is to live like the Father. God, the Ever Pure, comes in an impure world, in an impure body, to liberate His children. He becomes egoless and even massages the feet of the mothers. He says, ‘I understand, you are tired, I have come to remove your tiredness.‘ He is the Comforter of Hearts, the Remover of Sorrow and the Bestower of Happiness. He says, ‘I come to remove everyone’s sorrow and grant them happiness. Maya comes and makes you unhappy.‘ The Father asks His children for our co-operation in His task of liberation. Simply follow Me, He says. Do as I do. This is being co-operative but it’s also being obedient.

Sometimes when I fail at bringing change a couple times, I get tired and make the mistake of giving up. I convince myself that maybe I just don’t have what it takes to overcome the ego. But that’s a lie, that’s false. God tells me every day that as His child, I am master almighty. Let me never believe Ravan’s lie that I lack power, let me only believe that which God is telling me. To believe the right thing is the first step to victory. Next, let me make a firm decision that I am going to obey God and with determination go up against the enemy Baba is asking me to go up against. Every little win counts and builds up my faith, my confidence, my power. That bad habit or that temper may not go away completely but it will no longer be a stronghold i.e. it won’t be able to control me anymore.

Sometimes I deceive myself into thinking that something is just a little thing. But it’s always the pebbles that cause me to trip when I’m running, not the rocks. When I co-operate in His task by defeating my personal enemies, God can promote me and trust me with more responsibility. Let me defeat the things no one knows about- it might not be a sin, but it’s that sour attitude, that jealousy, that critical nature. What I can defeat quickly is not my real enemy. My real enemy doesn’t go away easily. Maybe, someone hurt me and I’ve been holding on to that bitterness for years, it’s made me critical and judgmental. Baba, the Purifier, is showing it to me and telling me that this is my real enemy that I need to confront and defeat- let me not push it away because it makes me uncomfortable, let me not justify it by saying, ‘this is just who I am’. It’s not. Let me co-operate with the Father by being willing to die alive, by letting go, by doing the right thing. I have the power to do it through the remembrance of who I am and Whose I am.

‘Only in having remembrance is there effort‘, Baba explains, ‘you will try to connect your intellect’s yoga and Maya will break it. But you mustn’t be afraid of the storms of Maya, you mustn’t give up‘. The more I remember, the more power I have to be who I am called to be, the most elevated human being. Yes, it takes effort but the reward is high. Both service and disservice are happening at any given moment, says Baba. My every thought, word, deed, my vision, face, behavior, attitude- they are all either serving and glorifying God or doing disservice and defaming the self and the Father. My brothers and sisters who are lost and wandering in Ravan’s world are looking for their Father and He wants my help in bringing them to Him. When I live ego-led, I push them away from the Father, they don’t find what they are seeking. ‘The main thing is remembrance‘, says the Father, ‘then, you also have to become sticks for the blind.‘ This is the most auspicious confluence age where I change from being a sinful soul to a charitable soul, from degraded human being into the most elevated human being. I can only do that when I become the Father’s helper. And so He says, ‘Manmanabhav!, remember Me and become pure’.