Baba says, ‘souls blessed by the Father, the Bestower of Blessings, experience the stage of being full of the attainment of blessings at every moment and in every situation.’

In the yagya, we often hear the story of how Father Brahma, on his final night in this corporeal world, placed his hand in the hand of Dadi Prakashmani, willing His power to her. Appointed since, to be the administrative head of the Brahmakumaris, she oversaw it’s vast expansion all over the world and is remembered fondly even to this day, as a gifted leader, a big sister, and as a loving mother, by one and all that knew her. I hear this story and think: ‘wow, dadi was so fortunate. She had baba’s hand of blessing that pushed her ahead.’ I subconsciously believe that I am not so fortunate to ‘have someone will their power to me and so of course I am at a disadvantage. So of course, I can never become like them, get ahead like they did’. I give myself permission, like I did in bhakti, to stay mediocre.

But when I remember that this is God’s economy, not a human-being’s, then I realize that everyone gets everything equally. In fact, God doesn’t take His pool of blessings and divide it amongst His children, He multiplies, that is, everyone gets 100% of every blessing whether I am a day old child or dadi. Baba says, ‘The Bestower of Blessings gives aprons full of blessings to all the children; He does not make it numberwise in giving to everyone. His is an open treasure box, you can take as many as you want.’ Dadi became who she is not simply because baba blessed her but because she received it and used it fully. I am as blessed as I’d like to be, it’s up to me to claim what is mine fully or partially.

Every morning, BapDada fills my apron with blessings. He doesn’t do it based on how well I performed the previous day or week, He gives it free to all, simply because I am His child. Do I receive it? or am I busy trying to earn it? ‘Well, when I become as good as dadi was, when I’ve done as much service, then I will be worthy of His blessing’. The thing is, I won’t be able to do any of those things without His blessing, so let me check to see if I have my reasoning backwards.

Every morning at Amritvela, let me go boldly to BapDada and experience His hand of blessing over my head. Then throughout the day, when an obstacle seems too big, when it feels too hard to carry on, let me emerge that experience from the morning, see His hand of blessing over my head and know for a fact that He’s in charge and that this too shall pass. But often, rather than remember who I am and Whose I am, I panic and turn to people. I call someone to ask for their opinion or advice, knock on a door to ask for their help. In fact, this is how I live my life- on the one hand, I say I belong to Baba and on the other hand, I am constantly hustling: ‘if only I could get this person to like me, they know a lot of people and could open doors for me’, ‘maybe I ought to do like her, she seems to be getting ahead’, ‘let me call so-and-so, they can get me out of this situation’. This kind of dual life doesn’t work well with God. I cannot say all the right things: ‘Baba, you are my everything’, ‘the Father is my world’, ‘of course, I love and trust Baba’, ‘He is my one Companion’ and then, behave in an opposite way.

Trust is not something I can do partially, I either trust or I don’t. And it is also not a feeling that I wait to feel one day, trusting is a decision I make. Sometimes, I think: ‘well, I did go to Baba and ask for His help with this situation but I didn’t hear or see anything’. Let me check how I’ve been living my life. Do I remember Baba during the tough times and then forget about Him the rest of the time? God doesn’t take my problems without taking me first. He isn’t a consultant that I hire when I have a problem, He is my Supreme Father, Teacher, Satguru, my Friend, Beloved and my Companion. He wants to be part of every aspect of my life. If I am living life the way I want to- thinking, speaking, acting the way I want to- with the people I want to, then I cannot experience being blessed by God. I have said that Baba is my world, so then let me make Him my world- let me follow His Shrimat alone, let me have all my relationships with Him alone. When I truly do, I find that I don’t need to ask Him for His help, He is already helping me.

‘Simply make the lesson of One firm‘, says Baba, ‘the Lord is always present in front of such blessed souls.‘ Then, I will see God show out in my life. But often, I don’t realize the value of the blessing. In fact, the word ‘bless’ is used so casually these days – someone sneezes and I say: ‘bless you!’- where it has lost it’s significance. When I have God’s hand of blessing over my head, nothing – no obstacle, no storm, no situation- can stop me from attaining my destiny. It is God’s hand of blessings that caused Hanuman, a monkey, to fly, defeat demons and set all of Lanka on fire! It is God’s hand of blessing that caused the Pandavas to win the war against the Kauravas and their mighty army. This is the power of God’s blessing – it causes me to defy the odds. Everyone else is complaining, I am at peace; others’ businesses are going under but mine is prospering in the pandemic; people usually never recover from such an illness but I had a full recovery. All the circumstances might suggest that I am at a disadvantage but because of God’s hand of blessing over my head, things meant for my harm turn to my good. I’ve never spoken in public but the moment I got on stage, I had this new found confidence and all the right things came out of my mouth. I don’t have the training for this new role, but somehow I know what to do, I receive the co-operation I need, I have new ideas and creativity….When I have God’s hand of blessing over me, I live a happy, contented and victorious life. It doesn’t mean that situations or storms won’t come, they will, but I don’t experience the burden, I don’t experience anything to be hard work; His blessing causes supernatural things to happen. All I can do is watch His magic in my life.

People may be good to me one day and take their hand away the next day and decide to bless someone else. But God’s hand of blessing is on me always, 24/7 and no one can take away what I receive from Him. His blessings are my birthright, I don’t have to work hard for it, I don’t earn or deserve it, I simply have to claim it. I do that by making Him my world, by surrendering myself to Him, and trusting Him with my life. Let me not block the blessing by doubting if I have it, by trying to come up with all the reasons why I don’t deserve it. Let me develop a blessed mindset. All through the day, let me pause and remind myself of who I am and Whose I am, let me experience God’s hand of blessing firmly on my head. Then, no matter what Ravan and Maya try, they cannot penetrate the fortress of protection I am in or stop me from claiming my full inheritance.