Baba says, ‘Happiness is the special basis of Brahmin life. There is the difference of day and night between temporary happiness and the permanent happiness based on the complete and perfect stage.’ 

It is remembered that ‘there is no nourishment like happiness‘ and it is also remembered that: ‘there is nothing lacking in the treasure store of Brahmins’. Happiness is based on contentment that comes from being full of all attainments and therefore, it would lead one to conclude that there can be no one as constantly happy as Brahmins. And yet, this is not reality. ‘It is one thing to have the attainments and a different thing to know how to use them‘, says Baba. It’s like having all the finest new clothes hanging in the closet but never actually putting them on. Unless I put them on, I don’t experience them and therefore don’t have happiness. In fact, the sparkle of happiness on one’s face is the visible form of attainment. Baba says, ‘no matter how much someone might say that they are happy and that it’s others that don’t understand, their face reveals the truth.‘

And so Baba says: check if you are constantly happy with yourself, with others and with service?

The easiest way to be happy with myself is to follow Shrimat accurately. The quicker I learn to just obey God’s directions without second thought, the better off I’ll be and feel. There will be times when the Shrimat I receive makes no sense to me, in fact, it may be the exact opposite of what I expected to hear but rather than try to analyze it, if I can just obey in faith, I will see the benefit of that obedience; in time, I will see why Baba told me what He did. But often that second and third thought gets in the way of prompt obedience- I start to doubt, to question, sometimes I even think it’s unfair, then I reach out to others to ask for their opinion hoping they agree with my doubts which inevitably leads to disobedience and therefore lack of attainment. When I realize that God is my Father, that He is for me and not against me, when I make Him my One trust and One Support, I obey.

Sometimes, I think that just because I am God’s child, storms won’t come to me. Baba says, ‘storms come to everyone‘. In fact, they will come with even more force to me because I am God’s child and they often come in the form of difficult people and situations. When I fail to recognize that this is attainment, I see it in it’s superficial form as opposition. It’s like when it don’t realize the benefit of fire, I allow it to burn me rather than the junk I don’t want. To burn myself is to complain and become bitter: ‘why is this happening to me?’, ‘this is just my karma…’, ‘why do they behave this way…’, ‘Baba, get me out of this situation…move this person from here…’. But when I am aware of how the drama and Baba work, I realize that if the person or situation is in my life, they are required in my journey; they come bearing the gift of an important lesson for me that only they can deliver. My role is to trust the benevolence of God and the drama, recognize the lesson and learn it. The quicker I learn, the quicker I move on to the next chapter. The more I resist, the more times I get to take the same test.

But because I am not tuned-in to my own folly, I sulk with God and wilt: ‘why isn’t Baba doing anything to help me?’ without realizing that He is helping me; it’s my perspective that’s off. He isn’t interested in changing my circumstance, He is interested in changing me; He is using the circumstance or that person as sandpaper to rub the rough edges off of me. Rather than question, complain or try to correct the scenes of the drama, let me tune-in and work with the drama and God.

Something else that happens when I am not tuned-in is that I become discontent with my part in the drama or in service. Each one of us has been on our own unique strengths and our own unique parts in service. My job is not to compare my part with someone else’s part but rather to do my part to the best of my ability with sincerity and dedication, that’s all. God doesn’t expect me to do anything I haven’t been equipped to do but He does expect me to do the best with what I have been given. If I can do that, it doesn’t matter if I am in the kitchen or on stage, it’s equal. But when I don’t realize this and start to compare….then, I get jealous, get into competition, start to do unnatural things to get somewhere I am not meant to nor asked to be just to prove that I too can do it. Baba says, ‘you do disservice and defame the Father and the family.‘ Let me recognize the specialties that God has given me and excel at serving with them. Then, when God is ready to take me to a new level, He will do it suddenly and without me needing to ask for it.

So, says Baba, recognize the Godly attainments of the confluence age and become content with yourself, with others and with service. In fact, the way I honor the Father is through being constantly happy because it is proof of His goodness in my life. This is how I praise the Father, the drama and my elevated role in the drama. Rather than ‘why?’, I say, ‘wah!’ ‘The final offering to be made into this sacrificial fire will be the constant happiness of all Brahmins’, says Baba. Then there will be revelation, that is, the sound of praise will resonate; the flag of victory will be hoisted. So now, remain constantly happy and make others constantly happy.