Baba says, ‘Since you belong to Baba, you say, “Baba, all of this is Yours.”’

For half a cycle, I was a resident of heaven- it was 100% peace, happiness and prosperity. There was nothing lacking and no trace of sorrow. Then, midway through the cycle, I forgot who I am and was taken advantage of by Ravan or the five vices. He fed me lies about who I am – a name, a relationship, a job title, accomplishments; he told me it’s where my worth and value came from. He thus got me hustling and chasing after the wrong things and before I knew it, I was bankrupted of all I had in every area of my life- health, wealth, happiness, security, belonging, everything.

God came at the end of the cycle so as to give me back every single thing I have lost. He came to restore me completely to my original stage of completeness, of wholeness. So He teaches me Raja Yoga– the study to become complete, to become a self-sovereign. ‘Ravan took advantage of you when you forgot who you are‘, He reminds me, ‘and so the key to reclaim what you have lost is to simply remember who you are‘. He reminds me of who I am by bringing me into relationship with Him. He adopts me as His own child through Brahma and starts to relate to me directly as my Father, as my Mother, as my Teacher, as my Companion, as my Friend, as my Beloved…as every relationship. He becomes my reference for how to be. ‘Let your intellect be connected with Me‘, He says. To get to know Him is to remember my own true, original nature. I am just like Him, have all the same virtues and powers. The more time I spend with Him, the more I observe and learn, the more aware I become of myself. ‘Whenever you have time, maintain this awareness’, He teaches, ‘the pilgrimage of remembrance is key’.

‘In fact this is an unlimited drama about awareness and forgetting‘, Baba points out. When I remain aware, I make the right choices, I am liberated-in-life,; when I forget, I am in bondage of the vices and consequently, do everything wrong. After half a cycle of being in the wrong awareness, it isn’t easy to constantly maintain the right awareness just simply by understanding it. God becomes my constant Guide to show me the way, to remind me each time I forget. When I slip into the old consciousness as I go through the day, when I am about to compromise, I hear His prompting: ‘remember who you are’, ‘keep your peace’, ‘lose the attitude’. My role is to follow the guidance and come back into the right awareness. This is how I partner with God.

But often I find it hard: ‘what she did was wrong, I had no choice but to give her a piece of my mind..’, ‘what God, you want me to forgive him?! after all that he did to me?!..’, ‘yes, I know they are poor company and yes, they speak dirty but in this world, one has to play along a little to fit in…’. Here’s the deal: if I expect God to restore everything I’ve lost to Ravan, then I need to follow His instructions. I cannot do as I please and then go to God when it gets hard. God is not a dump for my problems! He doesn’t take responsibility for me without taking me first.

He says: ‘surrender yourself to Me completely‘. He isn’t just someone I talk to at Amritvela, listen to during Murli and then forget about. God is my every relationship, He wants to be involved in every tiny aspect of my life- my thoughts, my words, my actions, my decisions, my choices, how I choose to entertain myself, what I eat, my company…everything. This is the confluence age, He reminds me, it’s the only time you and I meet and have this practical relationship. If I don’t learn from Him now, if I don’t co-operate with Him in turning myself around now, I won’t be able to do it at any other time. ‘So don’t waste your time, thoughts and breath wastefully or ordinarily as you have for half a cycle‘, He teaches, ‘follow directions and use the treasures in a worthwhile way’. It’s one thing to not think negatively about someone who hurt me in the past- that’s not so big a deal. But can I go further and have good wishes and pure feelings for them? can I bless them? that’s using my thoughts in a worthwhile way, it’s how I accumulate and take my full power back from Ravan.

This is what Brahma Baba did. When Shiv Baba came and introduced Himself, baba surrendered himself 200%. When Shiv Baba reminded him of who he is, Brahma baba went from being an ordinary householder to the father of humanity; he shifted his consciousness. There were many who challenged him, advised him to slacken the direction around maintaining purity but baba didn’t budge from what His Father had told him. There was opposition from both inside and outside, there was criticism, stories in the papers…but at no point did baba give in to fear or doubt and think: ‘look at how they treat me, maybe I’m not the father of humanity after all!’, ‘maybe I better back down a bit, what about my reputation in the community…’.

When I surrender to God, that means I belong to God. Then, I don’t get to compromise, I don’t shrink back afraid of how the world will perceive me; I go all out for God as His representative, to glorify His name…even if that means I lose every ‘friend’ I’ve got! I allow God to make me and mold me into the person He wants me to be which will inevitably be different from what the world is used to seeing: while the world routinely compromises, I stand up for and follow what’s right; when the world believes in vengeance, I forgive those who come against me; when the world expects me to worry, I enjoy life even in the midst of turmoil; I remain unshakable in the toughest of circumstances. This is how I become the Father’s messenger; not through empty words but through the power of my character.

You made this promise: “I will stay with you, I will go back with you and we will rule together”, Baba reminds me of the promise I made to Brahma baba. Well, He says, you will then need to surrender yourself to the same extent he did! Let go of the old consciousness and put on the original, true consciousness of being a pure soul, equal to the Father. Continue to accumulate treasures in the Father’s bank and by doing so, give everyone the message: ‘The Father has come and is establishing heaven. The new world is being established. Whoever wants to study Raja Yoga for this should come and do so.’