Baba says, ‘Continue to move along with honesty and cleanliness with the true Father. Never hide anything.’

The Lord is pleased with those who have a clean mind and a clean heart and He fulfils all their desires. In fact, complete cleanliness and purity are everyone’s aim at the confluence age: the praise is 16 celestial degrees pure and completely viceless. When I constantly have this aim in my awareness, I pay attention to the qualifications.

The foundation is the great mantra that God gives me for the mind: ‘Manmanabhav! belong to Me alone in your mind’. Only when I surrender my mind to Him do I remain in the right awareness of who I am, Whom I belong to and what I am here to do. If my mind is still engaged in Ravan’s world, in the events of the day, what he/she said etc, then my stage never rises above the corporeal; it feeds on junk and produces junk. Then, the awareness and thoughts translate into words where I might spend my time gossiping with others about what I/they saw or heard. That makes it worse and now it affects my feelings, behaviors and attitudes. My attitude creates the atmosphere around me and that becomes impure and heavy rather than spiritual and light.

Sometimes, it’s not others that keep me busy, but rather I am caught up in the hustle of making it in Ravan’s world. I try to belong in this world by doing things the way Ravan teaches. I lie, I compromise, I cave in…I do things that are not aligned with the innate values of the soul, all because of the misconception that without these things, I won’t belong. Baba teaches me to belong to myself first i.e. to be true to the self. The more I go against my truth, the more alien I become to myself and consequently, the more I lose my inheritance of peace and happiness.

Sometimes, it’s a lack of true recognition of the Father that keeps me from my aim. He is the Purifier! The very reason He is here is to purify me and take me back home with Him. Without becoming pure, I can neither return home nor enter into the land of truth. And sanskars that have been with me for half a cycle don’t move just by me understanding them, it takes a removal expert! Baba uses people and situations to pull out those attitudes and behaviors from within me that have been causing me sorrow, holding me back from my greatness. He is not judging me, He is simply showing me so I can realize and course correct. But if my response to that is feeling condemned, then I stay blocked because I am not receiving His love and power to bring about change.

Sometimes, I get so afraid of all the darkness in me that I hold back from engaging with life altogether. I become reserved and aloof. Baba says, ‘you are not a sanyasi to move away! This is Raja Yoga. Here, you have to live in the midst of impurity and remain pure.‘ This is why the lotus is shown as a symbol of purity- it blossoms in the midst of the swamp while rising above the swamp. This is how you need to be too, says Baba. Storms will come to all- vicious thoughts, sanskars, they will all come. But they come so that I can observe by remaining detached which then allows me to learn and overcome by using the right shrimat. This is what true repentance is. But if I get afraid and cover my face, try to hide, that doesn’t help anyone.

‘You are on a battlefield‘, Baba reminds me. It is when you forget the Father that Maya slaps you. She is the one that tries to make me feel condemned, shameful, guilty, disheartened and all the rest. Her goal is to get me to shut myself down to God and His power. Let me discern and remain strong, in faith. The more Manmanabhav I am, the more I am able to remain strong in the knowledge of who I am and Whose I am. I stand up to Maya with the power of my Father’s unconditional love and acceptance. I am able to remain in faith because I am tuned in to the drama, to what is going on, to the purification process. Rather than be upset or afraid, I see the storm for what it is – as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Sometimes I think: ‘well, He knows everything anyway; what is there to tell Him..’ but no! The first step to curing an illness is to acknowledge that I have one. Then, I have to approach the Supreme Surgeon Who will prescribe the cure. The more I hide the illness for fear of humiliation, the worse it gets. God is my Father, He is the Ocean of Love and Acceptance, I have nothing to be embarrassed about! All I have to do is realize and make a decision that I want to change. Then, the Father matches my tiny will with His mighty will and things start to shift. Without making the decision, I won’t find the motivation to follow directions or bring change.

And so Baba says, pay attention and remain honest with the true Father. He works so hard on me to purify me, to cure me of all the hidden illnesses that have been dragging me down. The greatest co-operation I can offer Him is the co-operation of an honest and clean heart. ‘Yes Baba, I agree with You. I do have this sickness. Forgive me! I want to change, please prescribe the cure.’ Then, I follow through.