Baba says, ‘In order to glorify the Father’s name, be trustworthy and faithful. Do service honestly.‘ 

Children’s faithfulness and trustworthiness, Baba says, are proved through service. Often I look at something I like and think: ‘that’s what I want, I want that..’ When Baba asks me who I want to be in the golden age, I say: ‘Lakshmi and Narayan…I want that’. But the question is why? Do I want to be them because I like who they are as human-beings or do I want to be them because of the glitz and glamor that comes with being Emperor and Empress of the world? The motive matters because it determines if I will actually get there. If I want to be them because I am inspired to be the kind of people they are, then I will do what they did to get there. But if all I’m interested in is the outward glamor then, I might not yet have in me what it takes to be them.

Lakshmi and Narayan didn’t just wake up one day and become emperor and empress; they studied hard to become who they are. The key attribute that made them who they are: they didn’t seek after the position, they sought after the Father. Their goal was not body conscious power and authority, their goal was to glorify the Father. They didn’t chase after name and fame, they rejoiced in the love of the Father, they took pleasure in doing what the Father wanted them to do. Their lives were surrendered to serving the Father.

And the Father says: ‘to serve Me is to serve your brothers and sisters. Give them the message that their Father is here, that He has come to give them their inheritance’. When it comes to service, all of Baba’s children want to serve but again, the question is, why? I tell Him: ‘Baba, I want to do a lot of service. Please use me in Your task’ and by that usually what I mean is: ‘Baba, put me up on stage in front of a lot of people.’ I don’t even realize it but really, I am not looking to serve God as much as looking at God to serve me. Is my motive really helping my brothers and sisters come to their Father or is it to be famous? And sure, I may have the talent and the skill for it but do I have the right motive, the right attitude, the right character for it?

The Father says: ‘do service honestly.’ I may not have a public platform to serve from but I do have something even more important- I have direct access to the souls that need to be helped. They are at home, next to me at work, at school, in the grocery store and on the bus. They are not attending workshops, they are looking for evidence where they are that God indeed exists, that He in fact can help them and that He hasn’t forgotten about them.

And God has entrusted me with His reputation. He has entrusted me to give them His message. And when I look at the picture of the tree, I realize that according to the drama, not everyone will have direct access to God; in fact, I might be the closest they ever get to God! So, how am I representing my Father? If I am after the platform, the answer is: ‘not very well’. Honesty is about being the same at home, behind closed doors, as I am on stage. If I take people in my life for granted, routinely disrespect my co-workers, generally have a ‘don’t care’ attitude toward others, then God cannot trust me with ‘big service’. Baba says, ‘In order to glorify the Father’s name, be trustworthy and faithful’. God always tests my faithfulness with the small before He can trust me with the big. Why? because He cares and in fact, is very picky about how I treat His children. The number of people I can help are also the same number of people I can hurt if I don’t have the right motive and character. Similarly, if I shake, get angry, lose my peace with the smallest storm that comes my way, He cannot trust me to give His children the message about claiming their inheritance. If I am still easily pulled by limited desires, still attracted to bodies, then He cannot trust me to talk to them about becoming viceless and pure. Baba says, ‘you have to become an embodiment of knowledge and yoga first before you can teach others’.

To look at someone on stage and think: ‘well I can speak much better than him/her; why isn’t God using me?’ is to miss the point. It’s not about how well I can speak, it’s about who I am as a person. Am I someone God can trust with His children? Brahma Baba was His chosen instrument for service. A look at baba’s life offers clues as to why. Baba always put the children before him; he never had the attitude of: ‘I am the instrument, my name should be famous’. His wish was that everyone should receive the Father’s message, that they should claim their inheritance from Him. For this, he tolerated, accommodated, bowed down, and even donated his own inheritance to others- his peace was in the children’s peace, his joy was in their joy. That’s how he served his Father, that’s how he lived a victorious life free from bondages, that’s how he became Narayan.

Can God trust me? Am I faithful to Him in the seemingly small things He has asked me to do that no one sees or knows about? Sometimes God also asks me to do things that may not be within my comfort zone. For example, in the murli, He might say: ‘go to the temples and give My message’. Do I hear that and think: ‘that’s not for me, it’s for someone else’ and wait for God to give me my platform? or do I take that step of courage and go to the temple even though no one may ever know I did it or care? It’s never about the task itself, the blessing is in the obedience. If I am faithful in the small, He can trust me with the big.

When I can get myself – what I like, my convenience, how I feel, my name – off my mind, and start to put God first in my life, things start to change. When He sees that He can trust me to be His faithful instrument, that I love Him more than I love myself, anything or anyone, He takes me to levels I could never have reached on my own. ‘There is a lot of scope for service‘, says Baba, ‘but many children are body conscious’. I’ve lived for myself long enough; turns out, that’s why I was unhappy. It’s now time to serve God.