Baba says, ‘Your aim is to imbibe the knowledge that you receive from the Father and to pass with honors.‘

To pass with honors means that I am able to live a victorious life, a liberated life, free from any and all bondages, free from laboring, absorbed in the love of the Beloved. To pass with honors, therefore, I need to be a soul that is full in the knowledge and full in all the powers. Why? because when situations come before me, I need to, in a second, discern what is going on and what I need to do and then actually do it. If I am lacking in knowledge or in any of the powers, then it will take me time to overcome, to pass through. That, Baba says, is not being fully victorious. In other words, I pass, but I fall short from passing with honors.

For example, when a situation comes, if I am not firm in the knowledge of the drama, then, I might say and think all the right things: ‘this is drama, it is beneficial’ etc., but inside, I am shaking. So I will still get through it but it won’t be quick. I will labor. Or sometimes, Maya pretends to be my friend and tries to take me off course. She says: ‘you should move to that center, no one appreciates you here. There, they will put you on stage, value your talents…’ and if I lack the power to discern, I will think: ‘yes, that makes complete sense..’ and move only to inevitably fall. If I still have limited desires for name, fame, recognition etc., then that’s the door Maya will use to lure me back into her world. If God has me somewhere, that’s where I need to be. Even if it might seem like nothing is going well externally, there is a lot happening internally- I am learning to disassociate my self-worth from people, things and accomplishments; I am learning patience, faith, trusting God; my character is being molded. That’s what this study is about, not external name and fame.

I don’t ever fail in God’s school, I just get to take the same test again and again and again until I pass. The quicker I learn, the more victorious my life will be. Maybe God asks me to do something but if I start to question it and analyze it, then that’s battling and consequently, I lose the power to actually do it. But if I can trust God and just obey, then I pass with honors. This was baba and mama’s specialty. Baba faced challenges, opposition, critics, haters… but no matter what he encountered, he never budged. His attitude was: ‘Shiv Baba is the Protector and Benefactor. I am just the instrument, He will take care of everything’. With this attitude and by applying the full-stop of ‘nothing new’, baba always remained carefree and light. He passed with honors. Same with mama. She never wasted time questioning or analyzing, she simply obeyed.

Any situation requires that I make a decision in a second; the final paper will be of a second. If I have not imbibed the knowledge, if they are still points in the intellect, then old sanskars that have been with me a long time will overpower the points and I will act according to the sanskars. I will fail. But if I have become an embodiment of knowledge and yoga, then when the situation or circumstance comes, I won’t have to think; because the point is now my natural nature, I will automatically do what’s right. This is passing in a second, that is, passing with honors.

This can only be possible when I have surrendered my intellect to God, when I have made Him my world. If I am still attached to bodily things, people, to material pursuits etc., then I make myself vulnerable to Maya in that area; it’s what she will use to defeat me. ‘Those who have faith in their intellect that this old world is to be destroyed, will not have trouble remaining detached‘, says Baba. There should be no attachment or greed even in your thoughts, He says. And I don’t detach myself from the old world out of compulsion, or because I’m fed up with everyone; that’s artificial and I will still remain subservient and keep getting pulled in my mind. I overcome attachment by realizing who I am, what time it is on the unlimited world clock and my aim. When I attach myself to Baba and keep busy in imbibing His treasures, I automatically remain in the right awareness and consequently, detached from the old world.

In his final moments, Brahma Baba had the body- that was sick- try to pull him; there was his pure love for the children, there was service…but baba was able to detach himself in one second and fly away to the Father. That kind of power comes from practice over a long period of time. And so Baba says, ‘No matter how much the elements of nature and Maya come to make their final claim and pull you towards themselves, you have to remain absorbed in the love of the Father while being loving and detached: this is called seeing and yet not seeing, hearing and yet not hearing. Let there be such practice.‘

Throughout the day, let me pause every now and then to check my thoughts. Are they with the Father? or are there areas where I am still pulled by the corporeal? can I stabilize my mind wherever I want for as long as I want? To pass with honors means, no matter what comes, I remain liberated. That’s the 1st class ticket to heaven because heaven is liberation-in-life.