Baba says, ‘You are spiritual social workers. Only when you serve others will you be able to remain cheerful.‘

I cannot be selfish and happy at the same time, they are mutually exclusive. Selfishness is another name for body consciousness- this unrelenting obsession with all things ‘I and mine’. I am so-and-so and therefore, I am entitled to a certain kind of treatment, I am senior, I am talented, I am rich, I am important or this is mine…This was how I lived for half a cycle and the results are for everyone to see.

I, the soul am not wired for selfishness; I am the child of the Supreme Soul and His very name, Shiva, means the Benevolent One, the Bestower. He is the truest, most hard-working Server there is. He exists to serve. He comes once at the end of each cycle…not to check out the world, or tell everyone that He is God and show off with some miracles or pose for a photo-op talking about how He’s going to change the world. He is incognito. He comes into the world when it is most impure, in an old, ordinary body to serve His children.

When He comes, most of His children don’t even recognize Him and then, there are others who are busy posing as Him to get rich and famous. So let alone fanfare and trumpets, He doesn’t even get recognized! That would make a body conscious soul feel insulted: ‘how dare they treat me this way! they should have been at the gate on their knees waiting for me!’ But that kind of attitude is foreign to the Father. He doesn’t turn up His nose at the mess He sees and say: ‘I didn’t create this world, not My problem’ and leave; He comes full of love in His heart to meet and serve His long lost and now found children. He says, ‘My sweet children, I know you are very tired, let Me massage your feet.‘

Baba says, ‘Only when you serve others will you be able to remain cheerful.’ No wonder, He’s happy all the time despite being aware of all the wrong and despicable things being done in His name, despite all the confusion surrounding Who He is, despite the fact that even the ones that do recognize Him don’t obey fully. He comes to serve and He stays busy in serving. Same with Brahma baba. He became the #1 instrument of God for service. Like the Father, he too rejected name, fame and recognition; surrendered his all- mind, body, wealth- in serving God’s children. He too is remembered for living an easy yogi life, a carefree, victorious life as the companion of God.

I have their DNA, so to speak; As long as I remembered who I was, for the first half of the cycle, I too was like my fathers. I was a deity, my very nature was of giving and sharing. Lakshmi and Narayan took care of their people in heaven like their own children. Love, peace and happiness abounded because there was purity- in intention, in thought, word, action, attitude, vision…everything. To be pure means there was no mixture, no hidden agendas; I was myself, truly. I identified as a soul, saw everyone else as a soul; not as senior vs junior, rich vs poor, talented vs not etc. When I am pure i.e. soul conscious, I see similarity, there is oneness, harmony. When I am body conscious and identify as a role, relationship, position, nationality etc, then all I see are differences, there is disunity, division and disharmony.

Baba says, ‘remember who you are and remain in that awareness’.

There isn’t another time in the whole cycle where an attitude of service has been more important. This is the time when I have been chosen to help God, the greatest Server, to serve His children, to help change the world back from hell into heaven. When I forgot who I am, Ravan took a hold of my intellect and taught me how to be selfish which then made me ill– it led to fear of loss and pain which in turn made me lose all my inheritance of peace, joy and contentment and made me a prisoner of sorrow. While I have now been rescued by Baba from this prison, while I now remember and know the truth, most of my brothers don’t. My Father needs my help to get to them as they wait for a sign of hope, of peace, of truth, of selflessness.

As long as I still have ‘me’ on my mind, I cannot serve anyone else. The quicker I get to the point where I’m tired of thinking about me, tired of worrying about me, tired of making everyone else take care of me, then the more useful I’ll be to the world. For half a cycle, all I thought about was myself. Now, Baba says, you have to die alive to that old world way of living. That means I have to forget myself, get myself off my mind, lose sight of myself and be more concerned about other people. No more: ‘look what they did to me..’, ‘this shouldn’t have happened to me…’, ‘I deserve better…’, ‘Baba, please help me’. Yes, a lot has happened that wasn’t fair and yes, it hurt but it’s time to let it go. Baba says, ‘your face should always be cheerful. But when you are body conscious, you look dull.’ Selfishness and self-centeredness drains the soul and makes life dry and tasteless. For half a cycle, I prayed to be blessed, now, Baba says, it’s time to be a blessing to other people.

I hear that and nod my head in agreement, I think it’s such a noble, elevated idea but when it comes time to doing, I usually come up short. I then find all kinds of reasons why it is not such a good idea. And so Baba says, ‘the soul has received all the knowledge, it knows what’s right and what’s wrong.’ It’s better therefore to follow the truth and do what’s right than follow whatever my head has analyzed to be the ‘better way’. Let me be deliberate in doing for others- in sharing with others the jewels of knowledge the Father has given me. It doesn’t have to be through lectures; how am I showing up in my interactions with others? is it with patience, tolerance and an attitude of uplifting and empowering or am I quick to put down, reject, ignore and move on? does my vision, attitude, face and behavior give them an introduction of the self and the Father?

Unless I am willing to die the old self, I will feel alone because ego and selfishness isolates. I live a lonely life in the midst of a crowd, I have very few people that call me friend and when I’m gone, no one really cares that much that I’m not around anymore. So yes, I had this immense opportunity to know about this auspicious confluence age, to serve with God Himself and yet if I simply pass through and the world is no better because I am in it, then what have I really done with what I have been given?

Let me decide that I refuse to live as a selfish, self-centered person anymore. For that, Baba says, be aggressive in giving and in blessing others. From Amrit vela until you go to bed, He says, simply give and receive blessings, everything is included in this. That means, even if someone is rude to me, leaves me out, treats me poorly, I don’t accept the hurt or offense; instead, I recognize Ravan is at work through them, and I bless that soul. To bless, Baba teaches, is not about placing my hand over their head, rather, it is to maintain my good wishes and pure feelings for them, no matter what. If someone is being slower than I’d like at something, I remain patient. If someone cut me off in traffic, I don’t get mad, I stay calm and wish that they get to wherever they are going safely. Maybe I notice someone having a hard time in the office, I lend a hand. Often my attitude is to see someone in need for help and pass it on to Baba: ‘Baba, please help this soul, they are in need.’ Let me do myself what Baba has already equipped me to do and go to Baba for that which I cannot do. To simply see, tell Baba and shrug it off as not my problem is selfish and lazy and does not help Baba.

It takes power to be able to bless in this way when every cell in my body is screaming for revenge, when I want nothing more than to give them a piece of my mind, when I think I deserve better. But real power serves. And so Baba says, ‘remember Me alone‘. He is the Powerhouse, the Remover of Sorrow and the Bestower of Happiness, the Bestower of Blessings. When I soak in His presence, I draw within me His virtues and powers; His love gives me the strength to rise above, to remain detached and loving.

In the world, I am taught to take care of myself; God teaches me to forget about myself, lose sight of myself and help other people. In the world, a servant is thought of as a lowly position and looked down upon, God views it as the highest honor. He says: ‘only the truly serviceable children climb on to the Father’s heart’.