Baba says, ‘May you be an intense effort-maker and create an elevated reward by knowing the importance of the confluence age.’

There is always the importance of a confluence- be it the confluence of the old and new year, confluence of the river and the ocean, confluence of roads etc. This present time is the most elevated of confluences- it is the time of the meeting of the children with God, the Father from Whom we had been separated for many births. As a soul, I am always God’s child but it is only at this time in the whole entire cycle that God comes to this physical plane, enters an old impure body and adopts me to be His child, practically. This is the only time when He becomes my Father and sustains me, practically; He becomes my Teacher and teaches me, practically; He becomes my Satguru and guides me, practically. It is only at this time in the drama that God is bound to fulfill my every relationship, not just the three main ones, practically.

Do I realize the significance of this time? am I using this incredible fortune of knowing God and having direct access to God, fully?

It is only at this time, Baba points out, that I receive His shrimat and have the opportunity to apply it under His guidance. He doesn’t just give me a map and directions and leave me to find my own way, He takes the journey with me as my Friend, Companion and Guide. He never leaves my side whether there is a mountain ahead that I need to climb, an ocean I need to cross or a fire I need to walk through. He doesn’t say: ‘I’ll see you on the other side if you ever make it, good luck!’ and leave. He takes my hand in His and walks through the fire with me. But often, I fight the fire not recognizing that this is an incredible opportunity to experience God’s miracle. I cry out in distress: ‘Baba, why is this happening to me? Have You forgotten me?’ when He is right here with me the whole time. The more I cry, the more I distance myself from Him and make myself alone. Baba says, ‘don’t ever make yourself alone. This is the age when you and I are combined; when the Father is with you, nothing can harm you.’ When I do take that step of courage, of faith and walk through the fire with Him, I find that I come out transformed and that the only things that burned were the old bondages that were holding me back. To do this is intense effort.

‘This is the smallest age‘, He points out, ‘but the age with the greatest attainment.’ It is only at this time that you have the fortune of knowing the whole cycle. When someone knows the secret, that is, the plot of the drama, there is no more fear or complaints or questions, there is instead that all-knowing smile. When everyone else is squirming in their seats, I am enjoying my popcorn because I know how the story ends. When I am in fear, it’s as if my faculties shut down and I can’t remember anyone or anything; I am overwhelmed. And so each time a situation comes, if I allow myself to shake, then at the time when I need support and companionship the most, I distance myself from the only One Who can actually support me. He is telling me what to do but I can’t hear Him through all the noise in my head. Rather, when I imbibe the knowledge of the drama, then no matter what happens, I know that there is only benefit in it because I know my story ends in victory. I stay strong and connected with Baba. I keep my hand in His and trust Him to take me through this. And thus, even while I am going through a crisis, I stay in rest; I keep my peace and my happiness. To stay in rest when it’s so easy to shake is intense effort.

Sometimes I think that it is wrong to enjoy myself while things are going wrong. How can I possibly enjoy life while my kid is off course? or how can I enjoy life when I’m experiencing financial trouble? So I worry myself sick. But worrying gets me nowhere, it just makes me feel I’m doing a lot when in fact, I’ve done nothing productive. It just steals my peace and joy. Instead, if I choose to make God my one Trust and one Support; if I live my life as a trustee and do what He asks me to do, I will find that things eventually work out. It may not resolve the way I expected it to or on my timing but it will resolve at the right timing, in the best possible way. Let me learn to put my trust in and rely on God. To be a trustee when living in a household is intense effort.

It is at this confluence age that God comes to change human-beings who have become like monkeys into deities. Monkeys can’t tell the difference between stones and diamonds; even if they are shown diamonds, they hold on to the stones in tightly clenched fists. Baba is giving me the jewels of knowledge at this time about who I am, about Him and the cycle. Imbibing each jewel accurately opens up that fist and allows the stones to roll out automatically. When I don’t imbibe the knowledge, I waste the precious treasures of time and thoughts on wasteful or ordinary things: Rather than enjoy the company of God Himself, I spend time brooding over what he/she said or did, why something happened, why something was not fair etc. God has come to make me into a diamond but I remain too busy being a householder, making excuses for why I don’t have time. ‘It’s now or never‘, cautions Baba, ‘this is the only time you receive this inheritance.’

This is the only time in the cycle I have to shape my own destiny– not just for this one birth but for the whole cycle. And so each second of this confluence age is connected to many, many births. I can either spend it creating a reward or creating a loss. That is, I can either spend it emulating the Father and becoming equal to Him or lose it by remaining mediocre. I can either study all that He is teaching me and become a self-sovereign or remain dependent. I can either remain liberated in life by practicing being Manmanabhav or stay in bondage. ‘You’ve been body conscious for a long time’, He reminds me, ‘you now have to become soul conscious in this one short birth.’ That means I don’t have a second to lose in this precious age. I have found that after which there is nothing left to find- I have found God Himself. He is liberating me from all bondages, from the old nature and sanskars and making me into the master of the world. He says: ‘consider yourself a soul and remember Me alone.‘ It takes determined focus and practice over a long period of time…in this short period of time. But if I can do it, that’s all the time it takes for God to change me from a human into a deity.