Baba says, ‘It is only by following the Father’s shrimat that you will become the most elevated of all. If you follow your own dictates you will fall.’

For half a cycle, I was lost in the darkness of ignorance searching for salvation, for liberation from worries and peacelessness. So I consulted gurus and read the scriptures to find answers, clues to my liberation but alas, I came back empty handed. Then, Baba came and now, I no longer follow the dictates of the scriptures or the gurus or even my iron-aged relations but do I follow the dictates of my own mind? While I am in the process of transformation, it is wise to follow only the directions of the One Who is transforming me. This is total surrender to the task of transformation, this is being the Father’s helper. But if I listen to my own dictates and put those into words and actions, I then have to go through the process of creating wrong karma, paying for it with my peace and joy, losing my time and energy in reclaiming what I’ve lost.

Just as when I drive a physical car, if any rubbish is even slightly mixed in with the petrol, if the petrol if not refined, the car will not be able to pick up speed, in the same way, the speed of my stage here too doesn’t increase because of the mixture. ‘Anything mixed doesn’t allow you to be fixed’, teaches Baba, ‘there will continue to be fluctuation.‘ The power of Maya is such, He says, that it causes my head to spin. She usually comes as a question: ‘Why? what? this or that?’ etc. Just as the Shaktis are portrayed with many arms, Ravan and Maya are shown with ten heads! I might be able to cut one head, that is, I might resolve the question of ‘why’ but then another head is produced, the question of ‘what’ raises itself. The incident might be tiny but I give it ten heads and make a mountain out of a mole hill. The result is that I become uncooperative, I distance myself from the task and from my companions. In other words, I cause opposition and such a soul, Baba says, belongs to the kingdom of Ravan.

Even though I have become a Brahmin, for that period of time, I am under the influence of devilish power and in bondage to that. When I follow Shrimat at every step, I become an embodiment of power in every difficulty, in every task and will be one who is constantly cooperative and will make others the same. Even if I have to be tolerant or renounce something, I will do so and offer constant co-operation. So check, says Baba, are you a Shakti with the many arms of cooperation or have you grown the ten heads of Ravan?

Sometimes, it’s not my own dictates, but I allow myself to be influenced by wrong company. Someone I trust, who I consider a ‘good, honest maharathi’, tells me something about someone and I listen. Because I have faith in this person, I merge into myself whatever they tell me. Then, I justify it to myself as: ‘It’s good to know who’s who around here….if I don’t listen, how will I know..’ And maybe what I was told was even true but that’s besides the point. The point is that what I just did was against Shrimat. Baba’s direction is: whatever I have no connection with, what I can do nothing about, I have no business listening to. It’s just a waste of time. And I don’t have permission to waste time. The Father’s direction is: ‘hear but do not hear‘ but by allowing myself to hear, I instill that habit. Not just that, but that ‘maharathi’ will come to me each time they have more news to relate! So I just offered myself as a dustbin for them! Baba says, ‘either explain to them and liberate them from such matters or develop enough courage to be able to put a full stop for them and for yourself for all time.’ In either scenario, I shouldn’t have the slightest dislike for the one who shared the news with me or for the one whose news was shared. But in reality, the majority of you, Baba says, collect rubbish, and little by little, it makes a difference in your behavior and activity. If nothing else, there will definitely be heaviness. This, Baba explains, is what is meant by mixing other’s dictates with Shrimat.

And so, Baba says, follow Father Brahma and become an image of renunciation, this is the first step in becoming equal. Your promise was: ‘My body is Yours’; you didn’t say: ‘I will use the eyes or I will use the ears as I want and Baba can use the rest..’. Your pledge is: ‘However, You make me move, wherever You make me sit…’; you didn’t say: ‘some senses will follow the dictates of my mind and some will follow Shrimat…’. So be a true renunciate, He teaches. Besides, you are heir children!, He reminds me. The qualifications of heirs is: 1) They follow the Father fully. 2) They keep themselves very safe from wrong company. They neither become influenced by bad company nor do they mix up the dictates of their own minds with the Father’s directions. 3) They tell the Father their true chart. 4) They continue to make progress by cautioning one another. 5) They never think of letting go of the Father’s hand.

I am studying Raja Yoga from the Father, the Creator of heaven, Himself. He is teaching me to make me into the prince of heaven. Let me follow His Shrimat and claim my full birthright.