Baba says, ‘Since you belong to the one Father, you must forget everything else.’

When someone is about to die, they are told to remember God, but because they don’t know Him accurately, they would be unable to remember Him accurately. Neither are their sins absolved through this nor do they claim a status. Baba says, ‘no one knows me as I am accurately.’ He isn’t just the Father, but He also becomes the Teacher and Satguru. While these are the three main relationships, He becomes my everything. The very first thing the Father does when He comes is He adopts me and makes me belong to Him. ‘Now that you belong to Me, you mustn’t remember anyone else’, He says. It is difficult to remember many but very easy to remember one. If I have faith that the Father is now my world and that all my relationships are with Him, then it should be easy to remember the Father.

Even in the world, if someone, other than the parents, tries to pick up a little child, that child would not go to them. ‘Similarly‘, says Baba, ‘you also now belong to the unlimited Father, therefore, you shouldn’t even want to look at anyone else, no matter who that person may be. You know that you belong to the highest-on-high Father.‘. This doesn’t mean I leave home and move to the center, no! Baba says, ‘you must continue to live at home with everyone but as a trustee. You must remain pure and detached as a lotus flower.‘ When I take the attachment of ‘I and mine’ out of the equation, relationships become loving. They no longer tie me into bondage of expectations and everything else that follows unmet expectations – anger, hurt, disappointment, loneliness etc.

To be a trustee means that I continue to fulfill roles and responsibilities but my heart is connected with only the Master, the One Father and none other. I do everything per His shrimat. As I walk, eat, go about my business, I remain constantly connected to the Master, speak to Him, churn His knowledge, ask Him questions etc. This, Baba says, is being Manmanabhav, it is belonging to the One in my mind. This is how Lakshmi and Narayan became who they are, they sacrificed themselves to the Father fully- body, mind, intellect, everything. They made it their singular focus to follow the Father, to emulate Him and thereby claim everything that the Father had, as their own. They imbibed His every treasure- the virtues, powers, knowledge, everything and became like Him. They are therefore His most elevated creation. When asked, everyone says: ‘I want to be Lakshmi-Narayan’. Baba asks: ‘do you really want to?’ If I do, it requires that same level of surrender.

‘God Himself is teaching you this most elevated study of Raja Yoga to make you like Lakshmi and Narayan and so you must study this well‘, He says. Many say: ‘Baba, I forget you again and again. I even forget the Teacher.’ Baba says, ‘yes child, storms of Maya will come but you have to chase them away.‘ Some think the solution is ‘conducted meditation’ but Baba says, ‘those words are wrong. In fact, it is just remembrance. No matter where you are or what you are doing, simply remember the Father.’ Remembrance of the someone I love brings me happiness, slows my thoughts down, my breath slows down and as a result, my heart doesn’t have to work as hard. No wonder, Baba says, remembrance frees me from illness and increases my lifespan. Not just health, but remembrance makes me wealthy forever. My intellect becomes divine and is able to make the right judgments. It thereby teaches my mind to think pure, elevated thoughts that are beneficial to me and all. ‘You will never need an advisor for half a cycle’, says Baba. No wonder Maya interferes in remembrance.

But there is a right way and a wrong way to remember. The right remembrance requires real introspection. Real introspection means I move inward and touch base, I don’t just stay on the surface. If I stay on the surface, all I see are my flaws, what I did wrong today etc. but if I touch base, I see my truth- my original qualities. In that consciousness, I then move upwards and connect with the Ocean of Virtues. As long as I stay superficial and drenched in shame, guilt, regret and all the other body conscious emotions, I cannot remember the Father. Sometimes, I try to remember and from nowhere, a memory from the past shows up. Baba says, ‘whatever is past, including the last second, is drama.‘ Let me apply this powerful brake, take a turn and touch base.

‘This is a battle with Maya’, Baba reminds me, ‘the lighter you remain, the lesser the bondage’. One is to become a trustee, the other thing to become light is to give to Baba everything that weighs on my mind from this birth. I don’t remember the past but I do remember a lot of the present birth that nags me, pulls me, weighs on me. By giving it all to the Supreme Surgeon, I become light and by taking His ‘prescription’ of shrimat, I am able to move past those issues and they no longer remain a bondage. So, Baba repeatedly says: ‘Manmanabhav! remember Me and you will become pure.‘ Purity is freedom, it is victory over Maya. However much effort I make for remembrance, Maya will accordingly put obstacles in my away, Baba points out, because she knows that by remembering Baba, I will leave her. This is because to remember the Father, I have to renounce her world of friends, relatives, roles, titles, memories etc. There is a story in which it is said that even the walking stick had to be renounced! Even others talk about renunciation but no one else tells me not to remember even my body. The Father says: ‘those bodies are old. You must forget those too. You must forget everything of the path of devotion. You must forget absolutely everything, that is, whatever you have, use that for service and only then will your remembrance remain stable.’

If you want to claim a high status, it requires a great deal of effort, says Baba. Knowledge is easy, everything depends on remembrance.