Baba says, ‘do not have bodily love for any bodily beings. Have love for the one Father. Practice becoming bodiless accurately.’

For half a cycle, I stumbled around and lost all my inheritance because I forgot who I am and Whose I am. Then, Baba came and reminded me: you are a pure soul, not the body; you are a child of God. He says: ‘now, practice being bodiless accurately.’ I cannot become bodiless unless I become merciful toward the self and others.

Often I think that practicing bodilessness means chanting: ‘I am a soul, I am a soul…’ but that is not sustainable nor does it yield consistent results. Can I apply a full-stop to whatever wasteful things I see or hear or were done by me? Am I able to see but not see, hear but not hear when someone tells me what someone else did? or do I internalize what was told to me and allow my heart to be colored by it. When I meet the person about whom I was told, am I able to maintain a clean attitude toward them or is my attitude now negative? When someone is not able to do something the way I would like it to be done or as quickly as I would like it to be done, do I lose my cool and patience and think: ‘why can’t you do something so simple!?’ or do I realize that all are souls with different strengths? When someone tells a lie or makes a mistake or when I myself make a mistake, do I reject the self or the other? do I get angry? or am I able to rise above? When a situation comes, maybe someone betrays me or proves to be unreliable, do I allow bitterness to take root? or do I trust the drama to be beneficial?

Baba says, ‘you have the knowledge, you have all the points but to become an embodiment of the point, you need mercy for yourself and for others.‘ When I have mercy based on knowledge, then I don’t allow body conscious feelings of jealousy, anger, dislike and all the rest to influence me because I know that to do so is to immediately lose my stage of being a pure soul and my connection with the Father. In other words, it is to once again lose my inheritance to Ravan. So I mercifully protect myself. When I do this, I automatically show mercy to others because I choose to be tolerant, loveful, adjusting and co-operative instead of the body conscious alternative.

Just as I shouldn’t be influenced by other’s weaknesses, I also shouldn’t be impressed by them either. I shouldn’t have dislike or become impressed because, Baba points out, ‘you, including your body, mind and intellect, are already impressed by the Father. Since your mind and intellect have become impressed by the One, the Highest-on-High, how can they be impressed by anyone else?’ And so the mantra I receive from the Father that becomes my very foundation for this Brahmin life is: Manmanabhav!, belong to Me alone in your mind. I have already given my mind and intellect away, they are no longer mine to be impressed. When I am accurately merciful on the basis of knowledge, I will not be impressed by other souls, whether it is because of their virtues, or their service or because of attaining some form of co-operation from them. Because I have attained the Father’s love, there is nothing more I want or need and so I have unlimited disinterest; I only see the Father’s love, His co-operation and His company. Nothing else enters the intellect. My constant awareness is: ‘I wake up with You, I go to sleep with You, I eat with You, I do service with You, I become a karma yogi with You.’

I might take co-operation from another soul but I never forget who the Bestower is. And so I don’t have bodily love for any bodily beings; I have love for the one Father. I recognize that they are giving me co-operation because of the Shrimat of the one Father. Even when an instrument soul gives me advice or guidance, I never forget that it is not their intelligence but instead the Father’s shrimat that is guiding them and me. This is why it does not make sense to be impressed by any soul, explains the Father. If I allow myself to be impressed, then my intellect becomes trapped and I cannot then have the flying stage. Sometimes, it isn’t even others, I become impressed by myself! ‘My intellect is sharp, I plan very well, my knowledge is very clear, no one else can do service in the way that I can, I have an inventive intellect, I am virtuous….’ Again, says Baba, don’t become impressed with yourself either. Yes, you have specialties but never forget who gave them to you. Before the Father, did you even know what service is?, He asks.

This is why, for self-progress, it is essential to be merciful accurately on the basis of knowledge. Without mercy for the self and others, I cannot practice being bodiless accurately. Without the practice of being bodiless, I cannot be ready to fly home with the Father. Baba says, ‘it’s time to return home.’