Baba says, ‘Those whose intellects have such faith claim a very high status, that is, if they have true hearts. The Lord would definitely be pleased with those who have such honest hearts.’

It is said: where there is faith, there is victory. Here, it is the question of faith in the Father and in my relationship with the Father. Do I have faith that God Himself is here and has adopted me as His child, practically? Next, have I fully surrendered myself to Him i.e. do I consider myself His child? It is critical to ask myself this because my success on this journey is based on my answer to this question: What is my relationship to the Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul?

For half a cycle, I followed the directions of Ravan and lost every bit of decency, honor, character, and integrity that I had. In other words I lost my inheritance that I received from my Father. I became a prisoner of Ravan and lived life as an orphan in sorrow. Now, my Father is here and He has made me belong to Him once again and that means, I follow only His directions. That’s what being a child means; I obey my Father.

The Father’s #1 direction which is also His first blessing to me when He adopts me is: be pure, be yogi. Unless I become pure, I cannot leave the prison of Ravan and return home with the Father. The new world will also be a land of purity. And so Father teaches His children, ‘remain pure in this one last birth and you can claim your inheritance of heaven.’ The way to become pure, He teaches me, is through remembrance. When I remember who I am- a pure soul, a worship-worthy soul, and I remember Whose I am – a child of God, the Almighty Powerful, then, I will find purity easy.

There are the gopikas who are in bondage at home, Baba remembers fondly, who write: ‘Baba, I belong to You. Previously, I didn’t know You, but I now know You. I belong to You alone. I may die but I will never become impure.’ When the soul has even a little taste of the true self and of the Father, that is, when there is even a little faith as to who I am and Whose I am, then I become free and come away from the impure world. I may physically still be exactly where I am but my heart and mind have detached from there. These gopikas can attain a higher status than those who don’t have such bondages, points out Baba. Those who don’t have bondage become lazy and careless in their effort as they move along whereas those in bondage remember Baba continually. In fact, their obstacles help them remember.

‘It takes a true heart‘, says Baba, ‘to claim this inheritance from the Father.’ There are some, Baba observes, who write to the Father: ‘Baba, I face a lot of opposition at home due to purity. What can I do?’ The Father says, ‘if there is the power of yoga, she will free herself from bondage.‘ When it comes to purity, ‘what can I do?’, is not a question I ask. I have to find a way to free myself. I will do that easily and without having to be told, if I have a true heart. This is what Meera did. She managed to convince her husband lovingly about how she was committed to Krishna. She lived at home with everyone but never compromised. When things got out of hand, she left without thinking twice with just the clothes on her body. She didn’t think: ‘but how will I eat? where will I live? I don’t have any money? who will protect me? I don’t have anywhere to go, I better stay here..’ etc. ‘Mine is one Baba and none other‘, when this is my faith, then I find the strength to free myself like Meera did. The Lord is pleased with such honest hearts. He is my Father!, He is here to take responsibility for me, this is my faith. Draupadi bravely called out to the Father when she was being stripped and He came through, this is the memorial of this time.

Baba Himself says: ‘Lust is the greatest enemy; you must conquer it. Remember Me and I will make you into the masters of heaven.’ You receive the inheritance for the whole cycle, He reminds me, so you do have to tolerate a little. ‘Don’t say: ‘Baba, I am in bondage’, says Baba, ‘indeed, the whole world is in bondage! The bondages have to be cut tactfully.’ Many mothers think: ‘Baba, how can I serve. I have to take care of my children/grandchildren.’ Baba says, ‘this is your birth of dying alive. When you die alive, who looks after everything for you?’ If I don’t consider myself the child of the Father, then I become a householder and tie myself into bondage. When I become the child, I still shoulder everything but as a trustee. I don’t lose the forest for the trees. I see that who I am is the Father’s helper in His unlimited task of salvaging the whole world. Therefore, my priority is to serve- both those at home and outside. When I break away my attachments, I automatically find enough time and methods to serve. Baba says, ‘You definitely have to become free from bondage. Those who have a keen interest in doing service will go running to serve; they are dead to the world. Here, the Father says: You also have to uplift your friends and relatives etc. Give everyone the message of “Manmanabhav” so that they can become satopradhan from tamopradhan.’ 

Sometimes, I don’t have any bondages but I think: ‘I do need someone to be with’ and so I adopt a child or a dog. Baba says, ‘this is not the time to get attached, it is the time to detach.’ Have attachment to the One, He teaches me, for only then will you be able to imbibe. I cannot say the words: ‘Baba I belong to You’ and then get entangled in the world. If I belong to Baba, then He alone is my world and I get busy in His task, not create my own. It is when I cannot imbibe the knowledge, that I become weak and have thoughts of returning to the old world. Many sannyasis are also like that, Baba observes, when they cannot stay on their path, they return to their household. Here, He says, there is just one main thing: ‘we are claiming the inheritance from that Father.’ If I consider Him my Father, then I cannot help but claim my inheritance from Him. It is then liberation-in-life in a second.

Some want to be liberated from this world quickly, ‘but where would you go?‘, asks Baba. When I have faith in who I am and Whose I am, when I become the child of the Ocean of Love, the Father who is here to create heaven for me, I don’t want to leave soon, I want to stay till the end and help finish His task….our task. Where there is a true heart without any attachments to the old world, I become the Father’s helper. First, feel your own pulse and ask yourself, the Father says, to what extent you have become worthy. You first of all have to become the Father’s worthy children.