Baba says, ‘When you think you have a right of “mine” thinking “Why did you do this?” or “This is mine”, there is then anger, arrogance or attachment. When someone is not “mine”, there is then no anger, attachment or bondage of karma.’ 

The first lesson of this study is: ‘I am a soul, a child of God.’. By the end of the study, I don’t just know this but I become an embodiment of this lesson. To embody being a soul, a child of God is to shed all other limited attachments to people, things, accomplishments, everything. Even this body is not mine. Only the one Father is mine, He is my entire world, there is no one and nothing else. It is said: the soul came bodiless and will go back bodiless. When I am at home with the Father, I am just a soul; it is only when I come down to this physical plane to play my part that I take on the costume of the body. It is only here that I interact with other souls, my co-actors as part of performing my role. I had forgotten this reality for half a cycle and therefore got entangled in bondages with other souls, with my role, with other limited things. A relationship means freedom- it means I share my virtues, my expertise and experience, I interact with others, I use the facilities for performing actions, but I am not dependent on them. I interact, I use, I share but I remain detached; I never forget who I am.

‘It is when you forget that you get caught up in bondages of ‘mine, mine’‘, explains Baba. Where there is this feeling of a right of ‘mine’, then there are expectations of how someone should behave or how something should get done or what should happen etc. Then, when those expectations are inevitably not met, then there is disappointment and anger; and thus, I entangle myself into more bondages of karma. Baba says, ‘the root is attachment. When you experience yourself to be completely free from attachment, you will automatically become free from anger and arrogance.’ For instance, maybe I want to take part in a specific conference that’s happening and I feel: ‘After all, when will I get this chance again?’ So I have a desire and I even express it to the person in-charge, but if I then don’t get the chance, then I feel irritated. Even if I don’t have gross anger, I will still have waste thoughts about the person that refused me. Baba says, ‘that too is impurity.’ I am allowed to offer myself and give my ideas but then, Baba teaches, ‘don’t make the mistake of changing those ideas into desires.‘ It is when my thoughts take the form of desires that I become irritated and then I show anger through words, or sometimes even use my hands. ‘Learn‘, Baba says, ‘to remain detached‘. In other words, let me give my ideas without any selfish motive. To think that because I said it, it should it happen, Baba points out, is arrogance and selfishness.

It is okay to offer something but then let it go, He teaches. Don’t get engaged in ‘Why?’, ‘What?’ etc. Otherwise all the other companions such as jealousy and hatred, also follow. So never step down from the elevated awareness of who you are and Whose you are: ‘I am a soul and mine is the one Father and none other.’ If this is firm, then there is purity in intention, in attitude, in vision; there is no selfishness, that is, there are no attachments. ‘Besides;, teaches Baba, ‘if you offer something without any selfish motive, that will reach others quickly.’ If I offer something out of a selfish motive, that is, if I try to manipulate others, then that simply creates more anger.

Sometimes, it’s not what I want from others but when I see a particular sanskar of another soul, that makes me angry. I say things like: ‘I usually don’t get angry at all, it’s just that I can’t stand dishonesty…’ Baba says, ‘that soul doesn’t make you but you yourself come down from your stage of an embodiment of knowledge and try to move away from that soul.’ Trying to move away from someone on seeing his nature, Baba explains, is a form of dislike and that is also a trace of anger. Then, I use royal language and say: ‘Instead of my stage being spoilt, it is better for me to move away.’ Baba says, ‘to be detached is one thing but to move away is something different.‘ It is right to be detached and loving , however to feel a subtle form of dislike, thinking: ‘This one is like this, he is never going to change.’ is also a subtle way of cursing that soul for all time. Instead, by seeing everyone’s specialties, He teaches, always maintain your good wishes and pure feelings. To dislike someone is to make that soul fall.

While anger is one of the ails of attachment, arrogance is another. Sometimes, I see the specialties I have been given by BapDada and think they are mine. Due to this, traces of arrogance develop and I start to develop thoughts such as: ‘why wasn’t my specialty used?’, ‘they don’t know my specialty at all!’. Baba says, ‘where did this ‘mine’ come from? The special gift of this special life is to be given specialties. The Donor of your (new) life has given you this gift. Where did this ‘mine’ come from?’ To say things like: ‘my specialty, my nature, my heart says, my heart feels…’ etc., is selfish. And where there is selfishness, there cannot be happiness, only fear, anger, arrogance and worry.

So, says Baba, become those who are able to discern the various forms and traces of attachment and then destroy them. Make the one Father your world: “One Father and none other”. When the one Father has become your world, there is then no attraction or bondage of weak sanskars. All of “mine” is merged in the one “My Father”.