Baba says, ‘Only remember whatever I tell you about the new world. We are now to go to the land of immortality and are listening to the story of immortality from the Lord of Immortality.’ 

God puts big promises in my heart each morning- He tells me how all my problems will end, situations will turn around, how there will be no trace of sorrow in my life or in the world. There will be no addictions, no headaches, no illnesses of any kind; just good health, wealth and happiness.

At one time, I believed all this easily, I was excited, I knew it was going to happen! But then days, months, years went by and the world is still not the ‘land of happiness’. I know my life certainly isn’t a bed of roses! I still have opposition at home, I still have that child that’s off course, I still struggle with that migraine and now, the economy seems to be going downhill.

The negative thoughts get louder and louder- ‘the land of happiness is a lie, it’s never coming’, ‘this is just how it’s always going to be…this is the deal…’, ‘you’ll never make it out of this situation, there’s just no way out…’, ‘just your karma…’. Too often, I make the mistake of allowing these negative thoughts to take hold and drown out what God has spoken to me. But if I want to remain in faith, I have to remember what God said. ‘When there are storms of Maya, you wilt because of not staying in remembrance of Baba’, says the Father. ‘If you keep Baba in your intellects, you won’t be affected by Maya.’

Especially when I’m under pressure due to a situation or a circumstance, I have to be careful about what I allow to play in my mind. Rather than allow those negative thoughts to play, I have to be deliberate about going back to God’s promises. I have to go back to what He whispered to me in the night. I have to keep those promises on the forefront of my mind, not the negativity. God is faithful. He doesn’t say something and then not do it! It may not happen on my timing, or in the way that I want but happen, it will. It’s easy to stay in faith when things are going well but what do I do when things don’t seem to be going well? when I don’t understand why something is taking so long, when that person doesn’t keep their word, when the friend betrays me, then what? Ravan would want nothing more than for me to forget what God promised. But the effort I have to make is to remember only what God said. ‘The solution is not to run away from the world like sannyasis do’, teaches Baba. ‘Continue to do your business, but remember the Father. This requires effort. It is not a small thing to claim a kingdom! Even when someone claims a limited kingdom, he has to make so much effort. Here, you are claiming a kingdom of the golden age! Therefore, you surely have to make effort.’

When I’m discouraged, disheartened, overwhelmed, worried, anxious etc., I am losing the kingdom. This is Ravan’s world! there’s always going to be something that tries to steal the seed of God’s word out of my heart; Maya will always try to make me forget what God said. Because as long as I keep that seed watered, that is, when I keep thanking God for His promises, for what He is doing in my life even when I don’t see it yet, then my faith is getting stronger, my character, my strength, my courage is building and Maya would never want that to happen. Baba says, ‘Because you forget, you have to go into expansion. There are many obstacles of Maya. There is even physical illness! You develop doubts because you think things should go smoothly now that you belong to the Father. However, says Baba, the illnesses will in fact erupt even strongly. You have to settle your karmic accounts.’

It’s not that complicated, teaches Baba: just don’t forget the Father and make yourself alone. Let me repeat what He has told me over and over in my mind. Rather than dwell on the doubt and worry, let me dwell on who I am, Whose I am and what the Father has told me about me. Then, Baba says, fear has to leave, doubt and worry cannot stay; faith has to rise. When that thought comes: ‘how can I become emperor of the world? I barely manage my own home…’, immediately, I nip it in the bud with what God said to me: ‘that it was I who was the emperor and it is I who is becoming that again, nothing new!’ Then, I work with God to figure out a better timetable for myself. I have to constantly stay on the offensive and not let Ravan’s false narrative play in my mind.

Yes, his narrative may indeed appear truer than the narrative that God is giving me. But, let me reflect back on my life so far; there were many times when things didn’t look so good and He got me through them. What seemed impossible, suddenly became possible; new doors opened. Let me revisit those experiences and replay them over and over in my mind. Yes what I see around me right now isn’t looking that good, but then, based on my experience with God, I no longer live by what I see, I live by what God has told me. Baba says, ‘Maya has caused you sorrow. Therefore, let go of her. Become those who conquer Maya and thereby become conquerors of the world.’ 

He is telling me that drama is beneficial, that there is benefit hidden in every scene even though it might not look that way externally. He is telling me that my best days are in fact ahead of me. He is telling me that I am His helper in the greatest task in history- establishment of heaven! He is telling me that I am a world benefactor, that I am the image of support, the roots of the entire human tree! He is telling me that indeed, I am no ordinary soul, that I am a deity soul who is to become the master of the heaven He and I are establishing. These are the things He is telling me. The question is: is this what I am telling myself? or am I telling myself something different? Baba says, ‘You should have only this study in your intellects. The knowledge-full Father sits here and gives you the full knowledge of the tree and the drama.’

Yes, the situation seems insurmountable but only when I am entangled in it. God is telling me to detach myself from the situation and give it to Him. He hasn’t told me to have yoga with the situation, He is asking me to have yoga with Him. On the battlefield, when Arjuna’s son was brutally killed by the enemy, Jayadrath, Arjuna vowed to avenge his son’s death. He took an oath that he would either kill Jayadrath the next day before sunset or would end his own life. This was an impossible oath given how big the enemy army was; in the natural, there was no way Arjuna could even get close to Jayadrath, let alone kill him! But Arjuna knew that God, his Friend, is not natural, He is supernatural, the Almighty Powerful! When God asked him why he took such an impossible oath, Arjuna calmly replied: ‘because You are my Friend and I know You’ll find a way to make it happen.’ And the Friend made it happen indeed! The enemy practically walked over to Arjuna and made it easy to kill him. The army that was so insurmountable didn’t even matter! But here’s the thing: the victory didn’t come without the test! Up until the last moment, it did seem as though Arjuna would lose; in fact, he even got ready to end his own life but then suddenly, things turned around, as if by magic! When I remember that it is God who is my Friend, that God is my Father, that God is my Companion, it changes my perspective. The key is to remember.

Along with the negative thoughts in my own mind, even people close to me will try to tell me how something cannot possibly work out, about how my dream is impossible, how big my problems are etc. etc. but no human-being is the maker of my fortune, only God is. He is telling me that I am a victorious jewel, that I have been victorious countless times before, that I am not alone and that He is right there with me. He is telling me that I have all the virtues and all the powers I need to defeat the enemy. All I have to do, He teaches, is use the powers. When a situation comes, He says, rather than worry myself over: ‘what should I do now?’, ‘is this right or is that right?’, all I have to do instead is simply follow Father Brahma. ‘Just place your footstep in his‘, teaches Baba, ‘and you will always be victorious.’

These are not things Baba has told me 20 years ago that I would forget them, these are things Baba teaches me daily. That should be easy to remember, He reasons. If I stay focused on what I see, I might get talked out of my dreams, out of my fortune; I will become limited in my effort and thereby, limited in claiming my fortune. But if I can, like the monkeys in the Ramayan, stay in faith, then I can see stones float on water and even better, I will watch myself walk over them to get across the iron-aged ocean and reach the shore of the land of happiness.

The Father says: ‘bugles (shehnai – musical instrument specially played on happy occasions) of happiness should now play in your hearts because the Father has come to put His hand in your hands and take you back with Him. Your days of happiness are now about to come.’