Baba says, ‘The main reason why you become loose in your promise is carelessness.’

As a child of God, I want nothing more than to be who He wants me to be. I make pure, heartfelt promises to Baba every day- ‘Baba, I will never get angry again…’, ‘Baba, I will never lose my patience again…’ etc. and yet, Baba observes, the promises aren’t fulfilled. The main reason for this, He points out, is carelessness.

One is a promise and another is a firm pledge. The sign of a firm pledge is that I may die but I cannot break my pledge. When it is a question of life, then, no matter how many small problems arise or how fearsome the circumstances might be, they are nothing when it is a question of life. This, Baba explains, is called a firm pledge. No matter what the external circumstances are, they cannot make the internal stage fluctuate. At any time, in any situation, my attitude is: I cannot be defeated. I will become part of the rosary of victory, I will become the decoration around God’s neck. This is called a firm thought, a firm pledge. ‘So you have to underline the word ‘firm’‘, says Baba. ‘To make a promise means to give the practical proof.’

However, a lot of times, while I do make a promise, I allow situations and circumstances to shake me. ‘If it wasn’t like this, then I would have..’, ‘if this person weren’t so difficult, then I wouldn’t have…’, ‘I never get angry but the situation was so big that…’, ‘I just had a tough childhood and that’s why I have this issue…’. Yes, no one can deny the reason something is the way it is- the person, the situation, the childhood etc. But, I don’t have to allow the reason to become an excuse. But often that’s the mistake I make- I make the reason the excuse. This, Baba explains, is carelessness because it sucks the power out of my promise, making it weak. No matter how big a machinery may be, if even one screw becomes loose, it makes the whole machine useless. Similarly, I make big promises, I even put in effort but the one screw that becomes loose and makes my effort weak is carelessness and it comes in various forms. For example, sometimes I look at others as the way to assess my effort and think: ‘even the seniors do this. I am still a youngster. I have time, I will change…’ or I think: ‘this happens anyway, I am still an effortmaker…’. Baba says, ‘Tighten this screw of carelessness.’

The language of a firm pledge is: ‘whether it is like this or like that, I have to become like the Father’, ‘I have to become…’, ‘I don’t have to wait on others, I have to become…’. My attitude shouldn’t be: ‘I will do it if she does it…’, ‘I can do it if I receive co-operation…’. Instead of receiving in that way, to become a master bestower and give co-operation, love and sympathy is in fact receiving, says Baba. Remember, He teaches, that the very meaning of Brahmin life is: To give is to receive. The receiving is merged in the giving.

‘So‘, says Baba, ‘make all three the same: to understand, to have the wish to do something and to actually do it.‘ It should no longer be that I understand, I have the wish to do but then I succumb to excuses. To make all three the same, Baba explains, is to become like father Brahma. It’s easy, He notes, to make promises and to even give it to the Father in writing. But this time, He teaches, write it on your forehead with the ink of determination. Remember, He says, that you have made a firm pledge which means you have to fulfill it even if you die. Only such determination will make me equal to the father, a self sovereign now and a world sovereign in the future.