Baba says, ‘The confluence age has the special blessing of making the impossible possible. Simply use your determined thoughts.’

The Father found me after being separated from Him for a long time- 5000 years, in fact. He found me when I was at my impure best, entangled in all kinds of bondages, giving myself and others sorrow. Since then He has been making endless effort to enable me to be liberated from the strongholds of Ravan such that I could be free, liberated in life. I want nothing more than to be all that my Father wants me to be; indeed, I want to be just like Him!

And yet, there are those certain sanskars, or what I call ‘my nature’ that keeps pulling me down. I take two steps closer to Baba and there comes that sanskar which pulls me 10 steps back. ‘If only’, I think, ‘I could overcome this one sanskar, I’d be liberated, I’d be so much more further along!’ So, how can I be liberated from this sanskar? what is the method for this liberation? or what is the matchstick with which I can set this sankar ablaze once and for all?

Baba says, ‘the matchstick is just one world and that word is determination. Determination means: ‘even if I die, I will definitely do this.” If my thoughts are: ‘yes I know this sanskar has to go, I should do this, it should happen, I’m doing my best, it will happen, of course I pay attention and I even realize this…’, then, Baba says, these thoughts are a match that has already been used. I make effort again and again and I even spend a lot of time on this but the fire just doesn’t get intense; it’s a low flame that flickers and splutters. The reason for this is that the seed of my thought is not filled with the strength of determination, that is, it is empty. Due to this, I don’t receive the desired reward. Then, as I move along, I have to make a lot of effort and when I see only very little success, then I become disheartened and careless. Then I say: ‘I am doing it, aren’t I? If I don’t see success, its not my fault. What can I do if my part is like that!?’ ‘These are thoughts of disheartenment and carelessness that don’t bear fruit‘, explains Baba.

The very specialty of the confluence age is that it is the age for making the impossible possible. What the whole world considers impossible, this age makes it possible. A determined thought means to make possible in a second what I myself found difficult or impossible. To make something that is easy or within line of sight, possible, is not a big deal, but to make the impossible possible with a determined thought is a sign of passing with honors. ‘Now, bring about this newness‘, says Baba. In bhakti, I was happy to be the dust on God’s feet and yet, in this confluence age, God has made me the crown on His head. I was happy singing His praise and turning the beads of the rosary chanting His name and yet, in this confluence age, God turns the rosary of my praise! What the sannyasis thought impossible and even moved away from the world for, God helped me make possible in this confluence age- I live a pure life, staying right at home, with my family! I never thought I could do without certain foods or certain facilities and yet, in God’s love, I’ve been doing just fine without them! If I were to make a list of the things that either I myself or the world thought impossible but has become possible in this confluence age, the list would be very long. What about this age makes things that were previously impossible, possible? For one, God Himself, the Almighty Powerful, is here! When I take one step forward, He matches that one step of faith and determination with a thousand steps of His own. In other words, He matches my tiny will with His mighty will and then, there is magic! Secondly, if I were to look at the picture of the cycle, it is clear that this is the only time in the entire cycle that is ascending; every other time in the cycle, including the golden age, is descending. And so this confluence age has the special blessing of being an ascending age with God here! There is no way I can lose; victory is the only option.

All it takes is determination- ‘I will do this and I can do this! I have done this every cycle, I am merely repeating what I have done before.’

Students check their performance throughout the year to see what they did well and where they need to improve. ‘Here too‘, Baba says, ‘you have to constantly check where you had the ascending stage or in which subject you were weak. A sanskar or nature is your servant (daas); so don’t become a servant of a servant‘, He explains. A sign of becoming a servant is to experience sadness (udaas). So, don’t become a servant of the sanskar, rather, light the match of a determined thought and finish the sanskar once and for all.