Baba says, ‘To stop studying means to leave the Father.’

The old world will now be made new, says the Father. But who will make it new? Surely, it isn’t just the Father’s task alone. Only He is the Ocean of Knowledge and it is through this knowledge that the new world is being established. The Father is also the Teacher who teaches me this knowledge and He is also the Guide who guides me at every step. But it is I, the child and the student, who has to imbibe the knowledge, become an embodiment of awareness and transform the old world into new based on the new awareness.

In the new world, everyone is full of all virtues. This is my aim and objective: completely virtuous, 16 celestial degree complete, completely viceless, completely righteous. This is the praise of Lakshmi-Narayan. In any school, there is always an aim and objective: ‘I am studying to become a doctor’ or ‘I am studying to become a lawyer’ etc. So, I too have my aim: to change from an ordinary human into Narayan. However, there are many, Baba says, who despite understanding the aim and objective, despite realizing that this is such an elevated study, despite understanding how high the reward is…leave the study. They start thinking that this study is wrong, that this is not their aim and objective and that this can never happen. They also develop doubt about Who is teaching them.

In the worldly studies, when students don’t have enough money to study, or they think it’s beyond their ability, they leave their studies. But they don’t say that the study itself is wrong or that the one who is teaching is wrong. But here, in this school, Baba observes, students blame the study, say that God isn’t teaching it, that there is no way anyone can claim a kingdom, that these are all lies etc. By thinking this way, many leave this study. Then others who knew them ask: ‘You claimed that God was teaching you, and that through this study, humans change into deities. So then, what happened?’ And its not just those without knowledge that are turned away but even other Brahmins might see me leave, hear me speak disapprovingly about the study and feel discouraged too. So, there is a lot of disservice that takes place. The Father says: ‘If anyone commits a sin here, he has to experience one hundredfold punishment, because that one would become an instrument to spoil many others. To whatever extent you had become a charitable soul, you would then become a sinful soul.’ It’s not that these children don’t have faith to begin with, points out Baba. They did and yet, along the way, they develop doubt and stop studying. So how did they have faith and then who put doubts in their intellect? Maya is such, Baba says, that one minute I have faith and the next minute, I have a doubtful intellect.

This is an important examination and a lot of courage is needed to pass it, points out Baba. Even to have faith, I first need courage. When I take the step of courage, I experience the Father’s help and my faith builds up. But often, I lose courage when it comes to following certain shrimat. I am okay with changing my diet, I attend Murli etc., but when I am asked to forgive that person who betrayed me, I start to think: ‘this can’t possibly be God telling me to do this! After all they did to me, how can Baba ask me to let it go! How can He take their side?…’ It becomes too hard and so I don’t do it; I continue to hold on. The Father comes to liberate me from bondages but some children, Baba says, don’t want to be liberated. Because the bondage is so strong and I don’t follow directions, I am unable to have remembrance, I feel unhappy and discontented and so I think: ‘this study doesn’t work…’ when in fact, it is I that lacked the courage to study.

Sometimes, there is a loss in my business or an illness in the family and if the foundation of my faith is not strong enough, I panic. Then, instead of going to Baba, I consult my ‘friends’ and ‘family’. They immediately say: ‘See, we told you! It’s because you stopped bhakti that all this is happening. Stop that Raja yoga business and come back to doing bhakti…only then will the deities be appeased and your life go back to normal.’ So of course, I leave the study and go back to the old world. I came to Baba having died alive but then when I leave the study, I go back to a living death in Rava’s kingdom. I am unable to make my life like a diamond. When someone has physical heart-failure, they die and take another birth. Here, I go back to the devilish community, says Baba. I forget that this is my last birth, the birth of dying alive and that I am here to belong to the Father, in order to go to the new world. Instead, I get afraid and run backward and land back in the iron age.

Sometimes, I experience obstacles when it comes to the instrument teacher or other Brahmins and therefore develop doubt. Then I say: ‘I don’t think such-and-such teacher is good’ etc. Baba says, ‘no matter what the Brahmin teachers are like, you should still study, shouldn’t you?’ This is the Father’s study, it is the Supreme Teacher that is teaching me; even the Brahmin teachers give His knowledge. Therefore, I still have to pay attention to this study. Unless I study, I will fail my examination and I won’t be able to blame it on any instrument teacher or others in my class.

The foundation is being laid for the establishment of heaven but everything here is incognito. I have to study for as long as I live, until the end. At no point do I get to think that ‘I know everything’ and slack off for Maya never slacks off; she is always alert and waits in hiding. Only the one Father is the Purifier and He is here especially for me, to make me into Lakshmi-Narayan -this, is my Godly birthright. Let me never forget this. ‘Spin the discus of self-realization in your intellect constantly‘, teaches Baba. This is the weapon with which I cut of the head of Maya/Ravan. They try to make me forget and I become victorious by staying awake and aware. ‘You forgot for half a cycle and performed many sinful acts as a result. Now, it is the time to remember. You have to stay on the pilgrimage of remembrance‘, cautions Baba. Half a cycle of body consciousness cannot be erased overnight; to become soul conscious takes practice over a long period of time. I have to make this reversal from body to soul consciousness in this short period of the confluence age and so, needless to say, I don’t have a moment to become careless.

Once you call Shiv Baba “Baba”, then don’t ever leave Him, cautions Brahma Baba. Otherwise, it would just be said to be your fortune! In order to become a charitable soul, I do have to make effort. After belonging to Baba, after receiving His directions, when I still perform wrong action, I experience hundred-fold punishment, that is, my stage falls immediately, I lose my peace and happiness. When I repeatedly do this, I become weak. ‘Don’t sabotage yourself‘, says Baba, ‘pay attention and follow shrimat at every step‘. It is there for my protection, so why wouldn’t I? When I stop studying, I don’t just erase my fortune for this cycle but for every cycle. It takes effort to consider myself to be a soul. The effort is to remember.