Baba says, ‘You instrument children who increase the zeal and enthusiasm of other souls must never have the consciousness of “I”.’

Brahmin life is a life of service. And the main virtue for success in service is humility. The more humble I am, the more success there is. One becomes humble when there is the consciousness of being an instrument. When I have this consciousness, I am easily able to move forward while moving others forward. ‘Everyone bows down, that is, offers their co-operation to those of themselves bow down first‘, teaches Baba. It’s that simple.

I know this to be true intellectually but when it comes to being the instrument, it sometimes feel harder than it should. “I did this, I said this”, “it was my idea”…I crave recognition, appreciation and applause. ‘This‘, Baba reminds me, ‘is the birth of dying alive from the old world.’ and that includes the ways of the old world. The old world feeds on selfishness, on who I am and what I can do; it’s a world of ‘show and tell’. In Baba’s world, I am a server and service happens in an incognito way. This is why servers are called angels.

Angels are direct children of God, their world is in Him. They stay close to Him and become His instruments in His task. When they receive a signal to do a task, they simply do it and leave. They don’t linger around ‘for feedback’, ‘for appreciation’ or ‘applause’. They do what they were asked to and promptly return to the Father.

The ones they served often say: ‘that was an angel’, ‘she was such a God-send’, ‘Father, thank You for sending me Your angel…’. In other words, angels become instrumental in reminding souls of the Father, in bringing them close to Him, in enabling them to belong to Him. But when I am still caught up in the selfish ‘I and mine’, then all that others see is just one more person who is body conscious like they are. Unlike angels, I become instrumental in moving souls away from the Father, I am unable to give them His introduction, unable to make them aware of Him. “Each one of you is an instrument for many others”, Baba reminds me. “Don’t have the consciousness of “I”, but have the feeling that Baba has made you an instrument.” To become a server or an angel, the foundation is renunciation and tapasya. I have to die alive from the body conscious ‘I and mine’ and make Baba my world. Instead of “I”, it is “My Baba”. Instead of “I did this”, it is “Baba made me do this, Baba did this.” “Then see“, Baba says, “how easy it is to be successful. The more the words “Baba, Baba” emerge from my lips, the more easily I will be able to make souls belong to Baba.”

And isn’t that the point of service? Isn’t that what success in service is? Service is not a means to become famous, it is about putting others before me. It is about offering my every thought, every word and every action for world benefit. And that will feel extremely hard to do if I don’t have tapasya, that is, if Baba is not my whole world. If there is anything other than Baba, then that will pull me toward itself. My only concern needs to be belonging to Baba completely– body, mind, wealth, everything. And this concern has to be deep. Only then will I be able to make others concerned about belonging to Baba; I will become an instrument for service. Where there is the consciousness of being an instrument, and there isn’t any consciousness of ‘I”, there will constantly be progress. This feeling of being an instrument automatically awakens good wishes and pure feelings. In fact, the reason why there aren’t good wishes and pure feelings in the world today is that, instead of being an instrument, there is the consciousness of “I”. “If people considered themselves to be instruments, then“, Baba explains, “they would also understand the Karavanhaar Father.” Karankaravanhaar Swami (Lord who acts and inspires others to act) will always inspire me to do that which is elevated.

But instead of being a trustee, I often become a householder. There is a burden in being a householder and lightness in being a trustee. Unless I become light, I cannot have decision-making power. If I am a trustee, I am light and my decision-making power is also elevated. ‘Therefore‘, Baba teaches, “always be a trustee.” The consciousness of being an instrument is fruitful, it will always continue to give me elevated fruit. “Therefore“, says Baba, “remind all your companions to have the consciousness of being an instrument and a trustee. These principles of the kingdom will become the elevated principles for the whole world. The whole world will then copy the principles of Bharat. But, the basis of this is the consciousness of being a trustee, that is, of being an instrument.“