Baba says, “If you now want to become happy once again, then follow shrimat.” 

For half a cycle, I lived the life of an orphan, with no one to care for me, no true education or guidance. I floundered, I flailed, and I stumbled from one guru to the next, from one priest to the next, one expert to the next. Every one promised to help, every one said they had the magic formula, the remedy, the cure to all that sorrow, that heaviness, that emptiness that I was feeling. But they didn’t. While I didn’t get what I was searching for, I did end up getting bankrupted in the process and my sorrow increased.

But, even though reduced to a dim light, the soul still knew that there is someone that has helped in the past and can do so again and so it called out: “Om Namo Shivay…”, that is, “Salutations to God Shiva, You are the Father, the Mother, the Master and the Friend. You are the only Protector of All….”. Indeed, He is the only Protector of All even though He comes at a time when every other self-proclaimed expert calls himself ‘Sarvodaya leader’ (the one who has mercy for all). God says, “No human being can have mercy for all. Only the Father can.” The unlimited Father and Mother comes and says very simply: “You floundered because you forgot who you are and Me and started to follow devilish dictates. Now, if you want to become happy once again, then follow Shrimat.” Shrimat is directions from God, it is the most elevated directions. God says, “I guarantee that you will never experience a loss or any difficulty by following My directions. If you continue to follow the dictates of your own mind or those of others, however, you will continue to experience sorrow“. I experience happiness or sorrow as a result of my own actions; when my actions are pure and elevated, they give me and others happiness. When they are corrupt and degraded, they cause sorrow. At this time every single human being is body conscious and so no one performs right actions; their actions are based on the vices. So they end up causing sorrow to each other, even kill each other. Only by following shrimat, can I reform myself and thereby change the course of my Karma and thereby, my fortune.

“You are the Shiv Shakti Pandava army“, Baba tells me. If I look at the images of the Shaktis, I see the hand of the blessings over the devotees. They show the hand on the head. This means that if I constantly have the hand over the head, that is, if I have the hand of shrimat in my intellect, then, because of having the hand and the company, I am constantly victorious. “Do you constantly experience the hand and company in this way?“, asks Baba. No matter how weak a soul may be at this point, if my Companion is the Almighty Authority, then I will be transformed, I will be automatically filled with power. It’s just like when I am in a fearsome place, even though I might be weak, if my companion is brave, I too feel brave and I am no longer afraid of anything that’s lurking around. It’s the same here, Baba says. The reason I feel afraid of Maya or become defeated by Maya or find myself battling Maya all the time is because I don’t experience the hand and the company. Baba gives me His company, He is always available 24/7, but He cannot force me to take His company.

“When a father wishes to bring a child onto the right path, he holds the hand of the child, but if the child repeatedly lets go of the father’s hand and continues to follow his own dictates, then what would happen?“, asks Baba. The child would continue to remain confused about what to do, how to do, whether to do or not to do, etc. and more often than not, there would be mistakes. “So, you firstly forget the company and then you let go of the hand of shrimat“, explains Baba. Generally, when an enemy attacks, they first isolate their target and then make their move. Maya too doesn’t stand a chance until I have the company of the Almighty and so she first tries to break my connection, she tries to distract me, tempt me, make me busy with something etc.; she makes me let go of the hand and company and then attacks me. No matter what task or activity I might be busy in, no matter what the crisis or situation, no matter what interactions I’m in, I must never let go of the hand and company. “You are a karma yogi”, Baba reminds me, “you are not someone that has yoga, yours is a yogi life. Your connection must be constant, stable, unbreakable.” When I have the company and hand constantly, I become a master almighty authority and no one can even come close to me.

On the path of devotion too, I called out: “Hold my hand once.” So the Father is holding my hand now and wishes to move along with His hand in my hand. But if I let go, then all that can happen is that I continue to stumble and wander. When the Almighty is with me, all my powers are with me and I am a well-equipped soldier ready for a battle with Maya at any time. But when I forget, I once again become an easy prey that Maya will eat up alive. I will become defeated like I used to before. The original sanskar of Brahmins, Baba reminds me, is that of paying attention and practice. And so, my duty, is to practice remaining with Baba, keeping that connection in tact. Every half hour, let me pause for a couple minutes to check if I am with my Companion, if my mind and intellect are thinking thoughts that are according to shrimat; that is, let me check if the hand of shrimat is on my head. It starts with thoughts and then comes into action; so it is important that the seed is good, explains Baba. “Don’t become weak“, says the Father and Coach. “Remember that you are the victorious souls who have become instruments for self and world transformation many many times. There is no hard work or difficulty for victorious souls. Just attention and practice.”