Baba says, “To place your footsteps in Father Brahma’s footsteps is known as following the Father. Are you following the father in the first step of being obedient?“

Sometimes, as I go along on my spiritual journey, I feel empty inside. I don’t know why but I just feel empty, like something’s missing. Nothing has happened as such, I haven’t done anything wrong but I just don’t have that experience of happiness, I don’t feel content. The reason for this, Baba explains, is that while I haven’t made any mistake at that specific time, I feel the emptiness and discontentment because of not having done everything according to the Father’s directions up to that point. From time to time, because of one reason or another, I have justified not following shrimat and that burden of disobedience pulls me towards itself sometimes. Just as old sanskars pull me towards them, it’s the same here. Those are karmic accounts of the past and these are karmic accounts of the present. In those moments, I feel so confused- I don’t know what’s wrong and yet, I just want to cry. My mind can’t stay in remembrance or in service, there are waves of unhappiness. I just feel like leaving everything and going somewhere to sit in solitude. All of these are signs, Baba explains, of being disobedient in one way or another. The burden of karma pulls me.

To be obedient means to be obedient to the Father, Teacher and Satguru. Baba, in all three forms, gives me directions for every single act I perform. If from Amritvela till night, I continue to do everything per directions I have been given, then I will not experience anything to be difficult or laborious. I have clear directions for my thoughts, words and actions for every moment. I don’t even have to think: ‘Should I do this or that? is this right or is that right?” etc. I simply have to follow directions because God’s directions are always elevated and as His child, it is my duty to simply obey. In fact, the very first promise I made to Baba even on the path of bhakti was: ‘O God, when You come, I will surrender everything to You. I will eat with You, sit with You…do everything with You.’ This was also my first promise on this path of knowledge and so Baba asks: “Does you body, mind and money really belong to the Father or is there something that still belongs to you? Have you truly surrendered all your relationships with everyone to Baba?” When I surrender everything to Baba, He doesn’t keep any of it; instead He says: “keep it and use everything as a trustee.“

A trustee or a child means I use everything per directions. I no longer use my mind to think impure thoughts or angry thoughts about others, I don’t use my mouth to speak sarcastically or harshly, I don’t get to act indifferent or give someone the cold shoulder because I don’t like how she behaved the last time we met. In fact, this is what gets me in trouble- reasons. I always have a great reason why I thought/said/did something. They betrayed me, they insulted me last time before everyone, they are snobs, they act haughtily…etc. etc. It doesn’t matter what the other said or did, my duty, Baba reminds me, is to follow directions I have been given. I don’t have to plot, plan or avenge anything someone else did, that will be taken care of by the built-in karmic machinery. I have to pay attention to settle my existing accounts and not create anything new that would bog me down. That means I continue to follow directions I have been given no matter what. To follow is a sign of love.

This is what Father Brahma did. He faced more tests in the form of opposition from people in his family as well as outside, then there were many children who left and defamed him and the yagya, there were harsh words spoken and written about him among other things. But no matter what happened, Baba always obeyed shrimat. He didn’t speak harshly in return or drag those who opposed him to court because he felt justified or because he felt wronged or anything else. In any situation, Baba never said: ‘but I think’ or ‘but I feel’, he simply obeyed the Father’s directions. This is called obedience and it is what made Father Brahma #1 victorious. To go with what I think or how I feel is body consciousness; it is the ego that feels hurt, insulted, disrespected, and vengeful. When I am seated firmly in the self-respect of being a pure soul, a child of the Merciful Father, then I don’t feel these heavy, negative emotions. I only feel the Father’s pure feelings of mercy, compassion, love, forgiveness. When I act based on these feelings, then those actions become elevated. I receive blessings from the hearts of the Father and of everyone in the family. These blessings enable me to move forward at a fast speed in my journey because someone who is blessed experiences lightness and when I am light, I can move fast. This is not a physical lightness, this is lightness in the mind and in the heart. I feel happy and content with the self, with service and with everyone in the family and everyone feels content with me.

So, teaches Baba, simply remember the term of being an obedient child who obeys God’s directions. Think about whether something is according to the Father’s directions or not. A father would automatically remember his obedient children. Such children are automatically loved and automatically close to their father. So every morning, at Amritvela, start the day, Baba teaches, by remembering one sentence: “Who am I? I am the obedient child who obeys the Father’s directions.”