Baba says, “Until someone becomes a child, he cannot receive the inheritance.“

It’s one thing to believe that Baba is God, to say: “I am Shiv Baba’s child anyway”; I even have faith in the knowledge that Baba gives me and I am living the Brahmin life following all the disciplines. It’s one thing to do all this and a completely different thing to actually surrender. To be a child means to come to that place of surrender where I surrender my will to Him. Sure, even if I simply have faith that Baba is God and observe purity, I will come to heaven. But that is not the true inheritance Baba has come to give me. Baba has come to give me the inheritance of being able to live a completely liberated, victorious life from right this minute and for birth after birth. He has come to give me the inheritance of self-sovereignty, the inheritance of complete purity, peace and happiness. A promise of life without even a trace of sorrow for birth after birth. Why would I not take the full inheritance? Why would I settle for a little? This full inheritance cannot be claimed unless and until I become the child, that is, until I fully surrender.

Surrender is where nothing is ‘mine’, everything is ‘Yours’. “What do you give and what do you receive in exchange“, asks Baba. I give Him the useless things that I have accumulated over half a cycle and receive liberation from all of it – not for one birth but for birth after birth after birth. And yet, that phrase: ‘I surrender’ is demanding to most. It’s one thing to say it to a person but to say it to God requires courage. I don’t just surrender this or that which I have. But I surrender my very will to You. I yield everything to God, let go of my grip over everything and ask that He lead and guide me.

And what needs to be surrendered would be different for each person and God expects that I do- not for Him, but for my sake. Some have a tight grip over gross things- like money or a house or a job etc. It’s what I identify with, God expects me to let go of my grip over those things. He asks me to move to that smaller town, and take that smaller job but I say: “Baba, surely You don’t mean that. Not after all the hard work I’ve put in and earning this position…” Sometimes, I have a tight grip on a specific relationship -maybe a child, a spouse or a parent and I rely on them for my self-worth, for how I feel, for my peace and happiness. God expects me to let go of that grip but I say: “Baba, I have to be a certain way, do certain things so that my child/spouse can approve of me…” Then in some cases, I have a tight grip on that hurt that I experienced from that betrayal. God expects me to forgive, to let go. But often I respond with: “Baba, I will do everything…just not that. Please don’t ask me to forgive them. I can’t do it….after all they did to me….”.

So often I deceive myself by thinking: “Well, today was a good day, I didn’t do anything wrong today” or “my effort is going well, I haven’t caused anyone sorrow today..”. But is there something God is prompting me to let go of, that I haven’t surrendered? Can I say as best I know from my heart that I have yielded complete control over my life to God? That He is truly my Father and that as His child, I only follow His directions for my life? I may not have caused sorrow to anyone, but am I still clinging on to something? Or am I still saying: “Baba, I am Yours except that job…except that hurt….except that relationship…”. Then I say to myself: “No one is perfect yet, Baba understands what I’ve been through…”. Yes, He understands that I am not ready to claim my full inheritance from Him yet.

I can never become the person – Lakshmi and Narayan- that God wants me to be as long as I am holding on to something that doesn’t fit me. As long as I am holding on to those things, they block the blessings that God is giving me. He wants me to be free, liberated but the unforgiveness I am holding on to, that attachment to people and things, to name and position, blocks the blessing. Sure, I am a Brahmin and I love God but as long as I am not fully surrendered, it doesn’t matter how many songs of praise I sing of Baba, how many books I write, how many talks I give or centers I open, I cannot claim my full inheritance from Him. What are those things that God has put His finger on and is showing me but I’ve turned a blind eye to because it’s too hard to give up?

The goal is: “Yes, Baba! Everything is Yours”; not most things, not some things, everything. He is the Purifier. I allow Him to put His finger on anything and everything that He sees in my life that does not fit. I surrender. This is how I co-operate with the Purifier. If every time He tries to clean an area up, I tear because I’m too sensitive or fragile, then I hold myself back. When the Father asks me to do something, as His child, it is my duty to obey fully, completely. That is surrender. This is what Brahma Baba did. When the Father gave a signal, baba obeyed. There were no ‘if’s, ‘but’s or ‘later’. There was no ‘but I think…’, ‘but I feel…’. It doesn’t matter what ‘I’ think or feel, what matters is what Baba wants me to do. I lived life on my terms for a long time and it only got me moving downwards, in a descending stage. Now is the time to ascend…in fact, now is the only time to ascend. How high will I go? Will I go all the way to the top or will I get blocked along the way?

God cannot take my issues from me before taking me first. Why? because I will not listen to His directions until I have surrendered my will to Him. Have I ever imagined all that God could do in my life if only I surrendered to Him? But often I feel afraid at the very thought of surrender, I feel afraid that God is going to take something I need, something I want, something that I’m holding on to from me. I think/say things like: ‘Well what if…God takes my son from me….’, ‘well what if…God takes my money from me…..how will my family live..’. What kind of a soul do I think God is? He is my true, eternal Father. He loves me more than life itself. He comes into this most impure world, in an impure body just to liberate me from sorrow and give me my inheritance. He is the Bestower! Why would He want to take anything from me? A father never takes from his child; he guides his child for it’s own safety and benefit. Baba says, “Keep everything with you and become a trustee.” He teaches me how to use everything in a way that benefits me and the world. If He is asking me to let go of something, it doesn’t mean that He is taking it away from me, rather, He is saving me from something that was taking me away from my destiny.

The safest place to be is surrendered to Him. God wants to guide me, why would I ever say no!? He wants to give me an inheritance that no one else can give me, why wouldn’t I take it fully? And so the question: “Am I fully surrendered to the Father?”, that is, “Have I truly made myself belong to Him as His child?” is something that only I can answer for myself. Let me be honest with myself when I answer that. And I will need to ask myself that question daily and answer it daily because I don’t always stay fully surrendered. When I breathe my last breath, what will matter? Only one thing- my relationship with God through Brahma. If I have been fully surrendered, then all that remains will be that relationship and so it is all that I will have in my awareness. What I have in my awareness will determine my final moments that will lead me to my final destination.