Baba says, “Make effort and give the proof of your service.“

It’s not hard to be sweet and nice when everything is going well in my life, when there are no major problems. But when things go wrong and it seems like nothing is on track, then it gets really hard to be sweet and nice to people, especially to those who created obstacles, brought the opposition and caused sorrow. Sometimes, the circumstance doesn’t seem to change for a long time and then I start to wonder if God has forgotten I even exist.

Baba says, “The Father is called the Purifier. He has come into this gathering of the iron age. This is a huge gathering. In this gathering you moths sacrifice yourselves to the Flame and become pure.“

Let me realize that God isn’t nearly as interested in changing my circumstances as He is in changing me. If the circumstance is not changing, it is because there is still something for me to learn from it. God will use that circumstance to make my faith in Him stronger, to build up strength of character, to pull out negative attitudes etc. And then, at just the right time, the circumstance will change as suddenly as it arrived – not a second too soon or a second too late. The question is will I therefore, keep a good attitude while going through the circumstance or the storm, so to speak? or will I complain, and sulk with God and turn away from Him? One shows spiritual maturity, the other shows immaturity. One shows that I am making fast effort, the other shows that the effort is very cold and at the pace of an ant. Even if I don’t completely turn away from God and leave, it still takes effort on God’s part to console me, pick me up and enable me to stand on my feet again when I keep getting disheartened with every obstacle and circumstance. If I am up one day when things are good and down the next when something goes wrong, then that is not effort, that is simply reacting to circumstances and it is exhausting! I feel more like a puppet on a string than like a child of the Almighty Authority.

To increase the speed of my effort involves deciding that I don’t want to live like that anymore; I stop waiting for my circumstances to change and decide- God, please change me! I develop the power to stay calm and remain happy no matter what. I might feel insulted, I might feel hurt, I might feel like life is not fair, I might feel a lot of things but to live victoriously is to learn to live beyond feelings. In other words, I will have feelings but I can’t let them influence my behavior. If I do, then I’ve just allowed Ravan to conquer me. He, that is, the body consciousness makes me have impure feelings which lead to poor decisions and that’s how I become bankrupted of all my peace and happiness. When I stop relying on how I feel or on how other feel and start relying only on God, then things change. I grow spiritually and enjoy my life while I’m at it.

When I am able to stay calm in the midst of the storm, when I don’t allow sanskars to rattle me, when I can enjoy life despite the circumstances, when I am being kind even when others are not kind to me, when I keep a good attitude, then others take notice even against their conscious wish. I become an image that attracts others. They too want what I have- that power, that strength of character, that courage for themselves. “You have to make others similar to yourselves and give the proof of that.“, says Baba. This is how I enable others to forge a connection with the Father. This is true service. This is also what it means to be murlidhar– someone who embodies the teachings in the murlis. “Continue to remember the Father and continue to remind others of the Father.”, He teaches.

No matter what is going on around me, I never ever doubt the fact that God, my Father is with me and that He is for me. He is working on purifying me and purification takes time; doesn’t happen overnight. “If you follow Me, you will never incur a loss“, Baba guarantees. That doesn’t mean that I will always get what I want and that Baba will makes all situations and circumstances go away, no. It means that He will transform me from an ordinary, impure human being into an elevated, pure deity. He will change me from completely insolvent to solvent. He will transform me from a weak soul into a powerful soul. “You will reap your reward there for the efforts you make here.“, He teaches. For this, I must follow the Father alone. No matter what is going on around me, I must never lose faith in His goodness and in His love for me. Then, I the moth, will sacrifice myself to the Flame happily, that is, I will follow His directions accurately and be transformed from ordinary human to Narayan.