Baba says, “Until you instrument souls have an attitude of unlimited disinterest, other souls cannot have an attitude of disinterest.”

There is a time for everything. There was a time – the first half of the cycle- for experiencing the fruit of knowledge. Then came the time for bhakti- the second half of the cycle. During the first half, I experienced the fruit of the knowledge I had imbibed. I was completely soul conscious. I operated based on the innate qualities of the soul and thus lived liberated, in peace and happiness. Then, I forgot who I am and became a bhagat. Bhakti is subservience – to deities, to gurus, to anyone I deem powerful in some way. I lived in a world where I constantly had to prove myself to belong. Accomplishments mattered, what I owned mattered, influence mattered. The more someone had, they became the superior one before whom everyone else bowed down, so to speak; everyone else listened to and obeyed them. Someone with authority, no matter how temporary, was bowed down to. Then when they lost the authority, they got pushed aside. This is bhakti and a bhagat, in this context, refers to someone who is constantly seeking, chasing, striving to be that ‘someone’ in order to feel worthy.

This is still the world outside. In fact, the level of bhakti, that is, the chase, keeps getting worse by the day. God comes at this time, when the world has fallen into the depths of bhakti to remind us of the truth and of the time. This is not how it’s supposed to be, He reminds me. The world was heaven, you were liberated in life. Now, you are so much in bondage that you can barely breathe! It is time to transform the self and through that, transform the world back into heaven. I will only transform myself when I realize deeply in my bones that yes, indeed, the current way is wrong; it isn’t working. I am meant to be liberated in life, not caught in a rat race. I am meant to be pure and elevated, not living an impure, ordinary, subservient, fearful life. In other words, the basis of self-transformation and thereby, of world transformation, is unlimited disinterest for bhakti.

“You are the instruments to bring about world transformation“, Baba reminds me daily. This means that I need to inspire unlimited disinterest in my brothers and sisters in the world. But in order to do that, I first have to have an attitude of unlimited disinterest. “Check yourself“, says Baba: “Are you sometimes interested and sometimes disinterested or have you become those with constant unlimited disinterest?” I hear that and think: “Of course, I have disinterest! That’s why I became a Brahmin!” True. But often those old bhakti sanskars get transferred over without my realizing. Previously, I used to chase after name, fame, status, position in the world, now, I do it as a Brahmin. I chase after service. I want to be on stage delivering that lecture, conducting that conference…not so much to help my brothers as it is to satisfy my own desire for name and recognition. It’s more important to me to be the ‘serviceable Brahmin’ that has donated x amount of wealth, conducted y number of workshops attended by z number of souls. I crave recognition amongst the community. When this is my attitude, then no matter how many lectures I deliver, it won’t change hearts, it won’t liberate souls from their bondage because I am not liberated myself. I will receive praise for a great lecture but that’s it; it doesn’t serve. And because I am attached to being ‘someone’, I live in fear- I fear losing that project to someone else, I live in fear of not delivering a lecture that isn’t as good as someone else, I live in fear of the person in-charge not liking me etc. etc. And when I am unable to control circumstances to serve my plan or desires, I become angry, frustrated, unhappy, disheartened and all the rest. It’s all the same bhakti lifestyle transferred over into the alokik path.

To be one with unlimited disinterest, Baba explains, means to be homeless, even the home of the body is not mine. It belongs to the Father. “Remain detached from the awareness of the body to this extent”, He teaches. Someone who has unlimited disinterest is never influenced by sanskars, nature or facilities- they will be detached, a master and becomes an embodiment of success while using the facilities. They use the facilities as the master, they don’t become subservient to them. Also, when it comes to service, when I am a soul with unlimited disinterest, I will always have the intoxication that Karankaravanhaar is making me do everything and I won’t get caught up in trying to make things happen myself. I don’t have fear of losing out and keep a tight grip on things. Instead, I am a flying yogi, I am liberated in life. I am a soul absorbed in the love of the one Father.

The Father says: “I come to give you your lost inheritance of liberation in life of half a cycle. You can claim it in a second but everything depends on your dharna.“, teaches Baba. The basis for dharna, that is, for self transformation, and thus the basis for claiming my inheritance is unlimited disinterest. My brothers and sisters are already living in fear, they don’t need to see more fear. They already have enough peacelessness, they don’t need more of that. They are already discontent, they don’t need to see more discontentment. They are already steeped in subservience, they crave freedom- that’s what they want to see modeled before them. That’s what will inspire transformation. And that, is the call of the present time.