Baba says, “The main basis of becoming one who has pure and positive thoughts for others is to have pure and positive thoughts.”

I can only give others what I have. If I want to be someone with good wishes for others, then I have to have good wishes for the self. If there is a lot of negative self-talk that goes on within myself because I think I don’t measure up, if I am self-critical every time I make a mistake, routinely reject the self because I believe there’s something wrong with me, then that’s how I will view others too. I treat others the way I treat myself. If I am judgmental about the self, that’s how I will be towards others. If I cannot accept the self, I cannot accept others either. Without self-respect, I cannot respect others. This is why God says: Self-transformation is the way to world-transformation. Happy people make others happy, contented people give unto others, those who like who they are accept others.

“Those who constantly have pure and positive thoughts automatically have good wishes for others“, explains Baba. Pure and positive thoughts are the basis of becoming someone who has good wishes for the self and others.

And so the first thing God does when He comes is remind His children of who they are and Whose they are. When I realize that I am not the role, the relationships, the mistakes, the failures, the nationality, the religion, the labels….and that I am a pure, elevated soul and a child of the Highest-on-High, then I have a fresh perspective of myself. The key though is to accept what I am being told as the truth; that’s the tricky part where most children fail. “I and worship-worthy!?, you have no idea what I’m like…”, “I and great soul? You have no idea what I do when I get angry…”, “An image of support and upliftment? Who me?” And so the basis for accepting what I’m being told is faith in Who is telling me. Do I believe that this is God telling me and that only He is my Father, Teacher and Satguru? The answer will determine whether I listen to His version of who I am or if I will believe the opinions of others. “Just look how many people there are at present who give advice! There are so many of them!“, observes Baba.

There will be many who tell me who I am and how I should be- my parents who tell me I’m their child, my teachers who tell me I’m their student, my best friend who tells me that I belong to them, my colleague who tells me that I’m their team-mate, my boss who thinks he comes first…. “You should be this way/that way”, “You shouldn’t do this/that”, “You should be good to them because…”, “if you do this like this then they will appreciate…” In the Mahabharata, Arjuna went to ask God for His help in the war. God promised to help but said that Arjuna would need to choose first- either Him or the vast army. That choice determines whether I win the war…the war against Maya. I cannot win a war by being under the influence of the dictates of my own mind or those of others. In the world today, there are as many opinions as there are people and everyone thinks they know the key to happiness and success. “If you will just do as I say, you will be happy and successful”, they tell me. If I decide to listen to them, then I am destined to lose the war. “Don’t listen to what anyone else tells you about attaining liberation and liberation-in-life“, cautions Baba. “No one, apart from the Father, can be the Bestower of Salvation.” Lakshmi and Narayan were the rulers of the land of happiness. Who made them that way? Only the one Father. And so all I need to do as well is follow only His directions.

Arjuna understood this principle; He chose God over the vast army and asked Him to be his Charioteer. He took every step according to the directions of the Charioteer alone and that is why and how he won the war. “The Father shows you the mistakes you have made. You adopted so many gurus…“, He explains to me. But that was when I didn’t know any better. I was an orphan in Ravan’s world without any education or guidance, left to fend for myself. So I made everyone my ‘guru’ and took everyone’s advice for what to do. But now, like Arjuna, I get to choose. If I choose God, I then only listen to what He has to say about me, I only believe Him about what kind of a soul I am, I take His word for what my nature and character is like. I listen, merge it within me, and then embody that truth.

“To think weak thoughts of the self is not having thoughts of the original self because to be a confluence aged, most elevated Brahmin soul means to be a powerful soul“, points out Baba. The “self” means soul and when I am in this consciousness, then things of weakness cannot arise. “As is the Father, so am I an elevated soul.” Those who have such thoughts about the original self are able to have pure and positive thoughts, He explains. Yes, I do make mistakes; yes, those old sanskars do still linger. I don’t deny this but it is not what I focus on, it is not what is in the forefront of my mind. I am fortune focused, not misfortune focused. When I make a mistake, I learn from it and move on; I don’t dwell on it, become disheartened and poison the soul with negative chatter. If I cannot think of something positive, I pick up the murli, the treasure trove of pure and positive thoughts, and replenish myself. I remind myself constantly of who I am.

Those who have pure and positive thoughts automatically become well-wishers for everyone. First are thoughts of the original self and then there are pure and positive thoughts. Such souls become those who have good wishes for others because those who maintain pure and positive thoughts day and night can never have bad thoughts or bad vision for others. Because their original sanskars and nature are pure, they naturally develop the habit of seeing and thinking about everything in a pure way with their attitude and vision. Even when I see a weak sanskar in others, because I am someone who is kind and merciful to the self, I am also kind and merciful toward others. I don’t have impure or wasteful thoughts about them, such as: This soul is always like this, they will never change…No. With my pure vision and attitude, I always remind them of who they truly are and make them powerful. I don’t look at anyone with dislike, I always have the vision of uplifting souls who have fallen, just like the Father uplifted me.

“Such souls with good wishes for others are number one servers, true servers“, says Baba. “Check“, He says, “Have you become such souls who have good wishes for others?” It starts with having good wishes for the self.