Baba says, “You have to experience the stage of being liberated-in-life. Not liberation-in-life of the golden-aged world, but the stage of liberation-in-life of the confluence age.“

In the golden age, there will be natural liberation in life. There will be only a few souls in the beginning. They will all be deities, that is, complete in all virtues, 16 celestial degrees full, completely viceless, righteous and non-violent. There will, therefore, be no clashes or conflict that will cause bitterness or resentment; these emotions don’t even exist there! Everyone will have everything and so there won’t be any jealousy or land grabbing either. Even the elements will be satopradhan and so there won’t be illnesses or natural calamities; only perfect health and weather. It will be a land of peace, happiness and prosperity and so in such a land, everyone will experience a natural state of liberation in life.

But in order to make liberation in life a natural stage, that is, in order to be one of those deities in the golden age, I need to be liberated in life now, in the confluence age. I cannot be someone with bondages and arrive in heaven and try to become liberated in the company of liberated souls. That doesn’t work because if that were the case, it wouldn’t be heaven! Heaven means no trace of bondage, no trace of sorrow, a land of liberation. So the part of becoming liberated has to happen now while living among other yet-to-be-liberated souls. In fact, the Father reminds me, as His child, my duty is to be the bestower of liberation and liberation-in-life to all. For that, of course, I have to become liberated myself first.

Often though, I believe the opposite- that my liberation depends on the world: “If he/she changes, I will change..”, “If they say ‘Om shanti’, then I will also say it..”, “if they show respect, then I too will be respectful…” etc. In this, Father Brahma says: “Become ‘Hey Arjuna’ like me. In this, let it be, ‘I first’, not ‘you first’. This ‘I’ is a benevolent ‘I’, while the limited ‘I’ will make you fall.” Arjuna means to be number one, not numberwise, but number one. Sometimes, special programs are organized for certain kinds of souls and I have the thought: “My name should also be included in this. Am I any less? I too am qualified, so how come my name isn’t included!?” The Father asks: “Why is your name not mentioned in ‘Hey Arjuna’? It should be in that, shouldn’t it? or should it not be included?” Father Brahma demonstrated this practically. He never as much as looked at anyone else to see whether they were doing something or not. No. “I first“. There are many limited forms of “I” that I engage in. The Father says: “Now finish all those types of “I” with this “I”.” You are the child of Brahma, that is why you call yourself a Brahma Kumar or Brahma Kumari, Baba reminds me. And so, He says, “you should become free from all limited bondages that you have even just in the form of thoughts. Become free from bondage and become liberated in life, just like Father Brahma.” Remember, He says, that the principle is: self transformation brings world transformation, not the other way around. My transformation cannot depend on the world changing, I have to change the world.

“The flag of greatness (of becoming elevated) should first be hoisted in the mind of the Brahmin soul. Only then will it be hoisted in the world.”, explains Baba. There is so much corruption, dishonesty, selfishness, manipulation and competition in the world. “It is going into the extremes.”, points out Baba. To blame my wastefulness, negativity, bitterness and resentment, my attitude of competitiveness and selfish thinking on the world and say: “I can’t help it, the people, the situations, the circumstances…the world is such” is to lock myself and the world in the iron age. The world changes when individuals change and as a child of God, it is my responsibility to change first and inspire my brothers and sisters to also change. That’s how we exit the iron age and open the gates to heaven.

“In order to hoist this flag, you simply have to use two words in every action“, teaches Baba. “Not in your thoughts, not in your head, but in your heart, actions, relationships and connections.” They are: 1) Ekta (unity)– even though there are many sanskars, let there be unity in the diversity, explains the Father. 2) Ekagrata (focus) – often I have very elevated thoughts for bringing about self-transformation but, observes Baba, by the time the thoughts come into words, the power is reduced by 50% and by the time it gets to action, it is reduced by 75%! The reason is lack of determination and focus. And the reason for this lack is the habit of looking at others. “When you point a finger at the other, you forget that the other four fingers are pointing back at you“, explains Baba. “You focus so much on the one pointing at the other and lose focus of the four pointing at you.” Focusing on others’ flaws shows a fluctuation in unity. That’s when I have thoughts such as: “If they do it, then I will do it.” This makes me second rather than first. “Those who take the initiative are Arjuna.“, He reminds me. No matter what happens, BapDada says: For self-transformation, you have to die to the self, that is, to the consciousness of the limited “I”. The attitude of “But, I am right…”, “But, I did have the better idea..”, “But, what about how I feel…”. If I can just take my mind off the limited ‘I’ for a little while and focus on who I truly am, Whose I am and what I am here to do, I’d be liberated. Die to this consciousness of “I”, He says again. “This death is a very sweet death. This is not dying, but is living with the fortune of the kingdom for 21 births.“