Baba says, “It is always said: “Knowledge, devotion and disinterest”; they don’t know any of the detail at all.”

One is knowledge and another is bhakti; they are two different things, as different as night and day, explains Baba. Knowledge is light, it is the compass that shows me the right way forward. Bhakti is the darkness of ignorance. In the dark, one stumbles and falls trying to find the way; one gets hurt. There is therefore sorrow in bhakti, that is why there is disinterest in it. In knowledge, there is clarity, there is no stumbling. I know what it right, what I have to do. And when I do that, there is guaranteed victory. For half a cycle, I was stumbling in the darkness of ignorance. The Father, the Ocean of Knowledge, comes at this most auspicious confluence age and turns on the switch of knowledge. He enables me to see the path forward.

However, even though I now have knowledge, I still say things like: “I know I shouldn’t have said that but it just happened…”, “Because this happened, I did that…”, “Should I do this or that…” etc. This is stumbling, this is falling, this is being defeated. Even if there is a reason that comes before me, as a person with knowledge, I get to transform the reason into a solution rather than become defeated by the reason like I used to in the past. If I am defeated even now, if I am giving excuses even now, despite the light of awareness being on, then that would not be called having disinterest in bhakti; it would be called being a bhagat. Indeed, in the Ramayana too, they tell an entertaining story: “this happened, then that one said this, then the other one said this and then this other thing happened…” “Are you still reading those stories? You don’t waste time reading and narrating such stories, do you?“, asks Baba.

As a person with knowledge, the words I speak should be jewels that sparkle, they should be elevated, words that give others clarity; they cannot be the same old stories of devotion. I have walked away from the darkness of bhakti and come into the light. I no longer ring bells or turn the beads of rosary in this new birth. In fact, I laugh at my past life, at my own ignorance. However, if I speak of the defects of others or remember their wrong activities, then isn’t that bhakti also?, asks Baba. Just as singing the praise of the Father, to chant His name as I turn the beads of the rosary is bhakti, in the same way, to if I remember someone’s defects or focus my attention on what someone is doing, then that too is like turning the beads of the rosary. To have thoughts in the mind is also like chanting. “Just as those people have a soundless chant, so you too continue to have thoughts; they just don’t stop. So this too is like a chant. When you relate something to one another, that is also like the ringing of bells. This is the system of degradation. You should now have distaste for any customs and systems of degradation, whether gross or subtle. Just as you have distaste for the physical facilities of devotion based on knowledge, you should also have distaste for the customs of the path of devotion.”, teaches Baba.

It is said: Knowledge, bhakti, then disinterest for bhakti. Only after there is disinterest for bhakti can there once again be the day of knowledge. “Only after you have this disinterest will you be able to increase the speed of your remembrance.“, explains Baba. Without disinterest, no matter how much I try, I will not be able to increase the speed of my effort. It is just as a devotee tries so hard to sit in remembrance of God but no matter how much they beat themselves, and go through so many difficulties, giving their time in many different ways and using their money, but they are not able to stay in remembrance. “Have you stopped ringing bells, or is it that you have stopped ringing bells in a physical way but have taken up ringing them in a subtle way?“, asks Baba. Check yourself, He says, to what extent have I become a knowledgeable soul. To be a ‘knowledgeable soul’ means that my every sanskar and every word should be filled with knowledge. My every action must be filled with knowledge. There must not be the slightest trace of going into degradation.

When it is day, it cannot be night; they are mutually exclusive. In the same way, when I have received the knowledge, there cannot then be any sanskars of bhakti, whether gross or subtle. “You need to have the sanskars of knowledge over a long period of time in order to be able to rule for a long time.“, explains Baba. If I try to make effort in the final moments to develop these sanskars, then I will receive a kingdom only at the end as well. “The account is accurate“, says the Father, “you receive to the extent that you do something.“