Baba says, “At this time, you children are not just children, but you are the children who are masters.”

I lived as an orphan for half a cycle which meant that I stumbled through life. I hurt myself many times due to wrong choices, wrong behavior, wrong expectations. I didn’t know right from wrong, no one taught me and so I did what I thought or what my friends or relatives or experts thought was the right thing. When things worked, I was happy and I had friends but when things didn’t work, I was unhappy and alone. I lived trying to impress, to fit in, to belong but I never quite could because the rules kept changing. Then, the Father came and He reminded me of who I am, that I am a pure soul, not a limited role, relationship or a title that I have to defend constantly. He reminded me that I am His child and that this relationship never changes throughout the cycle. The moment that I receive that introduction to the self and to my Father, I am born again; This is now a new birth.

I now have God Himself as my Father, Teacher and Guru, my Friend and Companion. And this isn’t theoretical, it is not just a song I sing in His praise: “You are the Mother and Father, the Friend…”, I experience these relationships with Him practically. The night before, I was all alone. Now, having recognized the self and the Father, I am now an heir to the Father’s property, to all His treasures. I, the child am the master of the Father’s treasures. Therefore, I am the child and the master. Indeed, every Brahmin child is an heir, but it is only a few that inherit all that is theirs. It is one thing to ‘know’ that I am the child and another to ‘fulfill’ that relationship. To be the child means that I now follow the Father’s directions for my life, that I now do as He says as opposed to what I think is right, or how I feel or what the experts believe I should be doing. I tried that approach for half a cycle and I know what that got me. Now, I have a Father to show me the right path, I have a Teacher to teach me and a Guru to guide me every step of the way. So why wouldn’t I use this great fortune and live a worry-free, care-free, and therefore, a sorrow-free life!? I no longer have to ‘wonder’ if something is the right thing for me or not, if I should take this job or not, if I should move to this place or not, if this is the right company or not…I have a Father who shows me, guides me. I am no longer an orphan fending for myself.

When I really, truly become the child in this way and follow the Father’s directions, I become a self- sovereign, a ruler of the self. I learn how to think, speak and act. The Father gets involved, as a father would, in every tiny aspect of my life and purifies it. My lifestyle, my friends, my entertainment choices, my diet, my everything changes. Internally, when my thoughts change, my attitudes, and my vision change too. All in all, my entire character is transformed, it becomes pure and elevated. Then, my mind and intellect that used to dictate my choices to me in the past, now follow my orders. The eyes see what I want them to see, the ears hear only that which I think is worth hearing, the mouth speaks only elevated versions like the Father. I longer catch myself saying: “I didn’t mean to say those things, but it just happened..” or “I didn’t want to see that but I couldn’t take my eyes off it..” etc. I, the soul, take back the reins to my physical and subtle organs. I become a self-sovereign, a master of the self.

To the extent I become the master of the self at this time, I become the master of the world in the future. “Check“, says Baba, “have you claimed your birthright to become a self-sovereign fully or just a bit?” If I have only partially claimed this right at this time, then I will only be a master in the future for some time as well. In particular, it is the mind that shakes the stage of the master. I, the soul, am the king and the mind is my minister and yet, sometimes, it is as if the minister has led a coup and unseated me from my throne! “Therefore, first control the mind“, teaches Baba. I often think: “I won’t do this from tomorrow” but when tomorrow comes, the situation has gotten bigger than today. Then I justify my behavior by thinking: “I wasn’t going to say those things but the situation got big and so I had to…”. This is deceiving myself, Baba teaches. The reason I have trouble overcoming a sanskar is because I think of it as ‘my sanskar’. Baba says, “Remember that it is not your sanskar, it is Ravan’s.“. I am now born again, I am now a child of God and in this new birth, I have inherited the Father’s sanskars; His sanskars are ‘mine’. Ravan’s nature and sanskars are not ‘mine’. Therefore, the more deeply I understand myself to be the child, to that extent, I become the master of all that which belongs to the Father.

“Don’t just be happy that you have become a child, that you have received the inheritance“, teaches Baba, “because if you don’t become a master of the inheritance, what is the purpose of being a child? The significance of being a child is to be a master too. Also be the master of self-sovereignty. Don’t be happy just seeing the inheritance, but claim the right to self-sovereignty. The eyes are just tiny points but they too deceive you when you are not the master. So always remember who you are: The child and the master.“