Baba says, “Become a victorious jewel.”

The sign of having faith, is victory. This is why the praise is: those whose intellects have faith are victorious. It is therefore not possible that I call myself ‘faithful’ but not be victorious. No matter what types of souls I have to interact with, no matter what the situations or circumstances I find myself in, if I have an intellect that has faith, then I will always experience victory over the circumstances and situations based on the power of my own stage. Victory doesn’t mean that if someone speaks to me in anger, I get more angry and shut them down or that if someone insults me, I insult them back. This does not demonstrate victory, it demonstrates defeat.

Victory means that I maintain my elevated stage, no matter what comes my way. I am a royal soul, a deity soul; Baba reminds me of my aim daily: “You are becoming this Lakshmi-Narayan“, He tells me. If my intellect has faith in the One that is teaching me and in what He is teaching me, then, I will live my life according to the aim I have been given. God is teaching me! He is making me into the king of kings! He has come especially for me, to enable me to make my fortune for the new cycle that is about to start. I am at the end of this cycle, there is little time left on the unlimited clock before the new cycle begins. This is the enlightenment God has provided me with. Before He came, I was sleeping in the deep sleep of ignorance thinking that the world has always been like this and will always be this way. I didn’t know of the cycle or that I am at the end of it or more importantly, that it is now the time to prepare for the new cycle. God comes every cycle at just this most auspicious confluence of the cycles to enable His children, souls, to reclaim their lost fortune. Whom did I lose my fortune to? Maya.

How did I lose it? By taking her bait at every step for half a cycle. When someone gets angry with me, Maya whispers in my ear: “How dare they speak like that to you! You should put them in their place lest they think they can get away with behaving like that.” She makes it sound as if not reciprocating in kind would be a sign of weakness. And so for half a cycle, I believed her and taught myself to get angry, losing my fortune of peace and happiness along the way, not to mention acquiring some health issues as a result. The basis for not taking Maya’s bait is to have the firm faith in the intellect that getting angry is not a sing of power and staying calm and peaceful is not a sign of weakness; in fact, it is the opposite. It doesn’t take power at all to become angry or to insult someone who insulted me. Most of the world does that- it’s the characteristic of the iron-age! To remain calm in the midst of the storm, to recognize that my peace and happiness are my property and that no one can take that from me without my permission, to guard it against Maya’s tricks- that takes power. And that power comes from faith.

Even if people of the world or even those in the Brahmin family believe that my staying calm is a sign of weakness, that it means defeat, I have to have the faith that what might seem outwardly as defeat is actually victory. That I actually am taking back my fortune that Maya stole from me. In the same way, if I am humble, constructive and say ‘Ha ji’, that can sometimes be perceived as weak or defeat, but again, I have the faith that it is victory. The key thing is not to be swayed by the opinions of others and start having doubts: “I don’t know if I am doing the right thing by staying quiet…”, “I don’t know if this is actually victory or defeat..” “Do not have these doubts but keep your faith firm”, teaches Baba. “Then, whatever others are calling defeat today, tomorrow they will offer you flowers of ‘Wah, wah!“

“Victorious souls will never have any confusion in their minds about the actions they themselves carry out- as to whether they are right or wrong. No matter what others think or say, you must have the firm faith in your mind that you are victorious. You must have faith in yourself.“, He teaches. When I make a truthful decision– that is, a decision based on the truth of who I am and who I am becoming– then, my mind can never be confused about whether the decision is right or wrong. My heart is always light and I am dancing in happiness. “Even if the circumstances are like fire, for such a soul, that test of fire would give that soul the happiness of victory, because he will be victorious in the test.”, explains Baba. When my intellect has faith in who I am and Whose I am, then no matter what the task is that I am engaged in, I never experience myself to be alone; I experience the Father to be with me. I never have thoughts such as: “Baba, You are with me, aren’t You? You are my Helper, are You not? Now, I have You alone.” This is not faith, this is me reminding the Father that He is my Support. When I have faith in the intellect, I know the Father is with me always, I experience this to be true. I don’t remember Him only during times of need, that is, my remembrance is not selfish; it is a natural, constant, easy remembrance filled with love.

Sometimes, when there is a strong attack of Maya, I even step away and think: “It’s okay, I don’t need to do this, it’s better that I step aside.” I think that this is disinterest but it is not. This is quitting and making myself distant. Disinterest is to stay with the task by remaining stable in the awareness of who I am, Whose I am and Whose task this is. This is my Father’s task and so it is my task. When this is my attitude, my focus is not on who said what, or whether I get the credit or not; rather, it is on getting the Father’s task completed successfully. To have this attitude of unlimited disinterest means to be victorious. To have an attitude of limited disinterest means to step aside and lose out on opportunities to learn and move forward on my journey. Sometimes, I do something and then I feel compelled to let everyone know: “Did you see? I was right, was I not? I told you this idea would work!” A victorious jewel whose intellect has faith would never speak of their victory, explains Baba. To speak in this way or to complain: “I told you, this wouldn’t work, look what happened!” are signs of being empty. Something empty rattles a lot. It’s like I have to let everyone know of what I did or what I said for validation. The fuller I am in the consciousness of who I am, Whose I am and what I am becoming, I won’t feel the need for attention, recognition, credit, winning etc. I also won’t put others down for what they did or didn’t do because I consider myself a bestower.

“Each of you has become a Brahmin in order to make your personal stage the best of all. In Brahmin life, your elevated stage is your personal property; it is the medal of Brahmin life.“, He explains. I receive a medal when I am victorious. To maintain an elevated stage is the medal I receive when I resist taking Maya’s bait, when I don’t doubt myself, when I don’t come under the influence of what others think, when I stay in my self-worth. “Those who receive this medal”, Baba adds, “remain constantly stable in an unshakeable, immovable and constant stage and are constantly carefree; they become the emperors of the carefree land.“