BRAHMA KUMARIS

THE FIRST MAN

ADI DEV

Written by

Late Jagdish Chander

Translated by

Shanta Trivedi, PhD

Edited by

BKIS Ltd., Publication Division, London

Designed by Krave Limited, London, UK

Copyright © 1981

Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya

First edition published in San Francisco. Second edition printed in Singapore for the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual university in Mount Abu, India. (No part of this book may be reprinted without permission of the publisher.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Raj yogi Jagdish Chander was a highly respected scholar, a profound student of Hindu scriptures and yogic texts, who has published many works on these subjects, works which have cast a new light on the origins of Hinduism. He was the chairman of the Literature Department of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.

Selected Works by the Author

Divinise the Man

The Future of Mankind

Moral Values, Attitudes and Moods

Observance of Brahmacharya

Peace of Mind and World Peace

Raj Yoga

The Real Gita

Spotlight on Purity

The Supreme Father of All

The Way and Goal of Raja Yoga

THE TRANSLATOR

Mrs Shanta Trivedi was a leader in the Family Planning movement in India when it began in the early fifties. After earning a PhD in Education at the age of 55, she began to train secondary teachers to work throughout India, and held the post of principal in several well- known academies. She currently resides in California, and teaches a course in Educational theory at Stanford University.

EDITOR'S PREFACE

At a spiritual gathering I recently attended, someone expressed the view that the worst attribute of religions is to claim a monopoly on truth. "All paths lead up the mountain," he asserted. Many in the audience nodded their assent and some were so rankled when a contrary view was expressed that they walked out of the convention. Those people who walked out were sincere and well-meaning, but I feel I must point out the dangers inherent in that closed-minded outlook. I do so here because the question is of the essence in understanding the book Adi Dev. Allow me to explain by using an analogy. If you were in a car arguing with other passengers as to whether red lights mean stop or go, you would readily perceive that your life might depend on arriving at the correct answer before the next intersection. You would also recognise that only one answer could be correct. If one passenger argued that red meant go and another protested that red meant only to slow down, you would be able to deduce that although both could be wrong, both could not be right. Even if you possessed the correct information that red meant stop, you would nevertheless be tolerant of their views because your lives would be dependent on the truth and, therefore, you would understand why they were so concerned that what they thought to be the truth should be acted on.

Nonetheless, for all your tolerance, you would not give up your position, not only for your own sake but also for theirs. You might offer the suggestion that the car stop before the intersection and watch what happened to other cars that went through. Would the ones that sailed through the red lights get hit or ticketed by police? Which decision seemed to provide the most safety? Sooner or later you would absorb enough information to make an intelligent decision.

Such is the position I ask the reader to adopt regarding spiritual questions in general and Adi Dev in particular.

I suggest that our present situation is parallel to that of those people in the car and that we need answers to such questions as:

• Is there a Supreme Being or not?

• If there is a God, does He/She have an individual existence, or is It simply an omnipresent force?

• Are human beings souls inhabiting bodies or only material entities plus consciousness?

• Is time linear or circular, predestined or open-ended?

• If we are souls, do we undergo rebirth or do we experience only one lifetime?

• Does the law of karma (action and reaction) operate to ensure that everyone sooner or later gets his just desserts, or is the universe unjust and mere chance?

• Is there an absolute scale of values of right and wrong?

• Is human perfection possible to achieve, and if so, is there a clear way to go about it?

The answers one gives to all these and related questions will determine how one copes with each experience life offers. Of course, it is of the greatest importance to find the answers although many people will say that any answer would be a matter of tradition or faith rather than of knowledge.

Yet we know more that we think we do. For example, nearly everyone and every religion would agree that tolerance and peacefulness are virtues. That people may not practise these, or any other virtue, does not affect their inherent virtuousness. Moreover, there are many more similar behaviours that all societies and ethical theories would have no trouble agreeing upon. Anger, for instance, when it spills over into overt violence, is universally condemned. But clearly, a spiritual person would transcend the impulse of anger to the level of thought before any harm is done to the self or others. The same would apply to greed, arrogance, lust, laziness, jealousy, hatred or any of the other vices. And on the positive side, all would accept that love, tranquillity, benevolence, co-operation, honesty, introspection, modesty and reliability are virtues we would prize in our companions and ought to strive for in ourselves.

There is also evidence regarding each of the other questions. One could cite a large body of evidence supporting the premise that we are souls, from recorded out-of-body experiences and meditative states of self-realisation, to scientifically confirmed cases of children remembering their past lives. Even philosophers agree that consciousness can never be reduced to purely material terms. It should also be noted that although some scientists refuse to believe in the soul, they do not do so on scientific grounds and have never been able to disprove its existence. Indeed, scientific thought has now arrived at a point where even the most materialistic of neurophysiologists have conceded that they cannot explain mind on the basis of brain circuitry alone.

Even the form of the soul has been worked out logically by philosophers as different as Descartes and the ancient rishis of India. The soul being incorporeal, can only have the form of a point, that is, a spark of infinitesimal light energy, yet able to record every experience within itself. Nodding in agreement are the ancient Egyptians, Pythagoreans, Essenes and early Christians, including St. Augustine. And in India, we can count such profound thinkers as Ramanuja and Madhwa. This form of the soul as a point of light is also the experience of many ordinary people who have come back from near-death episodes.

Similarly the Supreme Soul, if such a One exists, must have a like form. God's existence has been demonstrated philosophically over the centuries in a number of ingenious proofs, such as the famous ontological argument of St. Anselm (which many philosophers still consider valid) but it is unlikely that any of these have ever altered anyone's prior beliefs. Beyond the realm of logic, however, is the realm of experience, and many people have indeed been transformed by what others refer to as 'mystical encounters' but which may also be understood simply as an intellectual link with the Supreme Soul. This link with the Supreme Soul is called Raja Yoga and is the real foundation of all spirituality. It is on the basis of such experience that this book has been written.

When people become confused about their relationship to God, they run into great difficulties. Such difficulties are apparent in the world today so should we not wonder, therefore, whether we may have become confused about the nature of God? Since the great majority of people either believe in no God or in a God who is omnipresent which in terms of logic comes down to the same thing - it is reasonable to consider that these beliefs may be the source of the confusion. If God does exist, it is logical that He would have to descend personally into this corporeal realm and clarify the confusion. Since He would not have to come if we already possessed the correct beliefs, it is also obvious that some of His teachings would contradict many of the beliefs we currently hold. Nevertheless, His teachings would of necessity always be on the highest ethical and spiritual plane, always aiming at the transformation of the lives of His students. Such student souls who learned from the Great Teacher would be instrumental in revitalising the world.

Adi Dev is the story of the first phase of this historic event. Read it with an open mind. Your decision as to the reality of God's present activities on Earth as told in this book may be the most important decision you ever make.

R. Shubow

Diwali, 1982

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION

A Divine Biography

Within the covers of this book is woven a unique life story. It is a story full of heart, a simple revelation of unparalleled importance. Read it carefully. The story you are about to begin is really a double biography because, within the body of the man who earned the name of Prajapita Brahma (the Father of Humanity) was not one soul, but two. This is the actual true story of the incarnation and descent of God, the Spiritual Father, into the corporeal world.

In the beginning, this is the story of an ordinary man and yet an unusual man. A successful self-made businessman, a family man, a pillar of his community. His many friends all called him Dada (elder brother) as a sign of endearment. Even his business acquaintances grew quickly to respect him and to call him by this name. But after the descent of God into his body, he was given a different name, one befitting his new role Prajapita Brahma, or Adi Dev, the first deity. He is remembered by the name of Brahma Baba, or simply Baba (Father). God has revealed to us the past and future lives of this soul and it is thus clear how wonderful an individual he really was.

This is the story of Brahma Baba's last life-a life full of integrity and humility, even to the most casual observer. Truly, he was a fitting instrument to serve as the corporeal medium of the Highest Soul of all.

Above all, Brahma Baba's uniqueness was not merely in possessing the highest virtues but also in his ability to bring out those same virtues in the souls with whom he came in contact. Even just reading his biography our own lives may be changed, for Brahma Baba presents us with the inspiring spectacle of a man who proved it is possible to become perfect, to become master over the mind and emotions, to take charge of one's own destiny. It is a priceless story, indeed.

BK Jagdish Chander

FOREWARD

Many biographies have been written about 'special people, those who have achieved success in one endeavour or another or gained some variety of worldly power. This book is about one who achieved quite another sort of success.

This book is the story of a man into whose life there came the greatest wonder of all time, an occurrence of such extraordinary magnitude that it brought about sudden and total transformation - not only of the life of one individual but of everyone who came into contact with him. The absolute surprise of this event is something which no thinking person can ever forget or, for that matter, would ever want to.

We are speaking of the arrival of the One Incorporeal God into the physical world. Why God chose to come when He did, and where, and how He is even now going about His task of creating the kingdom of heaven, are questions that this story addresses. The answers to all these questions and more are a part of the story we have to tell - the story of Prajapita Brahma, Adi Dev.

By offering his life completely to God- surrendering his body, mind and wealth Brahma Baba received in turn everything which God has to offer and certainly there is no treasure to compare with that. God's wealth is unlimited and His generosity unequalled, and He makes the same offer of His inheritance to all His children who love Him. He brings the gift of knowledge, of truth and, the key to eternal happiness. He has come to rid us of our weaknesses and to make us into kings. He has come to replace the present sorrowful world order with a world of happiness, paradise on earth. And when God sets out to do something, you may rest assured He will not fail. This is thus a unique moment in world history, the only time throughout the entire kalpa (cycle of time) when God is active on earth. So if one misses the opportunity now of establishing a loving relationship with the Supreme Father, there can be no greater tragedy.

God is of course bodiless. He is a point of Light, a Divine Star, who dwells in the Supreme Abode, beyond the limits of the physical universe. This region has many names the Soul World, Brahmlok, Nirvana, Shantidham. It is the original home of all of us, before we came down and took bodies to play our roles in this cosmic drama. God alone never undergoes the process of birth and rebirth. Even when He finally arrives to perform His miraculous deed of transforming the world into heaven, He does not take birth in the ordinary way. Rather, God takes a body on loan, the body of a man who is already at the age of retirement, so as not to interfere with that man's life. He takes and uses an experienced individual, an honest, God-loving and very intelligent individual, one who could appreciate the meaning of God's words and act upon them.

But who is this unique soul, who serves as God's medium? Why has the whole world not yet heard of him? The fact is, the kingdom of God is presently being established in an incognito way by a gathering of souls committed to removing their own vices of greed, anger, attachment, arrogance, and lust and thus becoming harbingers of the coming kingdom of peace and happiness. The world to come will be characterised, not only by external calm, but by the natural soul- consciousness of its inhabitants, completely virtuous, united, non- violent individuals... in a word, deities.

This world to come is the same golden age which Earth experienced some 5,000 years in the past (for time is a circle) and out of which the many legends of gods and goddesses sprang up in the different cultures of the world. It was the period before the fall of man. It is the very same kingdom of God yearned for so fervently in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The pendulum has swung in these 5,000 years from that perfect land of deities to the present corrupt and degraded world of human beings at war with themselves and each other beings who have, in their sorrow, called out to God to come and purify them, to bring about liberation and salvation. God, the Supreme Soul, has responded to humanity's desperate call and at this very moment the dissemination of God's knowledge is taking place before the gates of heaven open.

Here, then, is the account of the man who became the chariot of God, the first ascended angel who will take birth as the first deity of the new world. Of all this, we are witness with our own eyes.

Most wonderful of all, perhaps, is the insight that we have been granted into the personality of the One Incorporeal God, Shiva, whose very name means the Supreme Benefactor, the Completely Selfless Server. For Shiv Baba has come to create the kingdom, yet He shall not enter it Himself. He is the Seed of the human world tree but He does not taste of its fruit.

.

Dada Lekhraj

As a devotee, before becoming the medium of Shiva

PART ONE :

THE CHARIOT OF GOD

THE SINDH COMMUNITY

Οur story begins in the mid 1930s, in Sindh, a region of north- western India. At that time religious practice among the Hindus had degenerated from its once high level. The sustained impact of Western attitudes had changed the quality of life. The whole fabric of Sindhi culture had become less refined.

Their food and drink, for instance, was once of the sattvic (purest) type. Fresh vegetarian meals were prepared in the spirit of devotion and eaten in remembrance of the deities in large, yet close-knit, family gatherings. But this refined tradition had gradually eroded as people began to eat meat and acquire habits of quick, inattentive and uncontrolled eating.

People continued to perform their traditional worship but the ceremonies became empty of their once exalted meaning. Men's minds were filled with the greed for money, the hunger for status. Trickery became the order of the day in business dealings, angry reactions and exchanges were commonplace, speech shifted from subjects of goodness and spirituality to talk about worldly desires. New customs of buying useless and expensive items purely for show developed and of holding costly but meaningless celebrations.

These customs began to erode a society acknowledged to be previously full of ancient cultural wisdom. Such degradation was a sign not recognised at the time as other, younger cultures were also evolving in similar ways. But it was a sign that the world was entering its final upheaval of unrest before the process of renewal could begin.

Who was there to guide the people back to the path of wholesomeness? Certainly not the politicians; nor the British rulers, who exploited rather than uplifted the people; nor the native royalty; nor the sincere, but limited, social and political reformers who strove for the freedom of India from the British, but had little to offer by way of achieving freedom from corruption and vice.

What about the religious leaders? Priests, pundits and preachers gave no knowledge that could bring peace of mind, good character or pure life to families who looked to them for guidance. Rather, they had become mere readers of scriptures, performing empty ceremonies and taking money from people. Many even passed themselves off as God, or convinced their gullible followers that God was everywhere. Such destroyed the intellects of the people, banishing all higher purpose in life. If we are already part of God, what is there to strive for? Such thinking was the natural result of the corruption of spirituality, and so the life of the people was derailed.

Outwardly, the community prospered. The men of Sindh worked hard and grew rich, but peacefulness and order were missing from their lives. False progress eroded the traditional values of their fathers. Passion and suffering emerged where there had once been calm. Outward show and a superficial and indulgent social environment measured the quality of life.

The position of women was particularly degraded, especially after marriage. Mothers were treated as mere domestic servants and as playthings whose purpose was to satisfy the sexual desires of their husbands. Even if the man were clearly of an inferior sort, a drunkard, an eater of meat and fish, still, according to custom, it was the wife's duty to consider that 'the husband was God'. He was her guru. Divorce was out of the question.

Women were excluded from getting an education. A wife had to cover her face with a veil, she lived her life imprisoned within the four walls of her husband's home, a lifelong servant in his family's midst, her hours taken up by the drudgery of cooking, cleaning, washing clothes for the clan to whom she was in bondage. And the women suffered. They knew quite well that they were prisoners, that the men held all the keys.

Women had no right to engage in religious preaching, nor were they entitled to become sannyasis (renunciates) and remain in celibacy. For them there was no escape from the life sentence of marriage.

The Sindh women were not alone in experiencing oppression. World wars, civil wars, the genocide of minorities and the mindless and greedy exploitation of the environment, were growing like a cancer on the planet. But the root of all this upheaval lay in the bitter sleep of ignorance of humanity. There seemed to be no glimmer of real spiritual knowledge. This was a dark period indeed.

A COMMON BUT SPECIAL PERSONALITY

In this bewildering atmosphere lived one individual of the Sindh community, in the city of Hydrabad, who was very different from the rest. He was called by the name Dada, his full name was Dada Lekhraj.

Though by birth he was an ordinary man, Dada was full of many special qualities. When present among a throng of people, his charisma attracted attention at once and one felt the natural humility and sincerity of his nature. Even more, one felt the strength of his character and the magnetic attraction of his eyes.

He was always clean, fresh, and simply dressed. His way of living, his gentlemanly manner, and his true spiritual devotion won him friends everywhere. Dada's worth was recognized by the whole community of Sindhis. He had often proven to be a rock, a symbol of solidity and dependability in the shifting sands of an unstable world.

Though born in a middle class family Dada rose quickly in his profession through hard work and honesty, combined with cleverness and a focused intellect, to achieve a position among the wealthy and become one of the richest men in India. Even more unusual, he was one of the few men with whom everyone was satisfied: his family, friends, neighbours, his business contacts too. It is a rare individual who is truly dear to others, not merely useful to them, and who in turn has an equal amount of love for them. Dada Lekhraj was such a person.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Dada Lekhraj was born in 1876 in Sindh to the Kripalani family, who were devotees of the Valabhacharya sect of what is called the Hindu religion¹.

Dada's father was a schoolmaster by profession, but his son decided early not to follow in his father's footsteps. Dada began his own career in a small way as a merchant of wheat and he saved all he could from his meagre earnings. When he had set aside sufficient funds to embark on a more ambitious enterprise, he entered the diamond trade. Almost by instinct, he developed great expertise in discriminating the value of different gems. In a very short time, his reputation grew and his business became more and more profitable. In time, rajas and maharajas of the native states of India, as well as the British Viceroy, became his clients and his friends.

The King of Nepal and the King of Valaipur treated him as an honoured guest. He was invited to all court functions and was afforded the utmost respect. In this connection, one of Dada's daughters-in-law, a woman named Radhika (later to become BK² Dadi Brijindraji³), a member of the king's circle in Bombay at the time, and has now for many years been the person in charge of the Brahma Kumaris University in that area, writes the following recollection:

"The kings who came in contact with Dada had so much trust in him that they gave him permission to enter their palaces at will, without waiting for an invitation or even informing the king beforehand. Other businessmen had to give their articles to the king's representative and wait for a reply but, when Dada came, the Rajmata (Queen Mother) herself would call him in to show the diamonds to her daughters and daughters-in-law. All those who lived in the royal palace (Rajmahel) of the kings knew of Dada's religious faith, his pure nature and conduct. Many times kings used to tell him, 'It is God's mistake that He made us kings but not you, because all kingly qualities and powers are in you'. In fact, God had not made a mistake, because those kings were kings in name only, while God was to inspire Dada to make such spiritual effort that he would earn divine kingship.

"The respect which the kings gave to Dada was unprecedented. They sent him special invitations, and gave him a reserved seat of honour in the court. Once, by invitation, we (Dada's family) were all staying with the king of Valaipur in his palace. There was to be a great court function that day. When it began, Dada was sitting in the gallery opposite the king. The king saw that Dada's family were not with him (Dada's wife, Jashoda, had decided to receive the blessings of a visiting saint, Shri Nathji, and was to come to the celebration later). The king had such respect for Dada that he ordered the proceedings halted until we had all gathered. The king had sent his prime minister with a special invitation to call upon us. When we arrived, the king greeted us with a tremendous reception; a band appeared and music played for us and we were ceremonially installed in our places of honour in the gallery. Later, the king even arranged for a carriage to be sent for our use to make another visit to Shri Nathji, since he knew we wanted to spend more time with him. The driver of the carriage remarked to us that he had never before seen such an honor accorded any other guest. The functions of the court were simply never stopped like that."

Dada did not have much formal education but, by studying on his own, he had achieved a fine command of the Sindhi language. He also studied philosophic and religious texts written in Hindi. He was well versed in the Gurumukhi and Guru Granth Saheb scriptures. In addition, he was a fluent reader of English. Moreover, Dada possessed the special art of letter writing. His style was brief but accurate and filled with memorable images. He had a refined appreciation of literature and art, a taste for the captured moment, the realization, the glimpse of truth in any form. In his business career, he was gifted in creating new designs in jewellery, never copying the work of another.

DEVOTION AND DISCIPLINE

From his childhood, Dada was a great devotee of Narayan. He was so fond of remembering this deity king — whom he thought to be a form of God - that he used to keep pictures of Narayan in his hall of worship, in his bedroom under his pillow, in his vault in his office, and in his pocket, so that whatever he did and wherever he was, he could see the figure of that divine being.

In the bazaars through which Dada passed, color pictures were sold of Narayan. Sometimes the pictures would show Narayan in a supine posture with Lakshmi, his queen, massaging his legs as though she were a maid. Dada did not like this picture. Surely, he thought, such an idea could not enter the mind of such a deity king. Dada felt that the capacity of women was not one iota less than that of men and that it was ridiculous to treat them less than equally. Such were his feelings that he sought to find the painter of the offending pictures and commissioned him to re-paint them to show the equal elevation of the divine couple.

Dada's devotion was consistent and fearless. Whether in the midst of a business deal, or in some domestic function, when the time came to perform his worship, he never missed the opportunity. He excused himself from others if necessary but never made excuses to himself. Even while travelling he read the prescribed chapter from the Shrimad Bhagvad Gita. Dada believed in the Gita implicitly. In describing Dada's faith and his worship, his daughter-in-law, BK Dadi Brijindraji, writes as follows:

"The maharajas, the wealthy clients, and the business leaders with whom Dada was in contact used to visit him as his guests, and their arrival often coincided with the time Dada had to do his puja (worship). But Dada would not postpone or cut short these religious activities. Moreover, he would not compromise his style of living. His way of eating, for example, was sattvic (pure). At Dada's dinner parties, no alcohol or cigarettes would ever be allowed. His VIP guests were unaccustomed to such simplicity. and they used to joke that 'Dada's parties are certainly without flair'. Dada would reply with a gleam in his eye and a slight laugh, 'Shall we spoil our religion for your sake? You only give us paper notes, and in return we give you diamonds. They used to laugh, hearing this."

Dada also put aside time to go on pilgrimages. He visited Thandura, Amarnath, Prayag, Vrindavan, and Kashi. He often invited wandering sadhus and sannyasis to be his houseguests overnight. He enjoyed conversing with them on their religious understanding. Always, Dada was bursting with life. He was a happy man. He had great faith in his own gurus (religious teachers), and he used to spend thousands of rupees holding receptions for them. He gave tremendous importance to the commands of the guru. BK Dadi Brijindraji has several illuminating reminiscences about this:

"In those days, Dada had great faith in his guru. Once the guru came to his house with a big crowd of students. Dada welcomed them all with great love. He had so much devotion and concern for their happiness that he ordered boxes full of bottles of rosewater, and in the morning and the evening the scent was sprinkled about the resting rooms. Dada himself used to sprinkle the rosewater, and he would light an incense stick as well.

"He didn't wish the guru be disturbed during his period of rest. 'Not even a stray dog should interfere with the guru's sleep,' he felt. Dada paid someone, especially to perform the duty of guarding the guru's rest.

"Though there were no mangos in season at that time of year, still Dada hunted ceaselessly until he located some, because he knew the guru liked them. He always brought the mangos without fail, though they cost him a small fortune per fruit.

"Dada obeyed even the slightest command of his guru, regardless of the circumstance. Once, on the occasion of the name-giving ceremony for his grandchild, to which many famous personalities had been invited, Dada suddenly received a wire from his guru that there was some urgent work for him and to come soon. Dada told his wife, Jashoda, to call off dinner and prepare his clothes because he had to go. Jashodaji could not believe it. 'How can you go away on such an occasion?' Dada then said, 'To hear words coming from the guru is like hearing words from the Lord of Death. If Death comes, could I tell him to wait by saying that today is the day of the naming of my grandchild?'

"Jashodaji gathered the family and we made phone calls to all friends and those invited, explaining that Dada had to leave town suddenly for some special reason. And what had been the guru's 'urgent work', as it turned out? He wanted Dada to give ten thousand rupees to one of his students who had lost all his money gambling!"

The stories about Dada's charitable activities were well-known, although he did have a strong competitor within his own family. One of his uncles, Mulchand Arala, an ivory merchant, was famous as a donor to the poor. Often Dada would go to his uncle's home and sit beside him, and together they would hand out their money to the lines of people in need of help. In this philanthropy, Dada was a full partner with his uncle.

DADA'S DEVOTION

Dada's religious devotion and his right-minded thoughts were mature and powerful, whatever the occasion. When his daughters and nieces married, he held for each of them a ceremony, called Paharamani in which clothes and household items would be given to new in-laws, but Dada gave them diamonds, ornaments of gold inset with precious stones, and other beautiful jewellery worth tens of thousands of rupees. In addition, he gave a copy of the Shrimad Bhagvad Gita within a temple made of silver, as his special gift. He used to also call his guru at the time of such a marriage ceremony, and the occasion would be transformed into a satsang (religious gathering), concluding the marital event on a note of spirituality.

Now, Dada was a millionaire and a member of an old and well-established family. Having attained such a status, it was expected that he would marry his daughters into equally wealthy and renowned houses. Instead, when the time came for one of his daughters (nicknamed 'Puttu') to marry, he chose for her a young headmaster (whose name was 'Bodhraj') of the local school. The schoolmaster came from an ordinary family, while Dada's daughter was beautiful, intelligent, and rich. Dada could have had his pick of the most eligible bachelors in India for his daughter to marry, but he himself greatly respected Bodhraj because he was a religious man. Puttu had picked up much of the wisdom of her father and understood the value of having a spiritual man for a husband. In fact, the headmaster had earned the title 'YogiRaj' within the community, thanks to his untiring love for meditation, and that is why Dada took this step, despite the criticism he knew he would encounter. He wanted to assure his daughter of an atmosphere of continuing devotion even after she left his house. Dada knew that having money without inner peace would create unrest while, even if there were no money, a peaceful household would always be a haven.

There was a great uproar in Dada's family when he announced the match. It became a topic of controversy in every gathering. Why had Dada spoiled the family dynasty by marrying his daughter to such an outsider, one who acts more like a sannyasi (renunciate) than a householder? In the end, though, everyone realised Dada's decision was best. In fact, all the members of Dada's family were devoted to high ideals. Their possession of great wealth had not corrupted them.

The occasion of the marriage between Puttu and Bodhraj has been depicted for us by one of the eyewitnesses to the event, BK Dadi Manoharindraji, who is now a main teacher with the Brahma Kumaris in Madhuban, Mt Abu, the spiritual university headquarters.

"I had seen Dadaji and his family many a time. One of Dadaji's houses was near my house. One of his sons, Narayan, studied with my brother. When the marriage of Puttu and Bodhraj was announced I was invited to attend, and of course I did. One of the specialties of the occasion was that there was no shouting or loud noise or worldliness at all. It felt almost like a vision, as if it were the marriage of a goddess and a deity. It was like an oasis of peace in the midst of the Kalyug⁴. I was most impressed by that scene. The thought arose in my mind that I did not like the ordinary people of today, people who were full of ego, but I certainly liked the pure life lived so gracefully by the family of Dada."

Graceful, and seemingly always in motion, that was Dada Lekhraj. He had his diamond shop in Calcutta, and he also conducted business in Bombay. He owned houses in both cities as well as a residence in Hydrabad. At all three places, he lived at ease as the head of his family, a man at the height of his powers. And he was happy.

It was the custom in India for men with religious inclinations as powerful as Dada's, to go away to the forest and live as renunciates. But though Dada's devotion to God was deep and unwavering, he never entertained the idea of leaving home for the seclusion of a Vanprastha ashram⁵.

At last, when Dada turned sixty years of age, his wife Jashoda said, "Now we ought to go away, to some lonely spot and accept the Vanprastha life."

Dada thought this over. "Wait," he said, "I have earned so many hundreds of thousands of rupees. Let me double the amount of our savings and then we shall become Vanprasthis." His idea was to work for two to four years more and then to give his great wealth in donation to the needy and to spend his final years in devotion.

But as the proverb states, "Man proposes, God disposes, for suddenly, something happened in Dada's mind. All worldly attachment dropped away. He began to receive indescribable experiences within himself. From that point on, Dada wanted only to be left alone. He spent his time in contemplation and thinking.

THE GRACE OF DIVINE KNOWLEDGE

Οne day, while Dada was sitting in the back hall of his bungalow with a group of fellow disciples of his guru, he began to get another strange experience. He recognised these unique inner sensations now as the onset of a spiritual encounter but still he knew neither their cause nor purpose. He experienced a sense of heightened perception, a new clarity of mind and vision. A powerful intuitive grasp of reality was growing in him. He went to his own room to get away from the company of his visitors. As he sat alone, absorbed in the incomprehensible manifestations of a new level of being, he was filled with a divine intoxication. He had gone beyond all consciousness of his body, he was pure soul, pure light, afloat in an ocean of bliss.

Then he had a revelation - a vision of the four-armed form of Vishnu⁶.

Dada thought the appearance of this vision had been given by the grace of his guru, so when the experience was over, with joy he went to the guru and lovingly described the entire experience. But as he was talking, he realised from the guru's blank expression that this man had no knowledge of what he had just gone through and that to give such an experience was actually beyond the guru's power.

And so, Dada's mind turned toward the Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul, the Incorporeal One. He realised at last that there is only one Satguru (Guru of Truth) and that is God Himself. Only the One God can be the Giver of grace, the Bestower of divine perception and divine intellect. Any human who calls himself God, or claims that God is omnipresent, is in fact an imposter. It was God who had sent him that shimmering vision of Vishnu. Dada felt that clearly. What he still had to know was-why?

GOD AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD

Some days later, Dada went to another location on business and he took the opportunity to stay with a friend. He was walking through the grounds of the friend's house when he suddenly remembered a spot where he used to come to practice devotion. Sitting there now, among the groves of trees, he again became detached from worldly matters. He was remembering God. And once again, he felt himself becoming light, leaving his body far behind. He understood that his previous experiences were not flukes, not mere flashes that would cease and leave him as he was before. Rather, a seed had been planted and it was growing, continually growing inside of him. He was skillfully being prepared, through a series of successively deeper revelations, to receive the full truth, the absolute knowledge of God, the Supreme Soul.

Dada remained for some time in this place and every day he went to sit there among the trees and think about God. He would have new revelations on each occasion, divine experiences of many varieties, pieces of a fantastic jigsaw puzzle which he knew was his task to put together.

During this time, Dada wrote home a number of extraordinary letters, from which it was evident that something amazing, something unprecedented, was happening to him. Either he was going mad or - was it possible he was actually receiving revelations from God! BK Dadi Brijindraji writes about this period:

"Dada wrote in one of his letters, "There is an abundance of wealth, abundance of wealth. I am trying to get it (the meaning), trying to get it'. In the next letter, he wrote, 'Got the key, I got it, I got it! In this manner he wrote five letters to us. During those days, Dada received such divine experiences that his letters seemed to vibrate in our hands; we could feel his exalted condition. In the end, he wrote, 'Whatever was to be attained, I now have. Now, what remains to be achieved?"

Finally, the day came. Dada received a double revelation and the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place. First a vision of Jyotirlingam Shiva Paramatma (the Supreme Soul, whose eternal form is a Point of Light) and then, a terrifying vision of the destruction of the world as we know it.

The vision of Shiva (God) clinched his understanding of his own identity. The Supreme Soul is a Point of Light and His children are made in His image. Thus all of us are truly just such tiny forms, sparks of conscient light. Only we, the children, take bodies and play out our roles on the stage of the physical world, while Shiva remains in His eternal form. And by taking birth and rebirth, we forget ourselves, while Shiva knows the entire cosmic play. He watches as, life after life, the souls decline, their energies decrease and they begin to act selfishly towards one another. Then, before the end. He comes to lift His children to perfection once again. But what kind of end is it that is about to come and what sort of new beginning?

In his vision Dada witnessed destruction. He saw that very powerful bombs would be manufactured and fired in a war between America and Russia. He saw guided missiles with warheads of such devastating potency that whole regions of the earth would burn up in a moment. Gigantic fireballs, cities in flame, unbearable storms of fire raging everywhere. Dada understood that these were to be the same weapons used 5,000 years ago in the Great Mahabharat War, weapons described in the ancient scriptures as fire arrows Brahmastras and moosals (missiles) and that this same war was about to be re-enacted. Dada saw that, by this war, Europe and America would be entirely destroyed.

When he received this vision, America had not yet dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Russia and the US were then friendly countries and Germany and Japan were united against them. But in the vision that God presented to him, it was clear that these two countries would be enemies and the world war, which they would start, would be the last. For there would be no one left to even bury the dead. A world of corpses.

As a result of this destruction, souls who would unexpectedly become disembodied, would fly upward in their millions, like a swarm of fireflies in the cosmic night, upward to the soul world, the Supreme Abode. Only a tiny handful of people would remain alive on earth.

Dada saw that not only the population of Europe, Russia, and America would be devastated but that destruction would also strike in China, Africa, India and the Middle East. In those areas, death would come slower, through wars and civil wars, culminating in an awesome wave of natural catastrophes floods and tidal waves, earthquakes of unbelievable magnitudes, volcanoes erupting, storms of every kind wreaking havoc on the scarred face of the earth. Dada began to tremble uncontrollably as he witnessed the scenes of this great worldwide destruction. Humans and animals running wildly about, trying to save their lives, to escape from the jaws of death. But there would be no escape. The fire would devour them all.

And now, Dada could see great rains pouring down, waves of rushing water filling the streets, covering the houses. Somewhere, buildings toppling in a tremor, vast cuts opening up in the ground. The angry earth swallowing up people. On all sides the uproar shattering - wails of pain and horror, rivers of blood, panic and desperation and then, death. The silent aftermath.

Dada, who had never in his life shed a tear, was weeping, "Oh God, please stop this, please stop this!" he cried. "What terrible destruction! Please, now show me your other side, your beautiful form."

WITHDRAWAL FROM BUSINESS

Everything was now changed for Dada. He could no longer apply his mind to the diamond business. It simply held no interest. He decided to wind up his affairs and so he travelled to Calcutta. Не had owned his shop there for so many years and yet now it all looked so strange to him, so pointless. He walked down the aisles of his jewellery warehouse, looking at the trays filled with glittering diamonds, millions of dollars worth of gems, gleaming symbols of wealth and he felt that they were simply stones, worthless chunks of mineral. He shook his head, "This is a meaningless business".

Dada, approaching his partner, spoke quietly, "Please release me from this business."

The partner's jaw dropped. He was somewhat shaken, for he was well aware that it was Dada who was the moving force behind the firm's success. If Dada were to leave, the partner thought, there would be many difficulties. He asked what reasons lay behind Dada's decision and how much of a share he would ask for to be bought out.

Dada gently consoled the man, "I am leaving because I need to be free. I feel that this business is a lie and so I am going. I have received a message from God that this kalyng (iron age) world will be destroyed, so I want to use this money in Godly service. I will not ask to go through all the accounts. Just make the settlement as you think fair."

Dada wanted to get back to his meditations as soon as possible, but the partner wanted to go through the books together with him, so Dada agreed to stay. However, their accounting was soon interrupted by a knock at the door.

We mentioned before that Dada had an uncle, Mulchand Arala, known to everyone as Kaka Mulchand, a great philanthropist. Together, he and Dada used to dispense the donations. Just as Dada was beginning to clear the accounts with his business partner in Calcutta, a messenger came into the office with a wire from Sindh that Kaka Mulchand was ill. Dada left immediately without checking the accounts. Whatever letters and figures the partner's lawyers gave him, he accepted as true. Dada sent a wire home that basically said, "Dada received God-realisation and the partner received temporary royalty of worldly wealth." Then he boarded the train to visit his sick uncle. Dada's family were thoroughly confused. They couldn't believe he'd sold the business just like that. What had happened?

When he disembarked in Sindh, Dada Lekhraj was a completely changed man.

REALISATION OF THE PROCESS OF DEATH

Kaka Mulchand died before Dada was able to reach him. Some days later though, Dada had a vision. While sitting alone in his office Dada saw the moment of Kaka's death. He saw the soul take its leave of the body, exit through the forehead. He saw this life energy rise like mercury in a thermometer, moving up from the toes and finally concentrating in the head. Then in an instant, the soul departed. Dada now understood the process of death. Only the body died, he saw clearly. Not the soul.

Within a week of the vision of Kaka Mulchand's death, Dada received yet another revelation. This time he saw the deity Vishnu once again, who spoke these words, "I am the four-armed one, you are that." Afterwards, other visionary figures appeared Shri Krishna Jahanath, Badrinathji and Kedarnathji - one after another each saying the same thing. "You are that". Dada reached a state of great happiness because of these revelations. But how were they to be understood? He began thinking deeply about them.

During this period, Dada's guru showed up. Since Dada was still not quite sure what role the guru played in all these extraordinary experiences and, since the guru seemed the best human teacher he could rely on in such matters, he continued to treat him with the same respect as before. Dada arranged a large reception for him. Many people were sitting there. But the way Dada sat in their midst, the way he got up, in fact everything he did, was now completely different. Dada's body had not changed, but it was clear that his mind had become detached. The soul of Dada was receiving power from some unworldly source.

BK Dadi Brijindraji, who had the good fortune to be there, writes about what happened on the night of this gathering-

"The guru was lecturing, and Dada got up to leave. Never before had he done such a thing (for it was a sign of disrespect). My attention was drawn to Dada. I knew that something very powerful must have taken hold of him to make him act this way. I sent Jashodaji, his wife, to speak to him. Then I had the idea to go after him also. I went to Dada's room and sat down near him. Jashoda returned to hear the guru's lecture. I will never forget what happened next."

"I saw that the eyes of Dada had become completely red, as if a red light was glowing inside him. His whole face had become red and even the room was illuminated with a reddish, otherworldly glow. And then something began to happen inside me, too! I felt bodiless! How can I describe it? I was there and yet I wasn't. I was simply light. My mind felt clearer than it ever had been. I heard a sound from above. It was as if, through the mouth of Dada, someone else was speaking? That voice was so very quiet at first, then it grew louder and louder. It was stunning. Not frightening, but simply awe-inspiring. The voice spoke-

'Nijanand Rupam Shivoham Shivoham
Gyan Swarupam Shivoham Shivoham
Prakash Swarupam Shivoham Shivoham
Nijanand Swarup, Gyan Swarup, Prakash Swarup.'

Translation -

'I am the Blissful Self, I am Shiva;
I am Shiva I am the Knowledgeful Self, I am Shiva;
I am Shiva I am the Luminous Self, I am Shiva,
I am Shiva I am the Form of Self, the Form of Knowledge,
the Form of Light."

"To this day, I cannot forget that voice, nor that scene. The atmosphere was electric, more than real, and my experience of feeling as if I was without a body is still alive in my memory. As soon as Dada opened his eyes, he started looking around with great wonder. Whatever he had seen had jolted him to the core of his being. I asked him, 'Baba, what are you seeing?' He said, 'Do you know what that was?! It was Light! It was Power! And there was an altogether new world! There was someone, far away... there were many, they looked like stars and when the stars came down, they became princes and princesses! The Light and Power said to me, You have to make such a world. But he did not show how that world was to be made. How shall I be able to make such a world?'
"Who was that speaking to Dada? It was the Highest on High. I had witnessed the arrival of the Supreme Father, Supreme Soul - Shiva - in the body of Dada."
Dada fell into deep, deep thought. He immersed himself in the work of solving the mystery of this unparalleled event. "Who was that? What kind of power could give me such visions, such knowledge, such self- realisation?" Gradually he unravelled the logic and the implications of it all; the secret was unveiled to his astounded intellect. Yes, it was really so God, the Supreme Soul, Shiva, Himself, had entered his body. It was God who had revealed the truth about the coming destruction and of the establishment of the heavenly world that would then follow. And it was God Himself who had given the sign that he, Dada, was to be His medium and the engine for creating such a divine world.

THE TRUE GITA IS RE-CREATED

Dada was now having the experience that God was singing him His Gita (Song of Knowledge) inside him in a secret and indiscernible way. The inspiration of God's knowledge was increasing within him constantly and, at the same time, Dada was becoming stabilised in his new consciousness, experiencing ever more deeply the wonderful taste of self-realisation. His intellect was moving faster now, too. He began to churn over the ideas, over what the Mahavakyas (real great sayings) in the Gita of Bhagavan and their deep meaning were?

He received divine wisdom in response to all his questions and he understood firmly that the Gita was the only scripture in which God Himself speaks His Great Versions. But now Dada realised that the Bhagavad Gita, as it is presently read, is in a distorted and much diluted form due to errors and additions which had crept in since it was first delivered orally by God 5,000 years ago. The Gita scripture was not written down until two and a half thousand years later, after the fall of the deities who were created by hearing it in the first place!

But now Shiva was giving His knowledge again and making Dada realise its implications in practical form. The written Gita which Dada was reading every day became less and less relevant to such an extent, that very soon he detached from it entirely. Of what use was that old scripture, now that the real Gita was being sung to him by God Himself? Dada had the experience that he was Arjun and that God had entered the chariot of his body to give him the knowledge.

God Himself, in order to keep His promise, had come again in secret to fulfil the desires of His devotees. Dada felt that now, at last, he had the accurate knowledge of the self, of nature and, of God. He knew that his perishable physical body was simply one of many and was the last of a series which began 5,000 years ago as Krishna. And soon this world of sorrow would be replaced with a world of happiness once more and he would be reborn as baby Krishna, destined to rule in paradise. He was the first man, Adi Dev, who was being re-created in God's image. When the job was complete, he would be set down in the Garden of Eden. He, Dada, was the original Adam!

Once he had heard the secret voice of God, Dada began giving the knowledge to all his friends and relatives. When he revealed to them that they were souls, they were overjoyed, experiencing God's love as it poured directly from Dada's eyes. It was an experience so powerful that they were mesmerised. And Dada himself was utterly intoxicated. He used to say to people simply, "You are a soul." That was enough. He wrote it also, so it would not be forgotten, "I am a soul. Jashoda is a soul, Radhika is a soul..." He wrote it over and over until it became firmly fixed in their minds.

As others came in contact with him, they too became transfixed. Men and women, rich and poor, all felt the experience. It was as if their lives were re-awakened; they became self-realised. They experienced themselves as light. Along with this came peace of mind. Their worldly desires slipped away. They began to lead pure lives, pure in eating, drinking, speaking, behaving and thinking. In a remarkably short time after entering Dada's body - which God continued to borrow at regular intervals in order to teach - God had utterly transformed the lives of all who came close. He educated these souls untiringly and even as their numbers grew, He gave love like a father, a completely selfless parent, with equal love for all-patient, merciful and just. He also showed them rules and methods for making their lives as elevated and as valuable as they could possibly be. Shiv Baba was creating living diamonds.

PART TWO :

PERSONALITY OF THE SUPREME

THE BIRTH OF THE YAGYA

"Dear child, consider yourself a soul and remember Me." With these words, Shiv Baba, God, the Highest on High, sums up His teaching. But behind this simple phrase lies a limitless treasure of knowledge and experience. Each day, therefore, Shiv Baba would descend from the incorporeal world to explain another aspect, another unseen implication and, most of all, He would exemplify His words in very practical ways so that the lessons were truly understood by his 'sweet children'.

People everywhere are familiar with the expression 'God is love'. But how many have had the unparalleled good fortune to experience His limitless love directly? By entering the body of Dada He showed what it really means to be the loving Father. God raised His divine family with such meticulous care and attention that even the simplest soul could understand immediately that here, indeed, is the Ocean of Love.

When Shiv Baba entered Dada's body, he renamed that soul with the name Prajapita Brahma (father of the people Brahma). All those who heard the knowledge which Shiv Baba spoke through Brahma's mouth, became the mouth-born progeny, or Brahmins. And so, no matter what age they were, whether old mothers or teenagers, all who recognised Him became His 'sweet children'. They took the name 'Brahma Kumars and Brahma Kumaris', the pure sons and daughters of Brahma.

And so an institution was created, out of the love of souls for God; an institution of purification, a sacrificial fire called a Yagya⁷. And the Yagya grew and grew, as more and more souls heard and understood. Their hearts were caught up in the nature of the process which was going on - the world was actually being transformed before their eyes. It began with one soul, that of Prajapita Brahma, but soon four hundred souls had joined. Today, there are Brahmins in eighty- seven different countries who are purifying their nature and habits (sanskaras) and in the process are paving the way for the golden age, heralding the re-appearance of the royal dynasty of the sun.

The story of the birth of the Yagya is told in the following pages largely through the words of those who experienced those amazing times themselves, those who witnessed Shiv Baba's arrival, who renounced their worldly life and who underwent the testing that made the young company invincible.

World War III, the final war, the Great Mahabharat War, is of course yet to come.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SATSANG

Dada had stopped going out. His family, friends, and neighbours, young and old, used to sit near him and listen to the deep knowledge he spoke about the soul. His words had tremendous power and as his listeners churned over the extraordinary ideas in their minds, they became lighter and happier.

In a short time, word spread to more distant relatives and they also began to appear in the house. They immediately felt the charged vibrations in the atmosphere, vibrations of warmth and love and power, and they gradually comprehended that Dada had become the corporeal medium being used by God, to disseminate His knowledge.

Shiv Baba gave special attention to women because women were greatly oppressed by the social customs. He gave them encouragement and the power to overcome restrictive conditioning and to realise their full potential. Both men and women who came received visions, sometimes of Shri Krishna and the future establishment of the golden age and sometimes of the forthcoming destruction of the impure world of the iron age (kalyug).

The story of these visions spread rapidly. Soon everyone in the city had heard that if you sit in a satsang (spiritual gathering) with Dada, you would get a divine vision. Many came to see if it was true.

The newcomers did receive extraordinary and blissful experiences, but they thought that Dada was responsible. They did not realise that the Supreme Father Himself was behind this phenomenon and was speaking to them using Dada's mouth. Even Dada himself in the beginning wondered how these visions came about. Only later did it become clear to him.

Among those who came to the satsang was Rukhmini, a lady from a very wealthy family. Her father-in-law was prominent in the local community. Rukhmini was very unhappy at this time, for her husband had just died. Her friends convinced her that she might find solace at Dada's satsang. Hesitantly, she went there and sat before him and listened and immediately a change came over her. Dada's manner and his words filled her with new courage. She went home in a profound state of happiness, and she advised her family to return with her the next day. "Let us go to see Om⁸ Baba⁹," she said, "He has secret powers. There is nectar in his speech. He has given me peace. His head shines with a divine aura and there is such power in his drishti (the look which was seen in his eyes), that even a disturbed soul feels blissful in his presence."

When they saw what a transformation had come over her, Rukhmini's relatives became interested. Gopi, one of her daughters, went to the next satsang with her. Immediately on seeing 'Om Baba' she felt that she was in the presence of God. The Supreme Soul had come secretly into the body of Baba. However, to a true seeker, He could not remain secret for long.

Gopi experienced many visions, including the realisation of herself as a pinpoint of light. She felt that she had become a gopi (a lover of God) indeed, and she had found the One whom she had always sought. She became known as Didi Manmohini and, along with Dadi Prakashmani, she became a co-administrator of the Brahma Kumaris until she left the body in July 1983.

KNOWLEDGE LEADS TO SAMADHI

So many men and women received powerful experiences at Baba's satsang, which came to be called Om Mandali, that it is impossible to recount them all. But the following recollection of BK Dadi Hirdaya Pushpaji reflects many of the experiences-

"Since childhood, I remember that whenever I heard news of a marriage among any of my relatives, I experienced unhappiness, yet I had no idea why I felt that way. And as the day of my own arranged marriage approached, I found myself constantly weeping. The desire to lead a spiritual life, always latent in me, came closer and closer to the surface of my consciousness.

"Finally the day of my marriage arrived and I felt as if it were the day of my death. But there was no escape. Fortunately, my husband proved to be of a spiritual nature and he had no feeling of lust in his mind. So we lived together peacefully. When he became ill, I took care of him faithfully, like a nurse. But never in my life was there any thought of sex between husband and wife.

"Despite medical treatment and complete attention, my husband's condition worsened. He left his body six months after our wedding. My parents were depressed. I was also unhappy, for a short time ago I had been a carefree, unmarried girl and now people would look upon me as a widow. My brother had died young also and my parents had not got over that shock yet. He had been the star of their eyes. Now they were even more downcast. Looking at their despair increased my own unhappiness. The news of our grief reached many people in Hydrabad, form you have?'

"As Baba spoke, I went into another state of consciousness. I forgot this body altogether. I saw myself as a dot of light, flying up and up, into realms of limitless joy. I sat for nearly two hours in that state of natural samadhi (trance).

"When I came down again, Baba called me and asked, 'Who are you?' I said, 'I am a soul. Baba asked again, 'Now are you happy or unhappy?' I said, 'I am one peaceful, happy soul. There is no one as happy as I am. Baba asked, 'Is the world happy or unhappy?" I said, 'It is happy. Baba laughed and then said, 'All right, remember, remember and make today's lesson your own. Tomorrow I will teach you another lesson.'

"At that moment, without thinking, I started singing a song:

You spoke one word and I was awakened,
My heart has arisen from the deepest sleep.
I know who I am now, a soul in a body,
From this house of matter I know how to fly.

In one single moment, you made me a yogi,
You took me up to the highest home.
I am the soul, this body is matter.
I am eternal, this body must burn.
By giving me knowledge, you sat me on a high throne;
You showed me the way to purity.
You sat me on a high throne,
You showed me the pure path,
You awakened me from the deepest sleep.

"I had been weeping when I went to see Baba but now I was going home laughing in divine intoxication. When I arrived home I told my mother of what had happened. She could see that a change had come over me. I looked at her sad face and said, 'Why do you weep? The soul is indestructible, eternal. You are that peaceful form. My mother felt new energy on hearing this. Her despair momentarily evaporated. She told me to go every day to hear Baba speak knowledge and then to tell her all about it when I came back home. One day soon after, I told Baba about my mother and her unhappiness. Baba said, 'All right, I will come to see her. That very moment, Baba got up to go. He came to our house and met my mother.

"As soon as her eyes fell on him, she went into a trance, realising her self's true nature. She had a vision of the four-armed deity, Vishnu. A beautiful expression of peace came on her face. She stayed completely engrossed in meditation for a long time. After coming down again, she smiled so sweetly at Baba and he gently explained the knowledge to her."

In this way, many people received lasting peace of mind. They experienced that God had come to dispel unhappiness and to establish true inner peace.

SOCIAL REFORMATION

In those days, it was the custom in Sindh that when anyone died, women of the family were to wear black clothes and spend their days in ritual weeping. Hirdaya Pushpa's mother was caught in this same web of tradition, but after meeting Brahma Baba and experiencing the spiritual knowledge, she was able to put aside those burdens of social restraint. She overcame her shyness and her sense of limitation and broke away from all the rather dehumanising customs which Indian women were subjected to. She threw out the dirty clothes she had been wearing and began to live in freedom and happiness.

Many women who listened to Brahma Baba's liberating message found the courage to adopt these reforms. Overnight, they changed their outlook radically and sent shock waves through their families by displaying so much personal power over their own lives. It was an unheard of development in that custom-bound land.

Some women who had come under western influence previously had adopted the habit of wearing fashionable European clothes and ornaments, jewellery and make-up. These women were living lives of leisure and were the envy of many in the community. But now many of them also came in contact with Brahma Baba and realised that they had been moving in the wrong direction. Fashion was not freedom and indulgence did not bring happiness. Nor did others' envy bring any satisfaction. Those who realised the deep truth which Brahma Baba spoke gave up their attachment to finery and idleness. With Brahma Baba's guidance and spiritual help their dress and lifestyle became simple once again.

The people of Sindh were amazed at the results and a general feeling of respect for Om Mandali grew in the community. Habits and social customs which were recognised to be bad - but which no one had been able to change were overturned by this spiritual knowledge. Personal problems that people had experienced throughout their lives were resolved with Brahma Baba's help. No wonder, then, that the fame of Om Mandali spread and many families began to send their daughters there for the satsang.

OM RADHE

One girl stood out from all the rest. She took the message completely to her heart. Because of this total dedication, she transformed herself into one of the world's most extraordinary personalities.

Her name was Radha, and they called her Om Radhe. She was discreet, compassionate and virtuous and her intellect was very powerful. She was able to digest the knowledge as no one else could, revising it in her mind and bringing out its many subtle implications.

In college also, she had always been first in her class. Now she was able to mobilise all her intellectual resources in the service of God and she became Brahma Baba's right hand in the work of the upliftment of society. From the moment she first heard Brahma Baba speak the knowledge, she instantly recognised that here was the true meaning of life.

Om Radhe was also one of the sweetest of singers and here are some words from one of her early songs when she first encountered the institution.

O friends, what shall I show you?
And how can I show you what I saw,
What I saw in Om Mandali?
O friends how can I describe such joy?
The voice of Om,
Like an arrow, pierced my mind,
And calm and quiet I became,
And all my troubles, all my stories,
All my sorrows died away.

Before Om Radhe started coming to the satsang, or had ever met Brahma Baba, her presence had been pre-cognised. Once in a vision, Jashodaji, Baba's wife, experienced that Radhe would be Empress Lakshmi in the future and that she, Jashoda, would give her the kingdom. Once Radhe arrived the meaning of that vision became clear. For Radhe quickly became a storehouse of knowledge and energy and so her name was changed to Jagadamba Saraswati, the world mother, the goddess of knowledge.

FAMILY REACTIONS

Brahma Baba did his best to interest his own relatives in taking Shiv Baba's knowledge, believing that 'charity begins at home'. People from all over the country were arriving to witness God's descent and receiving many spiritual experiences so why should his own relatives not take benefit of this event? He could not let them pass up such a great opportunity without making an effort.

Baba's wife and daughter-in-law had always been religiously minded and had always had the highest respect for Baba. They knew without doubt that someone else was regularly taking over Baba's body and speaking through his mouth. And the power which that other personality was exerting was so intense, the guidance offered so high and noble, the language so poetic, the ideas so liberating, that it was clear to them that this could be none other than Shiva, the Supreme Soul, God.

They did their best to follow His directions. They practised stabilising themselves in soul-consciousness. They made continuous efforts to integrate in their minds the various points of knowledge. They constantly worked on improving their level of virtue and detachment. Finding them well set on the right path, Baba's attention turned to his older daughter.

Before Shiv Baba's arrival, Brahma Baba had married her into a wealthy Sindhi family. Now, after acquiring the knowledge, he felt he had made a mistake tying her down into a relationship. He felt that it was his duty to show her the way of the knowledge.

Here is what this daughter, who is known as BK Dadi Nirmal Shanta¹⁰ has to say about the experience -

"Before becoming God's instrument, my father's life was really already full of princely decorum and devotion. So Baba gave me in marriage to a person who was wealthy and of great prestige, the Mukhi¹¹ of the city.

"There was nothing lacking in my father-in-law's house, as far as worldly happiness was concerned. Before I married, when I still lived with Baba, I was also happy and, completely carefree. Baba never allowed us to feel that anything was lacking and he brought us up with great love and attention. I did not realise how much until later. Yet I had never had any attraction for puja or worship. I had everything, so what should I pray for? But once the Supreme Father, Shiva, entered my father's body, everything changed for me. There seemed to be no more love and attention coming to us from Baba. Of course, when I went to visit him I felt that he was more gentle and loving than ever, but it was different. Now he was intoxicated in divine love. The whole world had become his family. I could not speak to my parents as before. Now they made me hear God's knowledge at every opportunity. It was disconcerting and I didn't understand at first that it was all because of their concern for my welfare. They wanted me to follow this highest path, not to miss this golden opportunity. But at first the truth of it all passed me by, I only saw that they had become different and seemed more distant. Yet one day the reality of what was occurring finally registered in my mind.

"A festival was being celebrated, and Baba invited me for dinner. When I got there, I saw a number of girls and mothers listening intently to the knowledge, while another group was enjoying a dance. It was not an ordinary dance, they seemed in a state of deep concentration and I went closer to investigate. At first I didn't like the dance they were doing but then I stopped watching the movements of their feet and began to inspect their faces. They wore a look that I had never seen before but that I recognised instantly a look of absolute, otherworldly bliss. They were in a trance, completely unaware of the world around them. What scenes were they seeing in their mind's eyes? And how could they all be so attuned to each other's movements?

"The dance became more intricate and it soon dawned on me that actually these women had a great deal of talent. In fact, not even professional dancers could have moved with such grace and skill. They never used to dance at all. How could they be doing this so perfectly now? I knew they were not in an ordinary state of consciousness but I had no idea that internally they had been transported to satyug, to heaven, and that they were dancing with Shri Krishna himself. For the moment they were living in the future, in their next lifetime in the golden age. It was this extraordinary vision, conferred by God, which gave them the power of such a dance.

"On their faces I saw peace, love and a unity with God. I felt the energy, the sense of grace, the power of purity that charged the atmosphere.

"When the dance appeared to be over I asked one of them what she had experienced. But I saw right away that she was still deep in that consciousness, far beyond sound and not yet able or ready to leave that happy place in order to explain. It must have been difficult for her even to speak. In a slow, barely audible voice, she said, 'I will tell you tomorrow'. I had a tremendous desire to hear what she would say. So I went to Baba and told him to send me the car tomorrow and I would come. Baba said, 'All right, daughter, let us see tomorrow'. I didn't feel happy with his answer. I said, 'Baba, why do you speak like this?' Baba said, 'We have the idea to send the car but let us see what happens tomorrow.'

"I had been brought up with such complete attention, receiving everything I asked for, that I was unprepared for this response. Baba had never spoken to me before in such an ambiguous manner and, in my ignorance, I took it to be an insult. Before, if I had told Baba to bring down the stars from heaven, he would have done so. Now he was hesitating even to offer me the use of the car. I got very angry and left the house. But Baba followed me, put me in the car and drove me back to my father-in-law's house, making sure I arrived safely. Yet I felt he was just trying to patch things up and as I got down from the car at my destination, I said in a huff, 'If you don't send the car tomorrow, I will not come.' I remember very clearly what Baba said then, because it struck me to the quick. His eyes were laughing though his voice was subdued. 'Daughter,' he said, 'would you really know what is going to happen tomorrow?' I responded, 'Whatever happens tomorrow, we will see tomorrow.' And I went inside.

"I fell asleep almost immediately, but around two or two-thirty in the morning I awoke with a start. A flood of light filled the room, an unearthly light. I knew it had no physical source. In the midst of the illumination was Baba. At first I could not believe what I was seeing. When the vision faded, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again. I told myself that because of my talk with Baba earlier that evening, he had come into my mind in such a powerful way, that it was nothing more than a kind of dream. Yet after a little, the room was once more inundated with divine light. It was beyond belief. But I forced myself to sleep again. It was too much for my mind to comprehend. And yet there was to be no escape from the truth. For a third time Baba appeared, and this time Shri Krishna was standing beside him. Baba spoke to me in the sweetest tone I had ever heard, 'Daughter, wake up. You have to do the work of world upliftment.'

"His words were like arrows which pierced my heart. I felt transformed in a single instant. 'Baba, I spoke in reply, 'God really is within you! I did not recognise you. I will do whatever you ask.'

"I fell asleep again with blissful feelings spreading throughout my mind. By morning, the visionary scene had repeated itself many times over in my consciousness and I felt I should go immediately to see Baba. But as soon as I tried to get out of bed, I began to feel such tremendous pain in my body that I fell back, helpless. I remembered Baba's words, 'Daughter, whatever happens, let us see.' The words rang in my ears, he had known the future, he had known! I fell deep into thought, all my pain forgotten. All I could think of was Baba, that God had actually entered my Baba. All the knowledge He had spoken to me so often, I tried to recapture now. I had taken it all so lightly. We could not recognise Him in His true identity, being in an ordinary human form.

Such power, yet we could not recognise it...

"At sunset, Baba himself came to see me. When he came in the room I began to shed tears of love. I could not control myself. I was filled with repentance and recognition. I embraced him. 'Baba,' I said through my tears, 'now I have recognised you, now I will do what you ask me to do.' From that day, I entered a new life."

DADA IN KASHMIR

After serving to bring transformation to so many people in so short time, Dada felt the need for seclusion. He took the family to Kashmir. Meanwhile, those who had been coming to the satsang continued to meet together to meditate and to discuss the knowledge. Brahma Baba regularly sent letters, one per day, to those who had been awakened. They would read the letters aloud and then discuss the points in depth. The spiritual insights, which Baba conveyed brought real joy to those who heard and understood. It was incredible how powerful mere words could be. Those who received Brahma Baba's letter of knowledge considered it an invaluable gift and those who heard would take notes in order to be able revise sentences over and over. They felt their lives had taken on new meaning and value.

While in Kashmir, Dada spent most of his time in solitude, thinking deeply about the information that God was delivering through him. What were the ramifications, the hidden implications; how could one cut through all the layers of karmic residue and experience the fullness of the knowledge Shiv Baba had to offer?

The self is consciousness, non-physical, a point source of illumination. I, the self, control my thoughts, my feelings and my power of decision. To think of myself as a bodily being is illusion that leads to disharmony and to sorrow. Rather, I am eternal. I must remain detached from bodily attractions in order to truly experience myself in my eternal form. I must take my mind to the home of the souls and focus my thoughts on Shiv Baba, the Ocean of Peace; immerse myself in His divine attributes…

So Baba re-educated his mind to comprehend from every perspective the meaning of contemporary events and eternal truths. He began to see the whole world process clearly.

Baba wrote many letters and he spoke to many people eager to hear the spiritual knowledge. And he himself, the man, made constant effort to inculcate the teachings, to purify himself completely, to attain perfection, according to the commands of God.

Baba's daughter, BK Dadi Nirmal Shantaji, writes about an incident which occurred during this period in Kashmir, which followed upon her own visionary experiences.

"I had gone with Baba to Amarnath" We were on horseback. While we were on the road, a storm struck. Many people turned back but Baba went ahead. "We have to reach our goal,' he said. Despite the downpour and the opposing wind, Baba's determination remained firm. He had always been extremely adventurous, was not afraid of any type of hardship and was never, never confused.

"At last we reached Amarnath¹². Baba was dressed in very ordinary clothes but the pilgrims, upon seeing him, immediately took him for a maharaja (great king). It was because his manner was so naturally royal and dignified. Baba asked the guards of the place how the Shivalingam made of ice had come into being. At first, they were reluctant to reveal the secret but, thinking Dada to be a king, they finally told him everything how the freezing water dripped from a hole in the ceiling of the cave and drop by drop built up the ice into a large stalagmite. So much for the 'miraculous' appearance of Shiva's image. How much more profoundly miraculous the secret arrival of Shiva Himself into the forehead of Baba."

Meanwhile, back in Hydrabad, a regular satsang had been established in Baba's house, even in his absence. The knowledge was so impressive, bringing together the essence of all the world's philosophies and religions, and so calculated to bring out the best in human beings, that even casual listeners were changed by coming into contact. Soon Shiv Baba's message had spread throughout the community.

All who attended the satsang found their lives transformed. They gave up eating and drinking impure food and drink. They gave up temper tantrums, laziness, dependency, lust and status seeking. For those who understood this knowledge realised that, at this time, they were able to earn an income for their next twenty-one lives in the future. Making money now, for this one life, was not nearly so important as providing security for the next two and a half millennia. And their futures could be assured so easily - simply by shedding their vices! Who would not jump at such a deal?

It was also said in Hydrabad that those who came to this satsang received self-realisation without making any effort and that visions were bestowed by God on everyone who came there. So people were naturally attracted to go there and the number who attended dramatically increased. Nearly two hundred people were soon arriving on a daily basis.

The program was generally arranged like this: the satsang began with the singing of a song. Baba would send the songs from Kashmir which would be set to music. All the women loved singing together. Then the daily letter of knowledge was read and a lecture was given on that topic. By absorbing the knowledge ever deeper into the intellect - points about the nature of time, laws of karma, powers of the soul, qualities of God, method of yoga, the truth about the ancient original religion of deities, the coming of the new world and the destruction of the old - the minds of these women became stable, buoyant, powerful and clear.

People who came to observe were amazed. How could simple mothers speak so authoritatively, in such an elevated manner, about such great topics? How could they speak with such depth of understanding about subjects that even the intellects of the greatest scholars and pundits could not grasp?

It was an important change for India never again would women submit to the burden of masculine oppression. The yoke had been broken and a new mould, for a new culture, had been created. From the beginning, Brahma Baba made the girls and mothers primarily responsible for the distribution of the knowledge. Now, this worldwide community of men and women work together in harmony and respect for one another.

All this began at Shiv Baba's satsang, where the shy learned to be assertive, the arrogant learned humility; where the greedy found satisfaction and the angry found peace; and most importantly, where all found the One for whom they had been searching, Shiv Baba.

But though the lectures were beautifully delivered and the knowledge was unique, these topics were also dealt with elsewhere. 'Control Over Passions' and 'How to Make the Mind and Senses Obey' were familiar goals to Indians. What separated this satsang from others was that those who came to hear a message also experienced that message. They found themselves suddenly bodiless, flying up to Shantidham (soul world, literally: home of peace), being filled with light and might, or travelling in time to the golden age and living for a moment as a deity. It was so extraordinary that, people would leave speechless, afraid to talk about their experience for fear that no one would believe them.

When Baba returned from Kashmir, his eyes sparkled to see so many new souls present at the satsang. Those who came were not sorry. Meeting Brahma Baba was an unfailingly rewarding experience. To be in his presence was to be in peace. The coolness of his mind and senses made others also cool.

Brahma Baba's bearing was royal and yet his dress and style of living were so simple. It was no wonder he attracted so many good people to him because, they found not only a teacher but also an example of how to live a pure and meaningful life.

It was not just adults who received experiences at Brahma Baba's gatherings. Even little children were lifted into bliss, enjoying visions of satyug, the heavenly world to come. Many of those children remained with Brahma Baba from those early days growing up in the service of the Yagya, continually experiencing the joy of being near God. One sister, BK Dadi Hirdaya Mohini¹³, was such a beneficiary of God's blessings in her childhood. Listen as she recalls her experience…

"When I was nine years old, or nearly that, I first met Baba. Not that I was interested in religious matters then. Hardly. I was an active child, busy running about in various childish intrigues, playing games with my friends and no one ever suggested I practise yoga. I could hardly sit still long enough to be taught what any of that was for.

"But one evening, Baba was invited to hold his satsang at the house of one of my friends. After persistent invitations by them, he finally consented and held a series of gatherings there, meetings which were full of songs and dancing, as well as various lectures. My mother was keenly religious and so naturally she attended every session. I also went along a couple of times but only for the opportunity to dance and play and jump around.

"But one day a curious thing happened. While sitting in the satsang I suddenly went into a stage of deep concentration. Some force pulled me into that condition. Someone magnetic and powerful and immensely attractive seemed to take me deeper and deeper away from bodily existence into regions of an incredible unworldly sensation.

"I was later told that the women who sat near me thought I had gone to sleep, but after seeing me sit for a long time without moving, they realised I was in the midst of a samadhi experience. And yet how little they knew! I had entered another world! A world beyond this world! It was like Alice in Wonderland, yet so completely free of anything even remotely fearsome or threatening.

"I was in a large room, decorated so finely and beautifully that it is impossible to describe, for nothing in the world of today compares with it. There was the most attractively inlaid gold and diamonds and jewels of every colour, shimmering fabrics, tremendous starburst chandeliers of perfect white diamonds and glorious idyllic scenes of flowing rivers and luscious gardens outside the windows. "In that beautiful room, most attractive of all-in fact, attractiveness incarnate was a handsomely dressed and decorated figure of the ten- year old Prince Krishna. He was beckoning me with a gesture, as if to say, 'Come, let's play!' "When I came down from this vision, and returned to normal consciousness again, I opened my eyes and saw a circle of women sitting all around me, peering intently at me and I suddenly became frightened and began to cry. I thought, 'What has happened to me that these women should stare that way?' But my mother calmed me down and asked me with great love to tell them what I had seen.

"Oddly, I found that was not easy. For, who had I seen? Later on, I knew the child-prince to be Shri Krishna but at the time of my experience, I had no idea who this beautiful, royal friend could be. I had never before paid any attention to statues of Krishna and, though I had heard his name mentioned, I had never taken any interest. So I could only relate my vision in a very uncertain manner, describing a lovely, happy child, dressed in the clothes of a maharaja's son, in a palace more elegant than any I had ever seen or imagined. The child seemed to know me. He was calling me to play, to dance with him.

"I described it all very poorly but my mother, who was well-read in the scriptures, recognised the image of Shri Krishna. She brought some paintings of Shri Krishna which were commonly known, to see if they were similar images. But the trouble was, the painters who had made those pictures never having experienced such visions themselves, did not portray the deities with any accuracy. Krishna was so much lovelier than their representations, they were comparatively artificial and uninteresting. So it was difficult for me to say, on the basis of such paintings, that the one I met was Krishna. Yes, there was a great deal of external similarity, the type of clothes he wore, the surroundings of gold and the fact that he held a flute in his hands. This last detail finally convinced me and so I said, 'Yes, this was the one I saw, but he was far more beautiful.’ ”

Such visions were given to many children in those days, as well as to their elders. It was a time of immense happiness and, as more people came to share the experiences, the level of feeling rose ever higher. Whoever had a spiritual inclination, whoever felt even the slightest love for God stir within him was rewarded with a sudden fantasia, a journey through the cosmic cycle. Here was an eruption of God's power into the corporeal world such as has not been known in history. The incredible became the commonplace. The impossible became possible. The body was forgotten. Time gave way to eternity. Ignorance was replaced by God's knowledge.

What was left for God's growing family to do but sing. And this they did. They created uncountable numbers of melodies, pouring out their overflowing hearts. Songs of happiness, songs of attaining perfection, songs of liberation from the stifling ego, songs of Shiv Baba, the Ocean of Love.

Brahma Baba would walk among the children when the satsang was over for the day and his fatherly vision would fall on all around him giving the feeling of warmth and a sense of belonging. Safe and secure. Every single person there, whether civic leaders or little children, experienced one thing: the Father of all souls, the One who teaches true knowledge, is here in our midst.

Even those who came to the satsang for the first time felt it to be a transformative experience. Here was a different life, here was happiness, here was power. Outside was the world of insecurity, delusion and moral cowardice. Out there, all one could do was pray. In here, one found the answer to all prayers. Here was peace.

Tired of wandering, through a suffering world,
Weary of the wheel of life,
Longing for a homeward flight,
I happened to stumble here, to Om Mandli.

Now the soul sweetly sings,
Flying to the world of light; I am free.
Now I know the aim of life,
Now I have found my home
And now at last, I have met God.

Each morning I bathe in the Ocean of Silence,
I drink nectar from the cup of Truth.
I walk in the path of happiness,
And my feet never touch the ground.

Such were the responses of those whose lives were forever changed. The wealthy and the poor sat side by side in brotherhood. It was a simple satsang and yet it seemed a royal court somehow, like the court of Indra, the famous deity of Indian mythology.

All wore white clothes there and, those women who had been so caught up in fashion before, felt a greater beauty in their simple, white saris. The outer simplicity seemed then to emphasise their inner beauty.

Elevated thoughts, sweet speech, brotherly vision, pure intentions these were the elements of a knowledge-filled personality. They had absorbed the spirit of purity, inspired by Brahma Baba's own life, by the power contained in his every act, gesture and word.

The satsang continued to grow and, with the increase in numbers, a formal structure was needed. A variety of classes was necessary for the people at different levels of spiritual development. The knowledge had to be revised and organised into books so that it could be made available to the public. All this took administrative leadership and money. Therefore, Brahma Baba appointed someone to be in charge and he donated all of his considerable fortune to furthering the spiritual academy.

In October 1937, Om Radhe and eight other women formed a trust committee for the new institution, which was called the Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishva Vidyalaya the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. Om Radhe took charge of administering the institution and she became the leading teacher. Thereafter, Brahma Baba gave away his entire worldly wealth and property to the trust committee. He gave the responsibility of all the university's affairs into the hands of the women. His sole task now was to faithfully fulfil the role of being God's medium and to take responsibility for being a complete example of surrender to the will of God.

Om Radhe took over the reins firmly and smoothly, operating the university on a day-to-day basis, applying the principles of economy and simplicity, yet making sure that every visitor felt perfectly at home. She remained detached in her part of administrator, employing her own well-developed powers of judgement and discrimination, combined with her innate gentleness and co-operation, to ensure that the institution continued to function harmoniously and happily. She herself always remembered that it was God's work she was performing, not her own. She had the attitude that the knowledge which she taught others, which was the basis on which she had attained her own personal fulfilment, was given directly by the Supreme and, that she was only His instrument. She felt it was her duty to be ever obedient to God's wishes. And because she succeeded so well in maintaining a spiritual consciousness, she became loved by all. They called her 'Mama' - even her own mother began to call her that. Shiv Baba called her Jagadamba - world mother and He informed her that all the temples to Ambaji, all the bhakti (devotional) pictures, were her memorials.

The spiritual university was a home of peace and harmony but, the outside world was most assuredly not. The fledgling school ran into opposition almost immediately from outside. The main objection was God's insistence on purity. Husbands did not take well to the idea of their wives becoming celibate. Fathers were bewildered by their daughters' decision to forego marriage. A tremendous tumult began to build around the issue. It was all right if men wanted to take up lives of renunciation, but for women to do so this was something extraordinary and many men were shocked and could not tolerate it.

In those days, a married woman was supposed to be obedient to her husband and regard him as her god. The men were accustomed to this social structure and it is not surprising that they became upset and felt their authority was undermined when their wives suddenly felt empowered to take charge of their own lives, to follow principles of the spiritual knowledge they'd learned at the satsang and to become celibate.

Of course, Brahma Baba foresaw all this and so, at the very beginning, he told all who wished to attend the satsang, whether they were young girls or married women, that they had to bring with them a written letter of permission from either their father, husband or guardian. Once permission to attend the school had been granted, those relatives would be bound by it and difficulties avoided.

However, it was not so simple. Many husbands flatly refused to sign such letters. They felt that, according to custom and tradition, they were lord and master over the wife, that a wife is their property, a domestic servant and a sexual plaything and they were not about to give up what they saw as their rights.

Others saw that this gathering was changing the lives of those people in other subtler ways, which threatened the materialistic basis on which the household had been used to operating. It was embarrassing to some families for their daughter to be seen wearing a plain white sari all the time and giving up the very status symbols - such as jewellery - which the father had worked so hard to attain. Also, having a religious person around created a different atmosphere in the house and their conscience became uneasy seeing a brother or sister follow the highest code of conduct while they themselves engaged in a more indulgent lifestyle.

So the difficulties mushroomed as the spiritual children became firmer on the path of purity. Boys also encountered problems with their families who expected grandchildren but would not get them. And why were these sons not eating their mothers' cooking any more? Why did they insist on such pure diets? The families did not, could not understand. Despite the best efforts of Brahma Baba's children to explain, this knowledge would not fit into most people's intellects. Yet, in many ways they were pleased with the transformation they observed. Those who followed Brahma Baba's directions became responsible, active, honest, economical, peaceful, understanding, thoughtful, forgiving, detached and loving. It was unbelievable how many virtues they had acquired, as if by magic. Children who had had the habit of sleeping until noon were now arising at four in the morning for meditation; those who had been lazy and unemployed were now working and achieving independence. Their families watched incredulously. How could a person be so down-to-earth, yet at the same time talk about divine revelations, world destruction, meeting God-in short, use the language of crackpots and dreamers? Such things should not mix and yet they did, with evident harmony. Something very strange was going on.

Still for all its strangeness, those who came even a little closer had to admit that it did make sense. And if the families were open enough to speak with Brahma Baba personally, then the objections were gradually overcome. The experience of BK Dadi Hirdaya Pushpa is illustrative of the kind of thing that happened:

"One day, Brahma Baba asked me to have my parents sign a permission letter. The note read, 'We give permission to our daughter willingly that she may come to Om Mandali to drink the Nectar of Knowledge from Om Radhe and for her to donate that Nectar to others also!'

"I requested my father to sign the card. He asked me what was taught at the satsang and so I told him. My father was a meat eater and he drank a lot of wine. There was not an iota of religiousness in him. He got very angry as soon as he understood what I had said. 'I will not sign anything like that, he shouted.

"I was perplexed. I went to my room to think. What would happen now? Brahma Baba wouldn't let me come to the satsang without permission and my father would not give it. I felt that I could not live without continuing to learn the knowledge. I would be like a fish out of water. I prayed to God to help me.

"The next day I went to see Brahma Baba and told him my problem. He smiled as if he had already heard my prayer and had considered it. He told me to invite my father to come and meet him. This excited me. I smiled again for the first time in days and ran home to tell my father.

'Brahma Baba has remembered you, I told him. 'He would like to see you.' Hearing this, my father softened somewhat, for Dada Lekhraj had a great reputation in the community and one did not lightly turn down an invitation to meet and confer with such a wealthy and established person. My father was also well-respected in Hydrabad and he could not, out of respect, refuse this call. Together we went to see Brahma Baba.

"They talked in a very friendly way. Baba asked him, 'Do you know why your daughter comes here? The peace that you see in her life today, how did she get it?' Baba gave him a little knowledge and then asked Om Radhe to explain at greater length. 'You are a conscious soul, she told him. "This body is a temple. Does one give offerings of meat in a temple? Do you ever give gifts of wine to the deities?'

"My father listened and he could not help but agree. He began to repent eating meat and drinking wine and Om Radhe convinced him that anger is a sin. The idea that he was a conscious soul, an eternal being, living in this temporary temple of the body, took hold of him. He returned home transformed.

"When he arrived at the house again, he began throwing his bottles of wine out into the street. They were expensive bottles of French wine. His brother saw what he was doing and ran to stop him, 'Brother, why are you throwing away this good wine? Give it to me if you don't want it!' But my father replied, "This sin which I have left behind, should I pass it on to you? I can't do that!' Since that day, my father has been a vegetarian and has never touched another drop of alcohol. Not only did he sign my permission card but he wrote letters for every member of the family giving them all permission to attend. And then he wrote one for himself. 'I have given up wine,' he laughed, 'but I think I have acquired a taste for this nectar. Why can't I indulge myself in this?' He was very happy and a weight seemed to have been lifted from our entire family. Such was Shiv Baba's magic."

OM HIGH SCHOOL

Whole families were now joining Brahma Baba's gathering and they wished that arrangements could be made for their small children to receive an education there, both conventional knowledge - the skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic as well as the spiritual knowledge, in this peaceful environment. Practical subjects such as carpentry and sewing were also to be included.

Brahma Baba had also had this idea from the very beginning. For, if little children could be raised on the principles of purity and virtue, great benefit to the world could be accomplished through them. So plans went ahead and were quickly implemented.

A boarding school called 'Om High School' was opened for children, using Brahma Baba's own new house for the facilities. Different ages of children came and the older ones helped teach the younger. Mothers were put in charge. Beds, draperies and uniforms for the students were made. A dispensary was provided. Cooking and dining rooms were set up. Additional bath facilities were built. The children were brought up like princes and princesses, with every convenience made available. Tenderness and discipline were happily combined. The work of the school went forward on the basis of the highest kind of love.

When the number of students grew, the classes were separated. There was one class for boys between the ages of six and ten, another for girls aged eleven to fourteen. The program on a typical day went something like this:

5 am - The children arise. Light exercise and a walk followed by a meditation on peace

6.30 am - Bath and breakfast

8.30 am - Studies begin

10.30 am - Recess. Fruits given for a snack

11 am to 1 pm - Classes continue

1 pm - Lunch and rest

3 pm - Classes in spiritual knowledge, followed by songs and discussion

5 pm - A break and an evening walk

7.30 pm - Dinner

8.30 pm - Informal talks and counsel about how to attain the best qualities in oneself, the importance of purity in food, how to handle the everyday problems of life and other points of knowledge which the children asked about.

10 pm - Samadhi¹⁴

10.30 pm - Sleep

Physical health was not forgotten amidst all this attention to spiritual well-being. The children were involved in an active program of exercise to keep their bodies strong and robust. Plenty of sunshine and a variety of play activities kept them stimulated and in a high state of consciousness. While wearing their uniforms they would enjoy their morning drill at the beach at Clifton where Brahma Baba often took them. The uniform did away with the girls' consciousness of being female, together with its social constraints of being submissive and weak. More importantly they learned how, while performing their intricate drills, they could remain established in the remembrance of God.

Sometimes Brahma Baba specially took them to the beach in the early morning hours, not to drill, but rather to sit in silent meditation. Sitting each one some distance apart from the other, they perched on lonely sand dunes or rocks jutting out by the surf. In the dawn's clear light, secluded with their Supreme Father, these souls in young bodies reached an understanding of their own eternity, made contact and remained in loving, silent communion with Shiv Baba for long periods.

When the children returned to school, they would take part in karma yoga, cleaning up their rooms, making their beds, mopping the bathrooms, washing their clothing. They kept everything spotless. Visitors found it a joy just to see the immaculate habits these children had infused in themselves.

When it was time for meals, they used to come quietly to the dining area and sit in a line to take their food. Until all had received their portions, no one would begin to eat. They observed silence while dining so as to stay in God's remembrance and thus ate slowly, digesting their meals well and never over-indulging.

When it was games time, they participated fully and happily and, regardless of whether it was hide and seek, musical chairs, or badminton, sportsmanship was the real point of the exercise. It was a virtue that came easily in that atmosphere.

At sunset, it was time to meditate once more and the children were ready for it, sitting peacefully on the verandah and filling themselves with the qualities of the Supreme. When a certain record was played on the loudspeaker, the children knew that it was time for bed. They slept until another record woke them in the early morning hours and then they arose from their beds to begin a new day.

INSPECTION TOURS

In a short time word got round that Om Mandali had opened a boarding school for children. Rumours about it spread throughout the educational community of India. Some said that the teachers of Om Mandali had turned the children into saints; other reports said the school had made them into zombies.

Educators wanted to see for themselves and, to be sure they would see the school as it really was, they made their visits unannounced. Local headmasters, administrators of several educational institutions and several famous educators dropped in for these surprise tours of inspection. And they went over the facilities with a fine-tooth comb, looking for something to criticise. The quality of the children's food, method of teaching, the correlation of worldly and spiritual education, morale, test results, all were carefully evaluated and the observers came away astounded.

The teachers of Om Mandali always thanked these observers for coming and encouraged them to come again in their unannounced fashion to measure the children's progress. They had nothing to hide and they were happy to be able to give these people feedback for favourable publicity.

The educators who came were awed by the school's success but at the same time they were worried that it could not last. They suggested that the school register with the government in order to become eligible for economic help because how long could the Om Mandali treasury bear the burden of such an economic drain.

But the visitors were told not to worry, that this was God's own institution and God is the Giver of everything, so the school would never be lacking. People did not understand this but neither could they argue with success. Often, when these people showed up, the children would be deep in meditation and some were even in the midst of a trance experience. The visitors watched in disbelief. They found themselves affected by the powerful atmosphere also and became quiet and peaceful themselves. When the children returned from their trance experiences, they would tell of what they had seen, describing the wonders of the golden age, and the visitors would clearly be touched by what could only be the truth, as it came from the mouths of such little children.

The extraordinary maturity of these children amazed all who met them. How could such youngsters be so independent, have so much self-discipline, get along with each other so harmoniously, be so devoted to study, and amazingly, how could they sit so long in meditation? Could there be something about the place or the method of instruction? But their teachers were not even professionals! And why was the atmosphere so peaceful, why was everyone so friendly? How was it possible that there was no conflict? The educators dug deeper, searching either for a hidden scandal or a secret key to this success. When they finally asked about the children's remarkable maturity, one teacher gave the answer in this way:

"Of course the children who came here were all different. Some began as troublemakers, some were incredibly hyperactive, others terribly aloof and closed off. Many had bad habits and caused us trouble. So we went to Brahma Baba to ask his advice. 'These children harass us, Baba,' we told him, "What should we do about them?'

"Brahma Baba was very firm in his answer. 'Don't ever beat them,' he said, 'To beat them is to do violence. This is a great sin. Instead, make them understand about the harm or loss which each of their mistakes causes. Help them see the negative trait which they have and instruct them as to how to recognise the benefit they will gain by becoming free of it. This must be explained gently and well. If any of their demands are appropriate, you must be careful to fulfil them. You will win their hearts through love and understanding and then they will do as you suggest. You must also explain to them that by doing certain wrong things, they are performing unworthy acts. The fruit of every action is received on earth or else at the time of the final judgement, but it cannot be escaped. The laws of karma are precise and unremitting. When they firmly grasp this truth, they will then be anxious to improve themselves. But do not hit them or mistreat them. Love them!'

"Brahma Baba used to say further, 'These children have left their homes to come here, so they have already made a kind of sacrifice. This should be respected. Their intellect and their organs of action are not yet completely developed. Yet in some matters they are superior to adults. If you see them as souls and talk to them like that, they will feel rapport and they will understand immediately. Still, if they do persist in some unworthy activity, then reduce giving them some things they like to have and then they will improve. For example, do not allow a troublesome child to talk to an individual whom he likes best. Tell him that, as long as he does not improve, he cannot speak with this person.' And indeed this technique yielded quick results; the misbehaving child would improve very soon."

THE YOGIS TAKE AN EXAM

The work of the spiritual university went on; men, women and children continued taking the knowledge. Through the power of meditation (yoga) they discovered the strength to transform their personal lives. Unfortunately, their transformation highlighted the lifestyle of those unable to shake off their weaknesses and caused a huge problem within the community.

The province where God had chosen to descend was a wealthy one. It contained more than its share of prosperous businessmen. Many of those businessmen travelled far and wide to sign contracts in international markets. They were sometimes away from home for much of the year. This left their wives free to pursue whatever activities were of interest to them. If a wife showed religious inclination, of course a travelling husband was happy to encourage that, feeling that such an attitude implied the wife would be faithful, would maintain the household carefully and would spend her free time doing worship in the temples, thus avoiding temptations. It never occurred to the husbands that their wives might do even more, that they might actually put true religion into practice, changing their diets, their habits, the company they kept and, most significantly of all, maintain purity of mind and action.

A ship full of these travelling merchants and industrialists disembarked one afternoon. These were men weary of the battles of commercial wheeling and dealing. Some came home victorious, having landed lucrative contracts or sold full inventories of their goods. Others had been less successful. But one thing they all shared: they were yearning for the women they had left behind. Their minds were filled, However, during their absence, their wives had met and fallen in love with God and were now faithful to Him. The women's dedication to purity was firm. They refused to give in to any form of persuasion or harassment.

The result was predictable. Disappointment gave way to anger and the husbands became violent. They shouted, they slapped their wives, beat them with straps, prevented them from going out, sealed them off from all contact with Brahma Baba or Om Mandali, vainly trying to erase the influence which the Spiritual Father had had on them. But these wives were not the submissive playthings they had left behind. They had become strong. How can a powerful soul tolerate a weak soul's attempt to subdue her? Could a man, whose only advantage was physical strength, succeed in making a shakti, a woman filled with God's might, surrender to lust? Impossible.

So the struggle of force and convention, against the power of the spirit, built up to a climax. Each woman had her own battle to win some had an easier time of it than others, some had to endure torture but they had faith in and relied on God's help and through it all they kept on singing:

I am Shakti, I am peace,
I am always a step beyond,
Illusion and attachment I destroy.
I play the Flute of Knowledge
So all can hear, and know, and live in joy.
Such sweet and blissful music
Makes unhappiness depart.
So the world will become a garden,
We souls will all be free,
Free of bodies or of body-consciousness.

Even in the midst of their husbands' worst behaviour, these women would remain cool and humble, stabilised in remembrance of God. They would reply sweetly:

"O soul, you are my brother, and I wish only for your benefit. I want to turn this place into God's temple. How can you wish otherwise? If you and I fulfil this wish, then this house will be like heaven. My love for my husband has not diminished. It is only that now I understand who you are. You are a soul and so I love the soul, not the body. You must also. It would be disrespect to you if I were to do otherwise.

"You are the eternal son of the Supreme Father and I am His daughter, so let us walk together and keep our minds focused only on One. I shall continue to perform all my worldly duties with even greater effort than before and carry out my household tasks with efficiency and devotion. Work that I never did before, I will willingly do. But do not prevent me from going to Om Mandali. We children of God are cleansing our souls, burning away the negative tendencies from our minds forever. Do not place an obstacle in our way, for we are under orders from God. Do not put before us any idea of sex. Our Father is pure and bodiless and so we are becoming the same.

"Please recognise the time. The iron age is about to end. A golden age is being created anew and you also may take your birthright to be a part of it. Co-operate with us, be a yogi, let us make our lives pure and beautiful as a lotus flower.

"Please, I beg only this of you: a pure life. Birth after birth we have been involved in the pleasures of the senses, but now, for this one last remaining life, for the short years which remain before destruction, let us remain pure."

The women's words were lovely, well-considered and strong. But it was like pouring water into sand; their husbands' ears were closed. The outrage they felt was based on the tradition that women should have no other in her thoughts except her husband and that her role in life should be to please him in every way. This was a very strong tradition in the social structure of their society and they, understandably, felt that the behaviour and attitude of their wives were undermining their own authority. But when they saw that they would never again have their way with these women, some of them became enraged. They attacked and beat their wives until they bled.

It happened that several women were assaulted on the same evening and the next day they escaped to Om Mandali. It was unnecessary for them to tell what had happened because it was evident from their appearance.

Their faces and bodies were bruised and blackened, there was blood on their torn clothes, and some cuts were still open with blood oozing out. Their husbands had taken away their jewellery, dresses, and any money that was their personal wealth. The women had been driven from their homes.

The younger girls at Om Mandali, who saw the way these wives had been mistreated, decided then and there never to marry but to spend their lives in purity. They now understood the wisdom of Baba's great counsel, "O children, lust is your greatest enemy. Lust, anger, and attachment are the doors to hell." Now, after seeing how women were beaten like animals, they lost all desire for marriage, even had Brahma Baba given permission.

​​ANTI-OM MANDALI PARTY

Meanwhile, the husbands banded together. They felt that the whole fabric of their society was being undermined by their wives' challenge for independence. Such behaviour was contrary to the tradition of marriage as well as their sexual rights. They were also joined by the grandfathers, fathers and brothers of numerous unmarried girls who had adopted celibacy. Those relatives were determined that the girls should marry. The men formed a group called the Anti-Om Mandali Committee, determined to force Brahma Baba to stop recommending purity at his satsang.

Representatives of the committee went to see Brahma Baba. They presented three husbands who demanded the right to have intercourse with their wives. They had badly beaten their wives after being denied sexual favours. One of them had even filed a law suit demanding his conjugal rights. The matter had stirred up such a furore in Sindh that many community leaders became involved, siding with the husbands. Some of these leaders were also present at the meeting. They said, "Brahma Baba, you must tell these women that they should have sexual intercourse with their husbands."

Brahma Baba replied, "I am only giving away spiritual knowledge. How can I tell anyone to indulge in lust? If they do not wish to come to this satsang, then it is their own choice. But lust is condemned in the Gita the supreme scripture as the door to hell. Should I give false advice? My own daughter observes celibacy. Who gave her the order to do that? Who gave me the order, for that matter? We are all obedient to the same one: God, the Supreme Father."

Brahma Baba went on to explain his position. "These are not my commands. I am only a servant, an instrument of God's service. How can I order anyone to do anything? No one is under my control. The One who gives orders to them, gives orders to me."

The people left but their opposition had not ended. In fact, they stepped up their campaign against Om Mandali. Ignorant people were stirred up. If women start observing celibacy, they worried, how will the world go on?

The Anti-Om Mandali Party was powerful. Its members were rich and had strong ties with government and community leaders, which they now used for their own ends. They hired intimidators to go door- to-door, telling families they would be ousted from their caste if they allowed their daughters or wives or mothers to go to Om Mandali satsang. They frightened people and, when that didn't work, they abused them and even beat up a number of people who raised objections to such tactics. The mayor and civic leaders were pressured to keep Om Mandali out of the city. The 'Anti' Party had friends on the boards of the local newspapers, including the major one, the 'Sindh Observer'. Soon vehement editorials were being published against Brahma Baba and his satsang.

Those men who had supported Brahma Baba in the past became frightened and quietly withdrew their support.

Those businessmen who had been coming to the satsang themselves on a regular basis and had written letters of permission for their daughters and daughters-in-law also to take part, men who had publicly praised Brahma Baba's work, now feared loss of business and social ostracism, and so they stayed away.

Not only that, but many even joined the opposition, becoming officers of the Anti-Om Mandali Party. Even the Mukhi, a well-known local dignitary and relative of Baba, and an open admirer of him for a long time, stopped coming to the satsang. He began to half-believe the spreading rumours and became fearful of the violent threats being made against any who dared speak up for Brahma Baba. Soon, he also joined the Anti-Om Mandali Committee and its members, realising the coup they had achieved, made him its president.

Only a few days before, Brahma Baba had seen the Mukhi and given him a gramophone record as a present. The record contained a beautiful song, one verse of which went like this:

O God, take me away from this world of sin
To some far, far, far-off place where there is peace.
I cannot live in this corrupt world for even a moment more.
Take me away from these cunning, lustful, selfish,
Worldly people, of deceptive speech and hateful vision,
Take me to where the deities dance, the Golden Age.

The record was meant to be an aid to the Mukhi to help him keep the memory of God fresh in his mind. The song was beautifully sung but, when people came to know about the record, they whispered maliciously to the Mukhi, "There is black magic in this record. Never, never play it, or there will be a terrible effect on all of you. Do not touch it either. We will call a magician to examine it and find out what kind of magic is in it."

The Mukhi believed all this to be true, so he said, "All right, call the magician". They were able to get hold of one who had a reputation of being able to get rid of ghosts by pressing the hand of the one possessed, as well as many other secret arts. He came and performed an exhaustive examination.

Finally, he gave his diagnosis, "Oh, yes, there is a great influence of black magic in this record. You are all fortunate that nobody has touched it yet. Otherwise, there is no telling what could have happened to you."

Upon hearing this, people began throwing stones and bricks at the record so that the magic inside would be destroyed. They kept on until the disc was smashed into a thousand pieces and the magician told them that the evil had fled.

Such was the superstition of some people of India. Truly their intellects had turned to stone. And yet there were others whose minds were being filled with God's direct teachings and whose behaviour was becoming transformed. This was the real magic, the transformation of character, magically produced by Shiv Baba, the one who turned vultures into swans and souls full of bitterness into loving souls. So, the misguided people who attacked the record album were correct in thinking it contained magic, but it was the beautiful magic of knowledge which could not be destroyed.

One of the observers of the assault on the record said, "O God, what an unfortunate land India has become! Not only has the ancient wisdom been forgotten, but even common sense is lost!" Ignorance and blind faith in the scriptures, many of which had been expanded or changed so much that the original message had been lost, now led them astray to the extent that an institution like Om Mandali could be mistaken for an evil force.

But then, it is a fact of life that if an individual opens a shop to sell real diamonds beside a shop which sells fake ones, many people will believe his diamonds are also false. Even if he gives every assurance possible of the truth and value of his gems, people will have no confidence. It is a rare individual who will be able to depend on his own intellect and use impartial judgement and thus buy a diamond from such an individual. And so, it also happens when the Supreme Father arrives to give away diamonds of knowledge. How many can discern the one true merchant from the many false ones?

The entire household of the Mukhi was in an uproar. The Mukhi himself was fear stricken. He was Baba's brother-in-law, yet suddenly a barrier of prejudice fell between them. Baba's daughter, Nirmal Shanta, had fled from her father-in-law's house several days earlier during a family quarrel. Now she would not go back.

When the news began to spread about the broken relationship between these two personalities, others quickly took sides. Those who had long-held secret grudges against Dada Lekhraj now came out to join forces with the Mukhi. One such person was a wealthy businessman who had once asked for Brahma Baba's help in a personal matter and was refused.

What happened was that his son had died and afterwards there was a quarrel with the daughter-in-law as to the proper division of property. The daughter-in-law lived nearby and she often came to Brahma Baba's satsang. So the man asked Brahma Baba to pressure her into giving up fighting for the property. Brahma Baba refused the request. Firstly, because it was a personal matter in which he thought it improper to interfere with, and secondly, because the woman had a legal right to the property. The businessman however, who had been an old friend of Baba's, had not dreamed his request would be refused. His anger over this had never diminished.

Now both of them, the Mukhi and this businessman, worked actively in The Anti-Om Mandali Party, pouring money into that group's coffers in order to achieve a single objective: bring Om Mandali down.

Their strategy was to frighten the families of those who attended the satsang, to spread false rumours about Brahma Baba's teachings and to secretly pressure the government into prohibiting Om Mandali from operating.

The strategy worked well and soon many households were keeping their daughters under lock and key. The more superstitious ones and the more worried husbands put sometimes five or seven locks on the door and kept the women under strict surveillance. Often they even deprived them of food and there were even cases of women being physically chained to their beds, and beaten, day after day, until they would agree to give up their desire to attend Baba's satsang. Despite this fierce pressure, the women did not submit.

THE BATTLE OF GOOD AND EVIL

Prophets, saints, sages, innovative scientists, philosophers, artists, those who have brought humanity its greatest messages and who embodied the highest ideals, have always had to suffer. History is replete with such atrocities. And when do such messengers and great souls descend? At those critical moments when old concepts no longer hold true, when prevailing systems have become bankrupt, when a limited perspective must give way to a new vision. Yet the visionary is rarely treated with decency, for he threatens vested interests, established identities, and power structures. So the hardships and calamities repeat themselves in predictable patterns.

Such now was the case with Brahma Baba. What he taught threatened the most vested interest of all the ego. Brahma Baba made it clear that the soul must learn to live in a soul-conscious way. He showed that lust is never far from violence. Now God was ordering His children to conquer lust, to destroy all their weaknesses, bad habits and body-consciousness and to become His angels once again. Shiv Baba was hurling the ultimate challenge at Ravan (Satan), meaning the five vices of lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego and so, of course, Ravan responded with every weapon at his command. The battle was on.

Only a hundred years earlier in India, people had thrown rocks at Swami Dayanand Saraswati for his plain speaking. He exhorted people to be righteous and, in return he was bullied, threatened, and finally poisoned. Likewise, people had welcomed Jesus Christ by hanging him on a cross. The prophet Abraham before him was severely opposed for his demand that people give up their remembrance of idols and worship one God. When Buddha counselled people to discard the distinctions of caste and to live according to principles of right conduct and right understanding, he was met with angry jeers and even his own relatives opposed him. When Mohammed began preaching about righteousness, he was oppressed so violently that he was forced to flee his home in Mecca to save his life.

Again, the line of great souls of India who were made to suffer for their righteousness is long and legendary. Guru Nanak was arrested and put to forced labour. Teg Bahadur was beheaded; Mira had to drink a cup of poison; another sage had his skin peeled off; yet another's children were cemented alive inside a wall; every saint has had to suffer in a thousand other ways. And of course, though most of these saints lived long ago, there is also a very recent martyr who led India to independence, preaching and practising non-violence, truth and celibacy. Mahatma Gandhi's fame is worldwide. Yet he was shot dead by an assassin's bullet.

Anyone who cuts a new path must be prepared for criticism and hardship, for people are loathe to change their ways. Whether a scientist like Galileo, or a political dissident like Solzhenitsyn, anyone who upsets the accepted paradigm will not have an easy time. Charges will be hurled, abuses thrown and one cannot be delicate.

Perhaps the most difficult test for a harbinger of new ideas is to see his own friends desert him. Society's memory is short and the good that one does is soon forgotten. The obligations which are owed go unmentioned and, at the same time, the smallest mistake is pounced on as if it were a serious offence.

Worse still, there are always expert talkers, the orthodox, the powerful and the prejudiced, who for selfish purposes can twist the minds of the people and make them believe the most blatant lies.

Such was the pattern of oppression which now befell Brahma Baba and Om Mandali. And yet Brahma Baba did not flinch. He did not get angry. He did not even consider fighting back. And the work of teaching, of disseminating God's message, went on as usual. Shiv Baba continued to descend each day and speak the knowledge (murli¹⁵) for all who wanted to listen. The school kept operating also and Mama ran the institution as before, with firmness and great gentleness.

The people of Hydrabad expected Brahma Baba to react more strongly to the threatening events that seemed about to overtake him. But they were disappointed. They did not understand that Brahma Baba was not responsible for this institution. He had been simply a householder and a businessman. He had never been a scholar or a guru, nor did he claim to be one now. These teachings of purity and complete celibacy did not spring from his own mind and at first he had been more surprised about them than anyone else.

After all, how could one expect ordinary householders - married men and women to become celibate? It was unheard of. Men who wished to attain such heights of renunciation in the past had run away to caves or distant jungles. Could two people of the opposite sex really hope to remain together and still banish all thoughts of lust? Neither Dada Lekhraj nor anyone else could have imagined that such a thing was possible. It would take divine power to achieve such a result on any widespread basis and, of course, it was achieved¹⁶. Many couples were living in purity together and many more women were determined to do so, despite all obstacles.

The harassment of the women went on, yet they did not give in. This also was cause for amazement by the people of Sindh. For the women of Sindh had always submitted to the will of their husbands and fathers. It baffled the mind even to think that these poor girls could stand up to such established figures of power. Women who had been forced to wear veils over their faces, who had been trained their whole lives to remain silent and submissive in the presence of menfolk and to stay at home like caged birds, such women were suddenly invincible, filled with spiritual might. They discoursed more eloquently and deeply than any guru, teaching the highest knowledge of all. Where did they get such drive, such an intellect, such inner strength? They put up with physical abuse, beatings, starvation and public humiliation, yet they did not budge from their principles. Whose power was behind such a phenomenon?

Outside, people saw Brahma Baba only with their two physical eyes. Their intellect was closed. So they were unable to comprehend that the Supreme Father Shiva had descended in Baba's physical frame and was teaching His own profound and absolute knowledge.

Thus, these people remained helpless in the grip of their rigid habits. Brahma Baba was also helpless, but he was helpless in the grip of God. He used to quote a Sindhi proverb, 'Vat vende Brahmin Vathho', meaning, a Brahmin going along the road minding his own business was captured by someone'. For that is what happened to Dada Lekhraj. He was going happily along the road of life, in charge of a successful business and a large family, when the Supreme Soul stopped him and began to use his body to teach the value of purity. Thus did Baba unexpectedly become God's instrument.

The opposition meanwhile, stepped up their activities. They hired gangs to go out and follow people who visited the satsang. When they thought they could get away with it they cornered these people and threatened them with death if they were caught going to Brahma Baba in the future.

When Brahma Baba heard about this tactic, he shook his head gently. He was not angered, nor did he feel they were really malicious. "These people do not know the Supreme Father, that is why they are full of animosity and opposition. They are suspicious that I am doing all this by myself. They have no idea that I am also bound by a Godly bond. The Supreme Soul has no body of His own, so He uses this one to show the pure path; but those people do not see the soul, they see only this body. How can you blame them? It is not their fault."

The fault lay with the scriptures. Brahma Baba explained to us, "Those books appear to support lustful action. It is written, for example, that Brahma was enticed by Saraswati; that when Shankar saved Mohini, he became infatuated; that Shri Krishna stole the clothing of the Gopis. By listening to such false stories - which are only to be understood symbolically they have naturally come to the conclusion that lust must have existed since time immemorial. And yet, in the supreme of all scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita, it is explicitly stated, 'Lust is the greatest enemy'. This profound statement has been utterly forgotten, ignored by the pundits and scholars alike.

Yet, the gurus know it. That is why they run off into the jungles, away from the allure of women. The Christians know it, for they say lust is the original sin. And so Catholic priests are also celibate. The Buddhists know it and so their monks strive constantly for purity. The Jews also demand sexual restraint from their people, and orthodox married couples live according to strict rules which limit lustful relations. So it would seem that the world is well aware of the meaning and value of purity.

To his supporters, who wanted to speak out against the persecutions of the Anti-Om Mandali Party, Baba said, "Those who speak ill of us are our best friends." And in fact, though it may not yet have been apparent, Baba's children were being tested and strengthened by this challenge, after which they would never again be delicate or fearful. Only those who had been through the fire could hope to stand firm when it was time to deliver God's message to the world at large.

And it was a hot fire, indeed. The pressure from the Anti-Om Mandali Party soon increased again. Not only were the girls beaten, but now they were being forced to eat pig's meat. The men of their girls' own families forced the impure flesh down their throats. Those families which were less aggressive would call in a magician to do the dirty work. One magician specialised in removing the 'magic spell' from a woman by forcing her to lie with her arms and legs spread out beneath her own bed. He would pin her hands under the legs of the bed, and then he would sit on top of the bed and laugh at her. Other magicians copied this method, adding to it the infliction of other tortures as well.

These magicians would keep the women spread-eagled and bound in this manner for days on end, continually demanding that they renounce the path of purity. Sometimes relatives would come in and beat the girls' fingers with heavy wooden utensils (which are used in the kitchen for crushing nuts and seeds) in such a way that their fingers were senselessly crushed.

Yet the girls who were abused in this way still kept their faith with God. They could be heard singing through their tears:

Over the whole world, He rules.
The universe is His.
The Supreme Soul has come to make us pure.
While everyone was sleeping, in the dark night of the soul;
While everyone was weeping in the painful web of vice;
While the passion of Satan had made us drunk with pride;
Then the King of kings descended,
In Baba's forehead He arrived.
The light of the world has come
To light the lamp of knowledge.

You may wonder why anyone should have to suffer so much just because of the wish to observe celibacy. Especially since this virtue is glorified in religious celebrations around the world. There is equally praise for the Virgin Mary as there is for the purity of saints and sages. Plato extolled the virtues of celibacy. Adam and Eve lived in perfect, innocent purity in the Garden of Eden and it was when they ate the apple of physical desire that they were forced to flee from Paradise. Likewise, all the gods and goddesses of Hindu tradition are said to have changed from beautiful to ugly by sitting on the pyre of lust. This way, sovereignty over their senses was lost in a period universally recognised as "The Fall of Man'.

In India, virgin girls are virtually worshipped, but once they marry they are treated as servants and forced to put veils over their faces, a clear indication that they have lost their treasured purity. The virgin deities Jagadamba and Saraswati are held in the highest esteem. People come to wash their feet in adoration of their achievement of purity.

And yet, when it came to putting all this into practice, when girls told their families that they too were now becoming goddesses by practising purity of mind, speech and action, they were met with fear and hatred, and their own relatives began beating their hands with axe handles and tying them up with heavy chains.

O man! In the intoxication of your physical organs and your senses,
you act so brutally that you lose all power
to distinguish right from wrong, truth from evil.
Remember that one day your body will return to dust,
and you will eat the fruit of your impure acts.?
So why inflict such pain on these souls of the weaker sex

O man! Intoxicated with your wealth, you live a life of sensuality
and you look at the poor with hatred.
Indeed, you suck their blood.
But just remember, a day will come when everything you own
will fall into the dust
- your house, your diamonds, your gold, your life-
all will mix into the dust.
How many days are left to you?
O man, realise your self before it is too late.

And so the women sang, holding a mirror up to those who feared to see how degraded they had become. Something powerful and extraordinary was going on but it was incomprehensible to most of Sindh society.

To avoid seeing the reality of events, many people rationalised their own behaviour, until wrong seemed right. They told each other that those who listened to Brahma Baba and became celibate were mad. But who were really the madmen? Those who had found peace and happiness by taking to the path of purity and remembrance of God or those who were capable of beating their own wives and daughters and even their own mothers?

The irony of the situation was not lost neither on Brahma Baba nor his children. Those in the darkness of ignorance thought the enlightened ones were crazy, while those who had attained enlightenment felt much the same about the ones in darkness.

One sister, who was then a teenager living with her family, told how she was locked in her room each morning to prevent her from going to Baba's satsang. When her family saw her determination to forego marriage was a firm one, they began to lock her up for longer periods and to starve her. When she still held out for celibacy, they started beating her with a strap.

It was a true test for such a young girl who was accustomed to giving her family complete respect. She did not wish to disobey them even now, but the commands of God were of even greater sanctity. "I will go without eating," she told them, "and you may beat me every day if you wish, but I cannot live without the knowledge, so please permit me to go to the satsang." When they saw that their tactics were of no use, her family called in a magician. He recited incantations over her and forced her to drink enchanted water. But she smiled at him very gently, "How can your human magic oppose God's magic?" The magician understood that he was defeated, that her love was truly attached to the Highest Father, and at last he stopped trying to apply his 'magic'.

The parents let up a little and she tried again to live a normal life at home. But now her relatives and friends watched her with a different kind of look in their eyes, as if she belonged to another species. In the evenings, she sat quietly in a corner, enjoying peaceful samadhi, a state of transcendence. But this somehow triggered anger in the others. They thought of ways to create difficulties for her each time she sat to meditate, either by giving her tasks to perform or by harassing her and poking fun at her spiritual efforts. And when she sat by herself to read Shiv Baba's murli (spiritual discourse), their outrage was boundless. It was as if they felt her study of the murli as a personal attack on them. And so the beatings began again.

What kind of people are these, she wondered. What kind of world is this? What kind of age? She began to sing:

Oh, Maya¹⁷, you colourful mirage,
Why do you make people dance?
You get them drunk on the pleasures of the senses,
Til the intellect is completely spent,
Oh, why do you fill them with anger and lust?
Oh, Maya, you trap the best of people,
You make them forget their own form.
You trap them in their costumes,
And make them forget where they come from.
You grind them in the grinding wheel of sorrow.

In the Shrimad Bhagvad, a popular Indian scriptural work, there are many stories about Prince Krishna, who is there referred to as 'the Lord'. Krishna is always depicted as playing a flute. He plays it so beautifully that the Gopis, the milkmaids, go mad with love and run away from their homes to be with the Lord.

The sister later recalled:

"At that time I was remembering those stories of Krishna. I used to read them in my childhood. When the Gopis fell in love with the murli (the flute) of the Lord, their families tried to prevent them from running away to be with the flute player. Often I used to wonder how a Gopi could have heard the beautiful flute of the Lord and her husband not have heard it. Or was it that they closed their ears, that they did not like hearing that magic flute? I suddenly realised the secret contained in that ancient story: it referred to none other than this very experience I was going through. The flute of God was not a musical instrument, but rather the flute of knowledge. On hearing it, I was filled with joy and yet these relatives prevented me from going off to listen to more. They themselves could not hear the other-worldly music.

"I saw myself as a gopi of knowledge. The hidden meaning of the entire scripture was suddenly revealed to my eyes. It was the secret memorial of Shiv Baba's descent and our falling in love with the Ocean of Truth and Purity. Such understanding enabled me to tolerate all the hardship and abuse which were inflicted on me and to still keep on smiling."

But things had not reached the lowest point yet in that household. Her mother was determined to marry her off and arranged to find a husband. She persistently refused. "If marriage involves lust, it degenerates and the marriage becomes useless," the sister explained. "The marriage of my mind has been consummated with God. Where is there room for anyone else?"

Hearing this, her relatives became furious. They beat her with such brutality that she nearly lost consciousness. Her body was covered with welts. Then they threw her in a dark, damp cellar and tied her with an iron chain. As a last measure, they beat her hands with a crushing pole. Then they locked the door and left her in total darkness. She received no food, day after day, but was left alone there, bound hand and foot in that cold black dungeon.

"But for me," she recalls, "that dark room was shining with light. After two or three days went by, I did begin to feel hunger, but my faith and yearning for God had increased so much that the physical world barely affected me. Still, I began to tell Him in my mind that He should come now to protect me. He had waited long enough. 'Oh, God, help me keep my prestige among these people. Let me not give in to their tortures. You must come now and free me from this bondage.'

"Then I began to experience myself completely separating from my body. I left that dark room entirely and was transported to another time. Shri Krishna stood before me. He was playing his famous flute and the music was exquisitely beautiful. He moved with extreme grace. I had never seen anyone so lovely. I felt completely overjoyed. And then Krishna spoke to me in a soft, sweet voice. 'Now, your bondage will break very soon. So be fearless, now that I have appeared in this form.’

"During this experience I felt instant relief from both my hunger and my thirst. And my body was no longer weak. I felt great power within. My soul was recharged."

Soon thereafter, her relatives came and opened the door to the cellar. They had kept her imprisoned there for three days and they were certain that the physically frail young girl would finally agree to marriage, or anything else, in order to be released and fed. They came down the dark steps with flashlights and shined them in her face.

"Now tell us what you have decided," the father spoke. "You will agree to marry, right?" I shook my head. "Now stop being obstinate! Just say 'I will not go to Om Mandali anymore, and I will agree to marry!"

"What are you saying?" I replied. "Have you still not recognised me? Can you not understand? My devotion to God is not something you can frighten out of me. You cannot suppress true love. Even if you take my life, I do not mind. I will gain entrance into heaven, so why should I be unhappy? I am established in the remembrance of Shiv Baba, the Supreme Husband. So kill me if you wish, but please do me one favour. Take my dead body to the gate of Om Mandali."

They stared at her in amazement, they didn't know what to do. They went back up and began talking among themselves. Finally, somewhat in despair and rather angry they returned. "Is your mind not yet changed?" they asked again. "Will you really not say 'yes'?"

"I am not such a weakling as you take me to be," she answered. "I have learned to be patient, I can tolerate these atrocities because I am not alone here. God is with me. And He has made me strong. But you must be aware that you have to suffer the effects of your behaviour because my Protector is Almighty God, Himself. I feel so much compassion for you because, by not knowing God, you increase the burden of your sin more and more."

They unchained her and let her come up. But while she was showering and changing her clothes, they continued to confer. Men from the Anti-Om Mandali Party came over. They convinced the father not to give in to the 'demands' of his daughter. They appealed to his ego. Did he want to be a laughing-stock? Would he want it said that he could not control his own daughter? If he failed to dissuade her from going to the satsang, it would be a defeat for the whole group, for the whole city. And the 'evil influence' of Brahma Baba would grow. As the men spoke, the father's resolve became hardened once more. He lost perspective. The feelings of his daughter no longer mattered. He fooled himself into thinking some higher principle was involved.

Finally, he strode over to his obstinate daughter and again demanded that she agree to marry. He was ready to slap her if she refused.

"Of course I agree," she smiled. "But find me a husband who is established in the soul's true religion. He must not be an eater of meat or a drinker of wine, or one who keeps bad company. He must not be passionate or lustful. Find me such a husband, like the husband of Sita, find me one who is like Ram and I will gladly take his hand in marriage."

Her father did not know how to respond. But he felt he was being toyed with. "You will marry whomever I say," he shouted. He whipped himself into such a frenzy that soon he was beating his daughter again with his fists. She was knocked to the floor. He called his sons to come in and tie her in chains again.

There is a famous poem about the women of India. As the daughter was being carried back to lie in the darkness, she softly sang a verse from this poem:

Really, the woman of India is great.
She suffers every unhappiness yet says not a word.
She carries all the burdens.
She is patient as the earth.
Her body is as stubborn and strong,
and her mind as pure,
as the ancient Ganges.
Not only that, she takes upon herself
the punishment for the crimes committed by others,
she eases the miseries of all
who are in her care.
Truly, the woman of India
is the image of sacrifice;
in the face of that sacrifice,
the whole world must admit defeat.

She was incarcerated again and this time they let her lie there for two months, giving her only enough food to keep her alive. And she was also subject to daily torture and abuse. At last, her elder sister returned from England, where she had been studying for several years. She was shocked by what she saw and made the family release her sister immediately. But even after that, the family remained abusive.

There is another Indian ceremony that the daughter now understood. The devotees make idols of goddesses and worship them for a period of days, but then they drown those same statues in the water. It memorialises the fact that though people bow to purity, they cannot tolerate it for long when it appears among them. For in such a mirror they must see how degraded they have become, how spiritually deformed.

It has happened all through history. Shankaracharya, the founder of the Sannyasi religion, had to fight to avoid marriage. It was only by fooling his own mother that she gave him permission to live in purity. He had been wading in a lake one day while his mother was sitting on the shore, and he pretended that his leg was caught by a crocodile. His mother appealed to God to help her son, but Shankaracharya cried out, "I have heard God's voice. He says you must permit me to live in purity and only then will he save me. Hurry!" She agreed, of course, and Shankaracharya was then released from bondage.

Pressure was likewise exerted on Gautama Buddha to remain in his palace and not renounce his princely life of pleasure. But despite his father's effort, the son could not be deterred from his spiritual destiny. One day, Gautama simply left and did not return.

So, it happened here. The daughter could no longer remain in the family home. Without taking anything, not even a single suitcase, she left and went to live in Brahma Baba's house. And though he did not encourage this kind of thing, under the circumstances he would not turn her away. He gave her shelter and she was welcomed as a hero.

Other women came also, likewise involuntarily. Many wives were literally driven from their homes by their husbands. And Brahma Baba took all of them in and gave them protection and peace at last. They found where they belonged, their true home on earth, their real family - the divine family of God.

There is an old proverb which says, "For one who has no other support in the world, God is the only support and companion." Now Shiv Baba was demonstrating that truth in a practical form.

The women blossomed in Brahma Baba's place. They became teachers and true world servers; they thrived in that pure and loving environment.

FIRE!

Time is cyclic, like an endlessly repeating loop of a movie film. Each showing of the film lasts 5,000 years. We souls are the actors as well as the audience. The film script itself has four distinct parts and moves from a story of great joy to one of real sorrow. The world begins as a wonderland, the fulfilment of every dream. Castles of gold and diamonds, rivers of milk, a world of gardens and games and laughter, a royal kingdom more elevated and noble than Camelot, filled with more delights than Xanadu. A world of pure human beings, innocent of disharmony or any vice. Truly a golden age.

The population is quite small, less than a million inhabitants at the beginning, and we are sovereign over the entire world. There is no one else. We grow quite old and never experience a day or even moment of illness or unhappiness of any sort. When it is time to leave our bodies, at the ripe age of a hundred and fifty years, we receive a vision of our next life and the happiness it contains, and we leave in peace for a new adventure.

Gradually, the world gets older, the population increases and a new dynasty takes over from the dynasty of the Sun. Replacing Lakshmi and Narayan, Ram and Sita take their places on the throne. After eight generations and a thousand two hundred and fifty years, the golden age has come to its peaceful conclusion and, now begins the dynasty of the Moon, the silver age.

The empire has by now grown greatly in size but it is still united. There are many smaller kingdoms within it, each lesser king offering complete loyalty to the ruling family. There is still happiness and no war, no quarrels, no sickness, no misfortune. But the world is just a little older, the degree of purity is slightly less. And so it passes, in a stately dance, one generation following another, until twelve succeeding births have been taken and another 1,250 years have passed by on the cosmic clock.

Something untoward happens then. We souls begin to lose our sparkle and our divinity. We begin to be attracted to one another physically. We lose the consciousness that we are immortal souls. We fall into vices.

We, who were deities, fall and when we do, the earth is violently affected. Earthquakes and floods destroy the kingdoms, washing away all trace of them. People scatter and it takes them years to begin rebuilding what was lost. And even then, it cannot really be done. For the ability, the knowledge, the purity, have all been lost.

In this way, we begin to do penance, to find out from deep within ourselves what went wrong and how to set it right. From a deep unconscious residue within our memory, we recall the One who had created that world of deities - it had been God, the Incorporeal Supreme Soul Shiva. And so we build temples to Him, invoking Him to return, to help us re-create our paradise once more.

But it is too difficult to remember a bodiless Spirit. And so we begin as well to build temples to the deities - to Lakshmi and Narayan, then to Ram and Sita. And later, to many others. We have forgotten that these deities are but our former selves. The worship in time grows more and more adulterated. This is the copper age. Even now, well after the Fall, India is still fabulously wealthy but, in comparison to what had been, it has nothing. And now customs begin to harden while foreign armies steal the treasures. India is quickly becoming a backwater. Rituals keep up the memory of the glorious times now past but nothing new is being created. The Sannyasi cult keeps alive the tradition and value of purity, and scriptures keep the people mindful of right rules of living, pure diet, meditation, etc. but the knowledge of God has been lost and so people continue to gradually decline.

It is a time for others to arise and take centre stage in the world drama, for, during the destruction following the end of the silver age, the continents split apart and many tribes began to develop, each with knowledge of a little piece of the puzzle of the world cycle. The continent of North America rose from beneath the oceans and waited for its own Indians to come and settle there.

The first great prophet, Abraham, came at this time. He saw the people of India worshipping deities and he knew that this was wrong, that only God the Father should be worshipped and no other. So he headed west toward a promised land of his own and began what became both the Jewish and Islamic religions. He built a temple to Shiva in Mecca, where Mohammed later worshipped. And he established sovereignty over Canaan, which became the home of the Jews. The deities had been called 'the Elohim', but now that plural word began to refer to God alone.

Egyptian culture also recalled the dynasties of the ancient deities. In fact, they too called themselves the gods of the Sun. Their pyramids were representations in stone of a point of light radiating downward from the sky.

The city states of Greece began to appear and great thinkers there discussed the nature of reality. Yes, there had been deities at one time ruling the earth. They understood. The Greeks began to worship them as well and they wove many stories about those elevated ones, whom they called the gods of Olympus. The Greek philosophers developed many theories regarding the soul, the cosmos, and God. Some were remarkably accurate, some far off the mark. The value of purity was still recognised, though by the time of Plato, it was already conceded that only a rare and wise person would attain that state.

The power of the souls declined steadily. The Greeks fell and Romans took their place. The Hebrews had produced many great prophets and a short-lived kingdom of significant spiritual power. But decline set in there as well and wars increased. Their religion began to harden into legalism.

Another prophet, Christ, descended. He galvanised many into a new manifestation of spirituality. In time, this religion took hold of the failing Roman Empire and, eventually, the domination of all of Europe. This religion mistook a bodily being for God, just as the people of India had mistaken the deities for the Supreme Father, but the Christians had other knowledge which was quite accurate, notably that concerning the coming of a Day of Judgement and about the kingdom of heaven to follow. They waited for Christ to come again. They did not realise that the part of 'the son of God' was over but the part of God Himself was yet to come.

In time, peoples of the world had all received their prophets. Populations began to increase dramatically, as did wars and other vicious actions. Under the guise of religion, people forced each other to submit to domination. Whole nations were looted and pillaged and the inhabitants forcibly converted.

So began the iron age. There were seemingly auspicious moments, such as a renaissance in Europe, when art and science began to flourish, as well as exploration of the world. But the intention was profit and, as greed expanded, so did arrogance and anger. Atrocities committed upon conquered people became ever more commonplace.

Science began its triumphant movement. The knowledge of the soul was lost almost entirely but now the knowledge of the physical world expanded to enable tremendous growth of empires. Firearms and other weaponry advanced, urbanisation followed industrialisation; corrupt kings were being replaced by democratic rule, the rule of subjects over subjects.

India was conquered first by the Muslims and later by the British. Finally that ancient land began to wake up. Mahatma Gandhi led the Indians to independence from foreign rule but not to independence from vices. That task would require the intervention of God.

Wars meantime became even more widespread and brutal. At the same time, people loudly declared that they were progressing, evolving to some higher level. The truth was they had been in decline for nearly two and a half thousand years and were about to burn down the entire earth.

Nuclear weapons were developed and the nations of the world became obsessed with possessing these destructive devices. Evil was coming to a climax in the world and at the same time the power of God was making itself felt in a secret way. Who would have believed that He had descended at this terrible time in an out-of-the-way place, teaching people to be pure? And that those teachings would transform the universe? But so it was.

Fire!

And just as people were in the process of setting the world on fire, so the impure souls of Hydrabad were attempting to burn down the house of God. When they saw that their strategy to harass was not working, violent action was the next step they attempted. They were caught in the grip of anger.

Ironically, these people of the Anti-Om Mandali Party were set upon destroying the only institution finally capable of bringing them happiness. In a world at war, God was teaching the way to peace. But unable to grasp this deeper truth, they attacked. Their plan was to set fire to the building where Brahma Baba's satsang was held. Since they had not succeeded in preventing their women from going there, they would at least burn down the house where they gathered.

Yet they were afraid of Brahma Baba, too. Deep down they knew it was a divine power which issued from him. So they waited to carry out their plan until a day when Brahma Baba was not present. Then they called together their forces. A great crowd gathered and surrounded Satsang Bhavan¹⁸. They shouted vulgar expletives and began throwing stones. They broke windows and tore down gates.

Moment by moment, the crowd grew more wild, until it went completely out of control. More and more people joined the mob, wielding sticks and other weapons. They began to make efforts to get inside the house. But the powerful little mothers, the Shiv Shakti Army, stood courageously in the doorways and these groups of two or three women successfully held their posts. Not a single vandal was able to get past them. And the look in these women's eyes was so strong, so terrifying, that the vandals backed away.

Instead of rushing in, then, they set fire to the house from the outside, hurling torches through windows from all sides.

They did not care that in the house were many daughters, wives, mothers and other relatives of their own families who would burn alive in the conflagration. Their minds were numb with anger. The leaders of the crowd attempted at the last minute to prevent them from going through with the deadly attack, but it was too late. The mob was out of control.

Fortunately, one observer rang the police when the torch throwing began, who came quickly and dispersed the crowd, while the fire brigade put out the blaze¹⁹. Damage had been done physically, but the institution had only been strengthened spiritually. The incident of the fire, as well as other incidents, has been described in the Mahabharat scripture.

Through all of these events, Brahma Baba remained free of worry. He was ever the detached observer. "We are only the servants of the Father; He will make everything all right. Many tests will come on this path but, if we keep firm faith in Shiv Baba, in the world drama and in the self, we shall be victorious. The boat of truth may shake, but it does not sink."

Inspired by Brahma Baba's example as well as by the knowledge, the brothers and sisters even the youngest were practising detachment from the world. They were experiencing daily the truth and the practical value of Baba's teachings and in so doing, they had become far wiser than their years.

THE PANDAVS AND THE KAURAVS

The meditation hall of Satsang Bhavan was ruined by the fire. So the gatherings were moved to another building named 'Om Nivas', where the work of the institution continued as before.

Om Nivas was a very large bhavan and, for a time, it housed not only the satsang but the children's school as well. Brahma Baba also lived there. The atmosphere was quiet and the vibrations peaceful. The study and inculcation of knowledge went on at a fast pace with excellent results.

At 5.30 one morning, the young girls who lived at Om Nivas went out for a bus ride with their teachers. Such field trips were a common part of the school's routine. But on this occasion, while the girls were out, the followers of the 'Anti' Party arrived and surrounded the building. A classic confrontation was about to ensue.

The 'Anti' Party had been considering, ever since their attempted arson, what approach might have better success. The attack with torches had backfired and people of the town had turned against them for their violence. So they came up with a new tactic they would imitate Mahatma Gandhi, who even at that time was becoming known for his use of non-violent picketing in order to win India's independence from Britain. To use such an approach in these circumstances, against a spiritual gathering which was harming no one and was itself teaching the highest ideals of non-violence, was a deep irony. But the committee felt they could gain popular support from such a ruse and force Om Mandali to give in to their demands.

To gain maximum effect, they used their power to persuade the leaders of the Panchayat, the local government, to lead the picket in order to give the event an air of credibility. They also made sure the newspapers would pick up the story.

So at 7.00am²⁰, when the sisters and brothers of the family arrived for the satsang to hear the murli, they found a large crowd of people blocking the road to the entrance. Om Nivas was surrounded on all sides by picketers. In front were the Panchayat members and the leaders of the 'Anti' Party. Many businessmen stood among them and there were women there as well. On each side were large numbers of paid demonstrators and general mischief-makers. At the main gate, fifteen or twenty individuals lay down across the road blocking the entrance to vehicles.

The first group to have arrived at the satsang at 7am were mostly mothers and adult men. They stood peacefully in a single line opposite the demonstrators. They did not attempt to move past them or in any way provoke those people. Non-violence would be met by non- violence, just as violence had previously been met by non-violence.

This first group was soon joined by a second. The young girls who had gone for a morning bus ride returned. When they saw the pickets, they got down from the bus and also stood in line among their brothers and sisters. They looked with love at the demonstrators, sending them vibrations of peace and harmony. They wanted only to go inside, to hear the words of God and to learn how to live the highest kind of life.

The demonstrators refused to let them pass, telling them to return home. The sisters and brothers of Om Mandali were greatly outnumbered by the picketers and so their demand for the students to end the teaching and practice of purity must have sounded absurd even to the picketers' own ears. How could such an injustice be committed so openly? It was a scene out of the Gita on one side was the Kaurav Army - the forces of the anti-religious, the immoral, and the unjust; on the other side was the Pandav/Shakti Army, the forces of purity and holiness. And inside, observing the two sides lined up for battle, was Arjuna, the first among pure souls that is, Brahma Baba, and with him was God Himself, Shiv Baba, who counselled that this confrontation must go on. Evil must be defeated, publicly as well as privately.

The battle seemed one-sided. Yet help was coming from within Om Nivas. The women inside began to sing:

O Man, what are you doing with your time?
Where do you want to go?
From which country have you come?
Where were you before you came upon this earth?

Your childhood is over, youth slips away so fast,
Old age brings you to the end -
After that, what happens? Do you know?

Do you know where you are going?
Do you know from where you came?
What are you thinking while you stand there?

You who do not know even a little of the truth,
Why do you oppose God's Knowledge?
You are filled with the pride of wealth and power,
But you do not in fact have either.

The true path can be shown by only One.
So understand the meaning of each act that you perform.
Don't waste your time.

O Man, what future are you seeking?
What income are you making?

O Man, join your intellect with God,
Take the endless treasure that your Father offers.
Don't forfeit bliss for the false allure of Maya.

The picketers heard the songs and there was nothing they could say. The mothers sang in such a sweet range of voices that even the hardest hearts had to admit their gentle beauty. And the little girls who stood in the line outside, wearing their uniforms and shining with yoga power, who could look at such souls and see an enemy? Who could look these mothers in the eye and consider as evil their desire for purity? Who could tell these brothers that their wish to remain celibate was wrong?

Both sides stood their ground: the pickets because they were under obligation or were being paid; the sisters and brothers of Om Mandali because nothing could keep them from being with God.

Time passed. Soon the whole city became aware of this confrontation and crowds of curious onlookers arrived to observe. Everywhere the question was debated - who will win this battle of wills?

As the news of the picketing spread throughout the town, it reached even the ears of those girls and women who were locked in their rooms by their families. And somehow, even those who were locked in with ten locks found a way to escape. Using all of their tricks and with Shiv Baba's help, they managed to get out of their houses and run to Om Nivas. One of those who escaped her house arrest was Gopi, who was the granddaughter of a famous businessman. (The story of Gopi's visions was told earlier.) Now she ran to join her sisters in need.

When Gopi arrived at the scene, her grandfather was standing atop a platform, delivering a speech to the gathered crowd. He loudly praised the picketers for having the courage to keep their daughters locked away, despite the seeming harshness of such a measure, since "it was for the girls' own good". With great pride he announced that he himself had locked away both his daughters and his granddaughter, imprisoning them with thirteen locks inside a room of his house. He boasted that even if they made superhuman effort, they would not be able to come out. In the midst of these boasts, his granddaughter suddenly appeared before him. She smiled sweetly. The man's jaw dropped, his eyes seemed to pop out of his head. This was too much for him. He was taken completely by surprise, and before he could think of anything to say, the onlookers had recognised Gopi and they began to laugh uproariously.

The day turned out to be a hot one. As time wore on, the picketers began to tire. They drank gallons of soda water and iced tea. Some took beer. Occasionally, one of them went over to offer a drink of some sort to the school girls in the opposite line. Many of those girls were very young and it was clearly hard on their bodies to stand in the sun for hours on end. But the girls refused to accept any food or drink from an impure person. They stayed in meditation and, eventually, the Kauravs' resolve began to weaken.

The picketers tried to save face by telling the young girls they could go inside. But they refused to budge until the picketers had removed themselves. The demonstrators realised that the girls would stay all night if need be. And the crowd was now siding with those heroic little females. Slowly, the number of picketers decreased, as one by one they crept away. At last the leaders told them all to go home. The battle had ended for the day.

It was a victory for the Pandav/Shakti Army. But this was only one small battle in a protracted war. The next day, the picketers returned. They had decided that this time no matter what happened, they would let no one enter Om Nivas. Out of curiosity, thousands of people turned out to watch. But the second day ended much like the first, with Brahma Baba's children holding their ground and outlasting the picketers.

The Mukhi and his henchmen were desperate to defeat these unlikely warriors of purity. So, on the third day, they came prepared for violence. Tension mounted as the day progressed. The picketers dressed in black, the Pandavs wore white. The picketers tried to provoke the Pandavs into doing or saying something that could be used as an excuse to start a fight. But Brahma Baba's children would not rise to the bait.

On orders from the 'Anti' Party, thugs began to infiltrate the crowd of onlookers, roughing up those who sided with the Godly army. Finally, the Sindh Government Officer intervened (which he ought to have done three days earlier) and stopped the picketing from continuing.

Some of the wiser leaders in the city finally started saying that the Anti-Om Mandali Party had gone too far, that they should not harass small children. Well-known individuals wrote articles condemning the group's tactics, denouncing especially the use of force.

Under pressure, the District Magistrate took court action against the trouble-makers, under Rules 112 and 107. But five individuals from Om Mandali were also cited under these rules. One of the five was Brahma Baba.

The charge against the five was 'disturbing the peace', which was preposterous under the circumstances. A mob had laid siege, unprovoked, on Baba's house. They had thrown stones and attempted to set the building on fire. No member of Om Mandali had ever raised their voice in retaliation. They did no more than stand in their own doorways to protect the premises.

Such is the injustice that prevails in the present iron age. Innocent victims are punished along with the perpetrators of the harm.

Of course, the 'Om Mandali case' was appealed. The decision²¹ was written by a high court judge and members of the judicial commission. The district magistrate's decision against Om Mandali and his flimsy arguments were stringently criticised. The opinion concluded that the law had been wrongly applied.

Om Mandali had simply been working according to its religious beliefs, in a peaceful manner, the opinion stated. It was the others who had broken the peace. And if the lower court's ruling was allowed to stand, the opinion noted, then social reformers everywhere would be severely threatened. In short, the government finally admitted that no crime had been committed by Om Mandali. They had been unjustly harmed and were innocent of any wrong-doing.

GOD: THE DESTROYER OF OBSTACLES

For the sake of restoring a peaceful atmosphere, Brahma Baba re- located the satsang to Karachi. Om Mandali informed its members that they would be allowed to stay at the new location only if they brought specific letters of permission from the heads of their households. A number of sisters and brothers obtained such letters immediately and moved to the new city to be with Brahma Baba. Eventually, most of Brahma Baba's children had found a way to get there.

Brahma Baba made all the arrangements for their stay in Karachi. He purchased five bungalows in a secluded and peaceful area. The bungalows were named Baby Bhavan, Boys Bhavan, Prem Bhavan, Radha Bhavan, and Om Nivas.

The school was re-opened almost without a break and the daily program for children went on much as before, but now they awoke earlier at 3.30am sitting in a peaceful samadhi for an hour, and then discussed the deep subjects of God's knowledge. Worldly subjects began after breakfast.

One day, the children's yoga power was put to the test by an accident. Many of the young girls had been travelling by bus, when a tyre blew. The driver lost control and the bus turned over. Nearly all the girls were injured.

Passers by ran to the scene. They expected the children to be shrieking, moaning, and crying for their parents. But, the girls made not even a sound. Neither did they weep. No sign of the slightest anxiety could be seen on their faces. They had automattically gone into deep meditation.

When people asked how they felt, they answered simply, "I am a soul. I am peaceful."

Ambulances took them to hospital. Some were given first aid and released. Those who were more seriously injured were admitted for treatment. One young girl even had an arm severed in the accident but was quite calm and unaffected. The doctors and nurses were amazed at the extraordinary mental balance of these children. Not a trace of unhappiness crossed their faces, nor did they utter a single complaint.

One girl, the least injured, went to tell Brahma Baba what had happened. He too, remained completely calm and detached. "All right, daughter," he said, "whatever was destined has happened. I will come to the hospital."

First he went to the scene of the accident, then on to the hospital, where he greeted all his children, checking their mental state as well as their physical condition. By his smile and his sweet words he reassured them all. Brahma Baba saw that each was soul-conscious, peaceful and unconcerned about pain. They had acquired much yoga power in a short time.

This was published in the newspapers and became a topic of conversation throughout India - how even small children, by practising Raja Yoga, could experience great pain without losing their equanimity.

THE OPPOSITION STRIKES AGAIN

Meanwhile, the women who had been unable to follow Brahma Baba to Karachi languished in their homes. They found it difficult to remain separated from the satsang but their relatives forbade them to leave Hydrabad for even a short visit to Om Mandali.

These 'gopis' (lovers of God) began to meet together to meditate and to discuss points of knowledge. Letters often came from Brahma Baba and they read them aloud to one another, taking courage from his gentle wisdom. But their feelings ran deep. To wait 5,000 years to meet God, only to be separated from Him by ignorant relatives, was to them, a tragedy.

One day they could take it no longer. Fifteen women got together and decided to break their bonds. They hurriedly packed a few clothes and left for Karachi.

The women wrote to their relatives when they got there, "We have all reached here safely. Do not worry about us."

But for the 'Anti Party, it was the last straw. They were determined to put an end to this situation. The families of those daughters and wives who had gone to Brahma Baba met with the heads of the 'Anti' Party and decided to strike immediately. First, they raised a large fund with which to pay off various officials and thus create a favourable climate for their attack.

In their hearts, these families probably knew that their daughters had been justified in leaving but they couldn't admit it to themselves. The girls had suffered abuse for months on end without giving in to anger. Yet they never stopped wanting to learn more of the knowledge and seeking a pure environment to live in. They never lessened their devotion to God. And now they were liberated. But they had left without permission and it was a bitter blow to the family heads. They sought revenge upon the only target they could think of.

The 'Anti' Party began by applying pressure on the Ministry of Sindh, made up of both Hindu and Muslim officials. The Hindu ministers were instructed to pressure the Prime Minister.

They met with him and said they would resign immediately if he did not order a prohibition of Om Mandali. If these Hindu ministers resigned, everyone knew, the ministry itself would be broken.

The Prime Minister could not issue such a prohibition, though, for he knew it would not hold up and could backfire on him. But he could look the other way while the 'Anti' Party used its own means of 'prohibiting' the spiritual group.

The 'Anti' Party next approached the editors of the Karachi newspapers. They seduced them with offers of money, while subtly threatening to undermine their advertising revenues if the paper refused to side with them.

False and malicious articles began appearing about Om Mandali. Editorials suggested it be boycotted and investigated by the authorities concerning various fabricated accusations.

Baba's children were also harassed by hired thugs. On several occasions they were physically beaten by such people. But the sisters and brothers remained undaunted.

Finally, a major lawsuit came to trial. An irate husband took legal action demanding his conjugal rights. The entire community had taken sides over this case.

The 'Anti' Party hired a well-known lawyer to prosecute the case. They focused their efforts on ridiculing Om Mandali in court. Their prime target was Om Radhe, the young administrative head of the institution. If she could be made to look foolish or worse on the witness stand, a great deal would have been accomplished.

Om Radhe was a young woman, inexperienced, and unused to speaking in public. Yet she was made of steel, was virtuous and of course she was completely loyal to God and His medium. She represented the practical demonstration of the power of the knowledge.

Would she falter under cross-examination? Could they make her say things she didn't mean? Could they put the institution in a bad light? Many were eager to find out.

It was a curious scene that took place in that courtroom in Hydrabad. No one among the onlookers or officials were prepared for what happened.

Five sisters including Om Radhe received passes to the court. When their car arrived in front of the judicial building, police protection was required to keep the crowds of people under control. It seemed as if everyone in the district had shown up for the event. Even the police inspector and most of the local government heads were present.

The sisters were escorted into the main courtroom, a large hall that was completely filled with people. Not even standing room was left in the gallery. Most of those outside would never even get a glimpse of the trial itself. The court had not yet come into session and the noise of the crowds was deafening.

However, as soon as Om Radhe and the other sisters entered the hall, silence fell over the gathering. All eyes focused on the young women in their white saris as they walked calmly down the aisle.

Their every movement was watched and weighed. How would these people who claimed to be studying under God Himself hold up under scrutiny and pressure? How powerful was their magic? The onlookers were in awe of the calmness of their faces and they wondered: Is it possible that what they say is true? Has God Shiva incarnated in the body of Brahma Brahma? If so, will God protect them in their hour of need?

The sisters were serene as they waited for the scene to be played out. They understood this world to be simply a drama, a vast cinematic epic of defeat and victory. And they knew the beginning, the middle and the end of this world drama - a five thousand year play which would continue to repeat eternally. With God's knowledge as their shield, they remained detached from the events before them, theatre-goers having come to see the show.

"Why should we have been afraid of anything?" BK Prakashmani, one of the sisters present, recounted later. "We bore no ill-will toward anyone. We had received from God the greatest gift anyone could imagine and we were only on His service. We spread complete peace and tranquillity throughout that courtroom."

The judge gave them special chairs to sit on. He seemed entranced by Om Radhe's appearance. And indeed her demeanour was absolutely royal. In her white sari, she looked so innocent and noble, so completely out of place in a modern courtroom.

The proceedings got under way, the lawyers acted out their parts, presenting their various motions and sundry formalities before the court but it all seemed unreal, merely a prelude to something of real significance. The atmosphere in the court was tangible.

Time became unreliable. It must have been a good deal later but it seemed only a moment had passed when Om Radhe was called to the witness box. Then the following dialogue took place-

Judge:

"First, you must take the Gita in your hand and say under oath that you will tell the truth."

Radhe:

"What is the oath and what is to be spoken?"

Judge:

"Take the Gita in your hand and say: I believe God to be omnipresent and whatever I say will be the truth."

Radhe:

"Judge Saheb, I see that you are present. But I do not know if God is present here. I am not able to see God with these physical eyes, so how can I take an oath that I see God in your presence? I only see your soul in the form of a judge. So if you agree, I am prepared to take this oath that I see a soul in the form of you, Judge, as present and, whatever I say will be the truth."

Upon hearing this strange answer, the people in the court exclaimed in surprise. Many started laughing. Some approved of Om Radhe's remarks and showed their support by clapping. Some said aloud, "True, true," or "She is right".

The judge had never encountered such a situation before. He became a little angry and pounded his gavel. "Order! Order!" he declared. The crowd quietened once more.

Judge: (looking at Radhe)

"I am not God, so you need not take my oath. To take this oath in the name of God is the rule of the court and we cannot break it."

Radhe: (humbly and quietly)

"Judge Saheb, you have said to tell the truth. In truth, I do not see that God is omnipresent. In fact, I see that in everyone's mind there is anger, greed, even lust. If I am not able to see God, how can I take a false oath?"

Judge:

"This is a court, not a satsang. You need not give knowledge to me. Here, this is the rule of law; and if you break this law you will be tried for insulting the court."

Radhe: (fearlessly)

"Just as you are not able to tolerate an insult to this court, I am not able to tolerate an insult to the Supreme Father of the world. Even in the Gita, God has said, 'Whenever there is the darkness of irreligion, I descend'. Then how is it possible that God could be omnipresent in this world? The Supreme One is Knowledge, Joy and Love personified. He is the Ocean of Peace and stability. In all others, there is today the domination of vices - anger, greed, lust; there are storms of passion and mental instability; there is peacelessness and ignorance. So how can the Supreme Father be present in everyone?"

The Judge did not know how to reply. Silence filled the courtroom. Om Radhe had spoken with such authority and such obvious love of God that no one could oppose her or even wish to. Even the 'Anti' Party representatives who were present seemed touched by her words. But the judge was bound by the law and so he had to act accordingly. At last, he said-

Judge:

"Regardless of what you believe, the rules of the court must be obeyed. There are no exceptions."

Radhe:

"Judge Saheb, I will not take a false oath under any circumstances."

Judge:

"Still, I am going to give you time to think it over. Then I will ask you once more."

Radhe:

"I have already thought over it."

The judge was in a quandary. He sized up the young woman before him and decided that she could be frightened into taking the oath, so little did he understand. He ordered the bailiff to place handcuffs on her. The officer approached Radhe with his handcuffs; she stood fearlessly and faced him. The people in the hall held their breath. Could such a soul really be subdued?

At the last moment, the judge ordered the officer to stop. He saw the threat was of no use. The officer retreated to the back of the hall as the audience applauded.

The judge gave up on the idea of taking the oath from Om Radhe. God had kept up the prestige of Draupadi in the council of the Kauravas²²".

But now the examination began in earnest, and the judge himself led the questioning.

Judge:

"Why did you girls leave your homes and run away to Brahma Baba?"

Radhe:

"Judge Saheb, have you ever read the Shrimat Bhagvad scripture? When the Lord played His flute, why did the Gopis run to Him intoxicated? Why were not cases filed against them in court? The flute referred to in the scripture is actually the same Flute of Wisdom that we are hearing through the mouth of Baba. It is the incomparable knowledge of God.

"Let me ask you, Judge Saheb, if a man leaves his family and takes sannyas (religious vows), why is no legal case ever filed against him? In the eyes of God, men and women are equal. Now God has put the urn of knowledge on the heads of women. So when we mothers have the opportunity of attaining purity and wisdom, naturally we cannot refuse. Why does not everyone rejoice over such new found purity and elevation? Why are these questions put to us? The answer is clear, Judge Saheb. Whatever difficulties have been put in our path, whatever hardships and abuses have been inflicted upon us by our own relatives and friends, all are a reaction to our purity."

The judge continued to put the sharpest questions he could think of to Om Radhe, but she turned all the points back with forthright and knowledgeable replies.

Judge:

"What kind of 'eye lotion' does Baba apply to your eyes?"

Radhe:

"Judge Saheb, have you read the scriptures?"

Judge:

"Yes, I have read some".

Radhe: "Then you must know that Gyan (Godly knowledge) is indeed described in just such a term. There is a song which begins, 'Gyan Anjan Satguru Diya Agyan Andher Vinash'. (Translation: When the Satguru, the Supreme Soul, applied the lotion of knowledge, the ignorance and darkness of souls were destroyed.) It is just that lotion of knowledge which God is now dispensing once more."

Judge: "How many children has Dadaji?"

Radhe: "Judge Saheb, we do not look to Dadaji. Our revelations come from the Supreme Soul, who happens to have descended into his body. So you tell me, how many children does God have? Can any human being count them? He is the Lord of the three worlds. All souls are His children. Not only am I or those who attend this satsang His children but you, Sir, are also His child."

The judge wrote down all these answers to his questions. At the end, he said nothing, but simply excused the witness. But as Om Radhe returned from the stand, the gallery began again to applaud her. Before leaving the courtroom, all the sisters took respectful leave of the judge, inviting him to meet Brahma Baba on some future occasion.

As they exited from the hall, newspaper reporters, who rushed up to ask more questions, besieged them. The sisters replied to all of them with warmth and depth. Then they stepped into their waiting car and that scene was brought to a close.

"Next morning," recalls Dadi Prakashmani, "we returned to Karachi. There we reported everything to Brahma Baba. But before we had even reached him, he had learned of everything through the newspapers. Now he was in the silent witness state, completely free of care, and he smiled sweetly at us. That smile told us more than any words could, how we had done and how we must continue."

A SADHU'S POOR JUDGEMENT

Baba's children were blossoming like spiritual flowers. They went out happily on their first expedition on God's service, that is, to offer the knowledge to others.

But the enemies of Om Mandali had not given up. In their frustration, they fell to even meaner ways of preventing Baba's message from spreading. They succeeded in terrifying one sadhu,

T.L. Vaswani, who was then drawn into their party. The story took place in Karachi. T.L. Vaswani was a well-known sadhu who had opened a school called 'Mira's²³ Witness' There he held a regular satsang. He had been approached on several occasions by members of the 'Anti' Party who whispered false accusations about Om Mandali. Sadhu Vaswani believed the accusations, as he had heard no reports from the other side, and those who had condemned Om Mandali were considered reputable people. Taking the slander for truth, the sadhu agreed to join in picketing against Baba's children.

One day Brahma Baba asked Sister Chandramani to visit the sadhu and talk about the spiritual perspective. She went with several others and asked the sadhu to please visit Om Mandali for himself before picketing against it.

"Ask those who experience the satsang," the sister counselled Vaswani. "Do not judge us on the basis of hearsay told by prejudiced people. It would be wrong to create an uproar without knowing the truth."

He listened carefully and he agreed the sisters were right. He was impressed with these young women who spoke so straightforwardly and with such conviction, whose behaviour reflected the kind of training which could only be called 'religious' in the original sense. These women were following dharma, the path of righteousness. But what about their beliefs? The sadhu questioned Sister Chandramani about the knowledge.

She explained with great clarity many points that are considered mysteries by Hindus. The key to the scriptures was revealed and a logical, integrated picture of reality emerged from the maze of vedantic speculation. Vaswani was astounded.

Then the other sisters spoke of their experiences at Om Mandali, of their visions and realisations and of the achievement of purity. They explained the high aim of the knowledge that God had revealed and how the world was being transformed as a result.

The sadhu became very happy. In fact, he was so overjoyed when the sisters invited him on behalf of Brahma Baba to visit Om Mandali, that he jumped up and said, "All right, I will come with you right now!"

He prepared to accompany the sisters in their car, stopping only to tell his followers where he was going. But some of them were closely allied to the 'Anti Party, and objected immediately. Nonetheless, the sadhu headed for the car where the sisters were already waiting.

His disciples quickly created an uproar. They surrounded the car before it could leave the driveway. "We will not allow you to go!" they shouted at him, as if he were the disciple rather than the teacher.

"Do not be afraid," he responded gently, "I will be back in one hour".

But the students feared that if he went to Om Mandali, he would be awestruck by Brahma Baba and would remain there and join his satsang and then what would happen to all of them? They sensed the situation was critical and they would not move out of the way. In the end the disciples succeeded in forcing Vaswani to change his mind. He got down from the car to placate his followers. Before going back to his house, he said to the sisters, "Tell Baba I am keen to meet him but I won't be able to come just now. I will surely come some other day, as soon as possible."

But his students, along with the businessmen of the 'Anti' Party, began immediately to work on him and soon his old doubts about Om Mandali returned. He again began to believe the lies that he was told about the institution. He completely forgot the joy he had felt in the presence of the Brahma Kumaris and their high aim and unique knowledge.

Sadhu Vaswani was a good man but he was weak. His false friends manipulated him to such an extent that the next week he joined them in a mob attack on Om Mandali. Thousands had gathered outside Om Nivas (the main building). They hurled themselves upon the property, ripping up the gardens, smashing windows, and even using a battering ram to break down a wall of the house. As they began to pour through the breach in the wall, the police finally arrived and drove them away. Many were arrested, Vaswani among them. The police took him away in their van.

TRIBUNAL

Vaswani was a sincere devotee of Krishna. He was well-meaning and had great faith in the Gita. People had sold him false ideas about Om Mandali but if he had come even once to see Baba and hear him explain his principles, he would never have picketed against the spiritual university. He would have been pleased in the extreme with Brahma Baba's work.

But now, because of his picketing and arrest, the atmosphere had become charged with hostility. The 'Anti' Party took advantage of the situation to fan the flames even higher.

They put pressure on the Sindh government to issue a prohibiting order against Om Mandali. The Hindu officials gave in to the pressure and began in turn to threaten the Muslim members of the coalition. The Hindus declared they would resign if no order was issued. Should they resign, the government would fall.

But the chief minister responded courageously in a speech to parliament. He said straightforwardly, "The Hindu members of the ministry have given us notice they will resign but we are not going to be pressured by such threats. Everyone has a legal right to worship God according to his own belief. Under which law can Om Mandali be prohibited?"

He reminded his listeners that the great spiritual movements of the past had always begun with very few people and that the great leaders were often persecuted. Such was the case now with Baba. The minister said clearly that whatever rightful demands were made of Baba had been met and in reality it is the hate-ridden Anti-Om Mandali Committee which, if anyone, ought to be prohibited. The speech was delivered on 26 March, 1939 in the Sindh Parliament.

In the end, however, when he saw that his ministry was being broken over the issue, his brave front was shaken and he had to compromise. The government appointed a fact-finding tribunal.

When the composition of the tribunal was revealed, then the true state of the world's justice became clear. Only friends of the 'Anti' Party were included on the panel.

One of the members was the chairman of the Sindh Observer, the newspaper which from the beginning had taken the side of the 'Anti' Party. The others had similar ties.

Brahma Baba's children requested that more impartial members be appointed. In addition, they asked that efforts be made to quieten the local atmosphere before undertaking the investigation, and that Rule 166, which had been imposed, should be withdrawn so that Om Mandali members could meet among themselves and could see a lawyer.

Brahma Baba's children asked for the right to have an attorney present at the hearings because the sisters of Om Mandali were ignorant of the law's rules and procedures. They also asked that the tribunal be given authority to call witnesses. The sisters suggested also that it would only be fair for the tribunal to reveal beforehand its method of operation and scope of inquiry.

But the government took no notice of Om Mandali's suggestions. All were refused. The sisters were not allowed to employ an attorney. A very oppressive atmosphere was created. Om Mandali's representatives were not even allowed to talk among themselves at the hearing. So in the end, Om Mandali declined to be present when the tribunal convened.

Many members of Om Mandali had written to the tribunal individually stating they wanted to come and explain the ideas and action of that organisation. But though they belonged to prestigious families, still none of them was called as a witness.

At last, without hearing anything from Om Mandali or receiving any evidence from those who supported its work, the tribunal rendered an ex parte decision: the members of Om Mandali should no longer be allowed to stay together. The tribunal recommended all the members be forced to separate immediately.

It was indeed a strange decision that caused an uproar the government was not prepared for. The recommendation was strange not merely because the members of Om Mandali were like one large and close-knit family but because Om Mandali was actually composed of whole clans as well as unattached individuals. Many families came as a group to the daily satsang. Should these households be forced to scatter? Should wife be separated from husband? Should a son be made to live apart from his parents? The tribunal was unconcerned with these human realities and was clearly biased against even the most elementary rights of those who belonged to Om Mandali.

Even the press came down with scathing criticisms of the tribunal's opinion. And many educated people wrote letters to the editors protesting the injustice. "Everyone should have freedom of religion," began one letter by a local dignitary. The letter was sent to the governor. It discussed the law under which Om Mandali was asked to disperse and clearly showed that the law was meant to apply only to subversive, troublesome political groups; it had nothing to do with a spiritual institution like Om Mandali. Clearly, the members of this organisation were peace-loving, religious and social reformers. "They ought to be encouraged, not made to disband," the letter concluded. But where is justice in the present world? Not heeding even the high court's opinion, the frightened politicians oppressed the satsang to save their ministry.

Om Mandali was not informed of the content of the tribunal's deliberations. They were refused a transcript of the hearings or even a summary. They could not learn who had been called as witnesses or what their testimonies were. In addition, no reasons were given as to why the decision came out the way it did, nor on what charges it was based, nor what proof was presented. In short, justice had not been awarded.

When the first storms passed though, the situation improved. The Chief Minister, having done what he had to in order to pacify the forces of the 'Anti' Party, advised Om Mandali informally that they could keep four or five bungalows located near each other and that, if they maintained a low profile, they could go on with their satsang. The protests and pressures would die down in a little while, the minister consoled them, and the government had no intention of actually taking any steps against Om Mandali.

The Father acts to please the children, so it was done as they wished. The children settled down once more into their work and Shiv Baba continued to come into His medium's body each day to deliver the knowledge. Everything continued flowing smoothly. Even the morning bus rides to Clifton Beach with the children continued as before.

Yet the people of the 'Anti' Party, who had come up to Karachi from Hydrabad in order to destroy Om Mandali, still did not give up. They stirred up whatever sort of trouble they could.

But they had taken their best shot with the tribunal, and it had not worked. Now their energy was waning. They saw that they could not stop these people, that Brahma Baba's children were filled with unshakeable love for knowledge, for purity and for the service of uplifting the world. The antagonists became weary and one by one returned to Hydrabad.

They had achieved nothing except a waste of their time and money. But still, they thought that one day Baba's money would run out. "Не cannot keep on spending and spending forever to take care of all these women and children," they told each other, "and then, all those people will crawl sheepishly back to their families." This attitude showed that their ignorance was still intact. They could not understand that Om Mandali was not founded or maintained by any human being. This was not simply another devotional (bhakti) group or religious academy. This was God's own world university, founded by the Supreme Being Himself.

Yet the antagonists latched onto the base hope that Om Mandali's funds would run out and they did their best to make sure this happened sooner rather than later. They ran an editorial in the newspaper suggesting that no one should donate to the organisation. They did not realise that Om Mandali had never asked for money in the first place from anyone. God's work is based on yoga and on faith. How could an economic boycott affect if? Its work now expanded peacefully.

Meanwhile, the parents who had taken their daughters back home either forcibly or by court order, began to relent. They saw that they could not make the girls accept any of the things on which their life was based neither meat-eating, nor expensive clothing, nor cinema, nor marriage. The girls simply continued in God's remembrance and refused to participate in what they considered to be impure or wasteful activities.

But love finally won out. They asked themselves why they should deprive their daughters of the best spiritual education, as long as the girls were determined to follow the spiritual path anyway? Gradually, they gave their children permission to return to the Father's academy.

Brahma Baba welcomed them home and took care of them as always without fee. For was he not their father? These lucky children had three fathers a father of their physical body, a spiritual father (Brahma Baba), and the Supreme Father, Shiv Baba.

But, even now, the leaders of the 'Anti' Party kept up their activities. One day, they began a new campaign of pressure, again using dishonest tactics. They got together with some mothers of the daughters who had gone to stay with Brahma Baba, and told them a string of lies about the spiritual university, one worse than the other. The gullible mothers began to fear again for their children's welfare. Those who did not believe the slander were frightened into complying with the callers' wishes, by threats of expulsion from their caste, physical brutality, or ruination of the family business.

The mothers were told to call back their children once more. "But we have already given our permission in writing," the mothers replied. "They can produce these letters in court."

The 'Anti' Party callers responded, "We have another plan in mind. And if you don't do as we say, you shall suffer for it." The threats worked.

In a few days, they brought the mothers to Karachi and dropped them at the gate of the wealthy and well-known Shiva Ratna Mohtaji, one of the elders of the city. The mothers were told to sit at his gate and begin a hunger strike until he agreed to help them 'rescue' their daughters.

Old Shiva Ratnaji became upset when he heard what was going on at his gate. He called the mothers inside and had them tell their stories. They acted very humbly and prompted by an 'Anti' Party member who was with them, told a false story about Om Mandali and how they needed Shiva Ratna's help in getting their children released. Would he call Baba and get him to send back their girls?

Shiva Ratnaji believed the women's story. He called up Baba then and there. Baba was quite friendly and promised to have the girls sent there right away.

"We went because Baba told us to go," recalls BK Dadi Manohar Indra²⁴, who was just a young girl at that time. "We saw that Shiva Ratna's house was like a palace. When he looked at us, his eyes were red with anger. He asked us no questions but simply ordered us to return to our mothers' houses."

When other people had gathered in his hall, he pointed to the young Brahma Kumaris. "These girls have harassed their mothers," he charged, pointing at them.

"We felt as if a devil was throwing stones at us," Dadi Manohar Indra remembers. "On seeing all their anger, we just went and sat in the car. But at that moment, a voice spoke clearly in our souls, 'O Shaktis of God, do not be afraid of these people. Give them Godly knowledge. You are the instruments for redeeming them."

So the girls went back inside, and stood before Shiva Ratna Mohtaji. "We want to talk," said little BK Manohar Indra.

"What is to be talked about?" he replied gruffly.

"Babaji, do you know where you are sending us?" the little girl asked him. "I wish you to know what kind of life we are living at Om Mandali and why we are not ready to go home. I have only one desire from you, that you should be satisfied. We do not have any desire for gold or silver jewellery, nor for any of the wealth of this world. We wish only to lead a life of purity and holiness. These relatives of ours prevent us from attending satsang at Om Mandali. They object to the very purity that is the essence of spirituality. Instead of encouraging us to satisfy these highest aims of life, they harass us at every step.

"Once they take us from Om Mandali, they will beat us mercilessly and other elders will then join in this. It has happened often enough before. Will you be able to tolerate that you have caused such harm to us by sending us back into their hands? We have done nothing to harm you, Babaji. Don't you know they make us eat impure food by force? They take us by force to see dirty films, they do everything to corrupt our minds. When we sit quietly in meditation on God, they push us from behind, or pull our hair."

As Mohtaji listened, sympathetic feelings gradually began to seep into his mind for these girls. "All right," he interrupted, "I want to ask you one question. I have heard that you say 'no' to marriage. Is this true?"

Sister Manohar shook her head and smiled. "Babaji, it is not like that. We do not say 'no' to marriage. Even Rama was married. Shri Krishna also married. Babaji, the only thing is that we do not want to marry a lustful person. We desire to marry only such people who have 'broken the bow's and who have attained mastery over their sense organs".

Mohtaji was clearly surprised by this reply. "What bow? The Atma Sakshatkar bow (the bow of self-realisation)?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she nodded.

Upon hearing this, Mohtaji's face suddenly lit up. He positively shone with joy. It was as if he realised the reality of these girls' devotion to God. It was not a game they were playing, it was not mischief. They were actually living the highest life a person could aspire to.

"Now I understand," he said. "Your ideal is the most worthy and your desire to fulfil it is great indeed. I am very pleased to meet such girls with truly elevated minds and personalities. All right, I have now understood the facts. Do not be afraid now."

Then Mohtaji turned to the mothers. "You are lucky to have such peaceful, yogi daughters. Do you actually beat such pure spirits? Do you make them eat impure food against their will? They are pure, divine daughters. Beware that no more harm is done to them. You may take them home with you now but whenever they want to go to the satsang, you must give them permission."

The mothers stood nervously, afraid the girls would tell Mohtaji that they had already given them blanket permission in writing. For the mothers had lied to him and said that their daughters had run away from home. But the girls remained quiet. They did not reveal the true nature of the situation, even though they could have.

The young Brahmanis returned to Hydrabad, to their family homes, but things were no longer as before. The girls had acquired such inner strength that they could no longer be opposed. They kept their dietary regime and other principles and spent their time giving knowledge to relatives, friends, and neighbours. They taught the new method of meditation also and many people had extraordinary experiences.

The girls also co-operated fully in the housework. They gave their families absolutely nothing to complain about. Everyone in the family now stood in awe of them. Finally, they were given tickets to return to Karachi to board at the university.

In order to rectify all the wrong impressions in people's minds about the university due to the many slanderous stories which had been spread and to educate the public as to what had really happened during the episode of the tribunal, a book was published, entitled Is This Justice?

The book gave an accurate chronology of events, plus the basic points of God's revealed knowledge so that no one could say they were not told of the real import of all these events. The book, along with other spiritual literature, was then given to hundreds of influential people so that they would not be prejudiced against Om Mandali on the basis of rumours. But it is not easy to overcome impressions in people's minds, especially when they are fearful and superstitious and especially when opposing parties continue to pollute the atmosphere with lies.

As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, the mother of all scriptures:

Whenever there is irreligiousness and unrighteousness,
In Bharat (India), I incarnate
To re-establish true religion.

And so, God has unobtrusively appeared upon the world stage and, though He has clearly explained His identity and His mission, because He has come in an ordinary body and because He has not performed flashy magic tricks, only a few out of millions have recognised Him. But at the end the truth of His words and His work will be apparent to all.

THE HIGHEST EDUCATION IN THE WORLD

As things calmed down again in Karachi, the work of the spiritual university went ahead. Brahma Baba taught knowledge to the growing family of children, teaching through example as much as through precept. And with the power of yoga, the souls who had faith in God were going ahead remarkably, attaining stability of thought in every testing situation.

"You have entered murjiva janam (the living death)," Baba taught us. "This is the first lesson on the path of progress. Your worldly relatives have broken all relations with you. You are already dead to them. When the soul takes a new birth after death, it no longer remembers the scenes or the relatives of its past life. In the same way, though you are alive in the same physical body, you are dead to worldly ties. Here you have received a new birth.

"So do not remember the old relations. Now you have taken refuge with God, you are God's direct children, so remember only Him. You are twice-born. You are Brahmins of the mouth-born dynasty of Brahma, so your intellect should be linked only with God. If attachment to others persists, you cannot claim your birthright, the highest freedom will remain beyond your grasp."

Parents learned to see their children as their brothers and sisters; children lost their attachment to their physical parents and connected only to Shiv Baba. Men even looked upon women as brothers, not sisters, for all are simply souls who take one kind of vehicle after another (one life you may be male, the next you may be female). With this brotherly vision, all sensual temptations were mastered and the mind was free to rest in God.

For some, of course, the battle was more difficult. Yet Baba's counsel was totally dependable. "Children," he said, "firstly be victorious over your sense organs. Many times bad or unclean thoughts will arise in the mind due to old sanskaras (tendencies). You must try to make them pure through knowledge and yoga. But from now on, no bad actions should be performed. If you perform action which goes against the knowledge, you will suffer a hundred-fold in return. Before, you were ignorant, but now you know your true self and your true duty. You have the true aim and effort. So both the rewards and the risks are greater.

"Do not look at anyone with attachment, do not utter false words, do not listen to wrong things, work with detachment and establish yourself in the remembrance of God. Take only pure food and always have a smiling face and a pleased mind."

Brahma Baba taught them inner dignity in every aspect of their lives. This is what separated their practice from ordinary religions. They were not worshipping God but rather, they were learning to become worship-worthy. "Religion," Baba reminded, "is might. Someday our internal power - the power of silence - would overcome external power the power of science and we would rule the world in unlimited peace, happiness and prosperity. That time is now so close one can feel it easily."

No part of life was off-limits to the need for purification. And Brahma Baba had teachings to offer about each act. With sleep, for example, Brahma Baba taught them that the method of making the dreams pure and the sleep restful, was by sitting in meditation and remembering God before going to bed.

Many times, Baba would visit the bungalows at 2am, when the children of the Yagya were sleeping, and he would point out to some of those who went with him the faces of the sleepers, "Look. From their faces we can say these have slept after remembering God, their sleep is pure but see the faces of these others who are lying in the unconscious state of tamonidra (impure sleep)."

By teaching the children how to control their sense organs and how to transcend attachment to objects and bad habit patterns, Brahma Baba enabled them to achieve rapid purification of the mind.

"If your decisions are not pure," Baba taught, "bad actions will take place through the organs of action. So make the mind completely pure. The more you remain in the remembrance of God and are intoxicated in that state of loving remembrance, the more the mind will become purified. If, before the coming of world destruction, you have not made your mind completely pure, then you will not come into the golden- aged²⁵ world and you will be born into the silver age instead."

Brahma Baba was a constant source of inspiration and wisdom to those who lived in the Yagya. He taught the subtlest secrets of how to invoke in the self divine attributes, such as introspection, light- heartedness, balance, tolerance, humility, patience, perseverance and will-power. And they were accumulating more reserves of that precious power each day, with every moment of meditation.

Baba and Om Radhe, who were also called by the names Yagya Pita and Yagya Mata, (Mother and Father of the Yagya), made complete arrangements for the food and lodging of the Brahmins who lived there. Every need was fulfilled.

Those who lived in the Yagya had won the most golden opportunity in all of history. In the past, a few souls had the chance to spend time at the side of Christ and there were some who wandered India alongside the Buddha. Others had the chance to know other notable pure souls of this great world drama from Abraham to the many gurus of the contemporary period. But here, in Om Mandali, these most fortunate souls were about to grow up with God Himself as their Father. Shiv Baba played not one but three roles with them, as He still does today. He is the Father, Teacher, and Satguru (True Guru), the Giver of complete spiritual knowledge. Shiv Baba and Brahma Baba were the two Fathers and both provided such love and guidance as only those who were there can comprehend.

Brahma Baba often took the children to the ocean beach. They had great parties there. He always thought of new games for them to play. And if anyone got hurt, Baba made sure complete medical attention was given. Baba performed the part of mother as well as father.

O my friends, since I have come
To the shores of the Ocean of Peace,
A breeze has been blowing constantly
Of happiness and love.

O my friends, since I have come
To the gates of Om Mandali,
I have kept company with only
One Beloved-God.

Now, what riches have I got!
I have the secret mantra to control my mind,
And in a moment I am master.

I have the eye of vision, and in a moment
I am transported to heaven.

Ah, my friends, I have danced with Krishna,
I’ve enjoyed that rarest luck.
False pleasures, false griefs have left me now,
And only the sweet and even balance
Of the peaceful mind remains.

The nectar of Knowledge gives new life
At every moment. Who could live without it?

O friends, I have been sold
Into the hands of God.
I belong to Him alone.
This body and mind are His, not mine.

Ah, since the day I found Om Mandali,
I have died to the pleasures of this world,
And I am alive as never before.
It is the moment of my happiness.

"ASSASSINATE BRAHΜΑ!"

Om Radhe, in charge of the institution, developed her divine qualities and brought them out in others as well. She was a perfect mirror, reflecting each soul's final stage. If ever anyone performed some wrong action, Mama would seem not to notice. "One mistake doesn't justify another," she said simply. "Getting upset is a mistake, so how can I do it?"

Some souls occasionally got caught up in worrying about their own defects. "This is body-consciousness," said Mama. "Don't worry - just observe the faults and then remove them. Replace defects with virtues. Never compare yourself with others," she reiterated, "Except with Brahma Baba. This brings about fast progress without either depression or arrogance."

Mama's main quality was introspectiveness. She took seriously the words of Shiv Baba, "Turn within and I will burn your sins."

Mama received many loving names during the course of her term at the university. Shiv Baba Himself pronounced her the original Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge) and Jagadamba (Mother of the World). Others called her Mateshwari (Mother Goddess) or Yagya Mata. But the name which stuck is the one of simple love and trust, 'Mama'.

The personalities of Brahma Baba and Mama were too pure and powerful to be opposed directly. But the forces of the 'Anti' Party still simmered with anger, and they concocted one last, terrible scheme by which to end the work of the Yagya once and for all... To assassinate Brahma Baba.

A committee of 'Anti' Party members went out to one of the mountainous regions of India to locate the most experienced assassin they could find. One name they heard most often among their underworld contacts was that of a legendary warrior, a Sikh bandit of a remote tribe who was wanted for murder in several states.

They found him after much difficulty. The man was very dark, tall and lean, with hard muscles from a lifetime of trekking barefoot in all weathers through the Himalayan slopes, fighting with knife and sword and handmade spear. He wore only a loincloth and a turban and a long, gleaming blade that hung at his side.

The 'Anti' Party members made him an offer which the bandit accepted. He accompanied them back to Karachi. There they showed him a picture of Brahma Baba, drew him a plan of the house where Brahma Baba lived and carefully circled in red ink the room where Brahma Baba was known to stay. The bandit was to break in, run up to Brahma Baba's room, do his dirty work, and then bring back evidence of his success to a pre-arranged rendezvous point where he would be paid. A car would then escort him back to the foothills of his own region.

The university had long ago made preparations to prevent unwanted intruders from entering its grounds. There was a brother who nightly walked the perimeters of the yard, keeping an attentive eye out for suspicious people. A sister was also posted at each door and a guard remained on the second landing as well. In addition, Brahma Baba was hardly ever alone. He usually dictated letters well into the night so that at least one sister was present helping him at his desk.

But one night, a chain of inexplicable occurrences brought about a lapse in the Yagya's security. One of the school's cars came in with a flat tyre and the brother on guard went to the shed to help get it repaired. The sister at the door was called away for some reason to the kitchen, and the girl on the second landing had gone down to fetch dinner for Brahma Baba who that evening was working alone in his room.

It was on that night, with the starlight veiled by impenetrable clouds, that the bandit chose to strike. He arrived at the very moment the premises were unguarded. He crossed the lawn, pried open a front window and slipped silently inside.

The bandit quickly orientated himself. Finding the stairway, he lunged up to the second landing. There he wheeled right, facing the door of Brahma Baba's room. Sword at the ready, he turned the knob and fiercely strode inside.

Brahma Baba looked up from his papers. He had been preparing points on the power of purity, to be included in the new book on the knowledge. He was collecting points collected from the morning's discourses by Shiv Baba. When he saw his unannounced visitor, Brahma Baba realised everything immediately. Yet he did not react. He was without fear.

Brahma Baba had not the slightest concern for his own welfare. "If Shiv Baba wishes to continue using this poor, old body for His medium," he reasoned to himself, "then He will see to it that the vehicle survives. It is His responsibility, not mine." And with that thought Brahma Baba looked fearlessly at the Sikh bandit. He smiled.

But the bandit did not smile back. In fact, he did not even see Brahma Baba sitting in front of him, though they were less than five feet apart. For as soon as he had entered the room, the bandit had been engulfed in a golden mist.

Blinded by the unearthly light, the bandit stumbled. His will to destroy began to weaken. He lost the sense of his body entirely. He felt as if he had died and ascended to Nirvana. All memory of his original purpose was washed away. The sword dropped from his hand.

The dazed Sikh groped his way out of the room and into the hall. At last, the sister returned with Brahma Baba's dinner and spotted the intruder. She sounded the alarm. The bandit was quickly brought downstairs, but Brahma Baba gave instruction for him to be treated well. The bewildered warrior was informed that he had arrived at God's own abode and that he could be remorseful for his past sins by living a life of purity. The Sikh was very happy to hear this; he smiled broadly, like a child. They gave him food and sent him away with the instruction to remember God and to be non-violent. The Sikh swore that he would and strode off.

The next day when the 'Anti' Party learned what had happened, they simply stared in disbelief. They made no further attempts of that kind.

WORLD SERVICE BEGINS

The Supreme Being, God the Father, Shiva, continued to descend each day from the dimension of light into the corporeal world. He entered the body of Brahma and spoke through his mouth, revealing ever deeper truths to the souls lucky enough to recognise Him. He urged them to consider themselves to be souls, He explained how to regain the exalted stage of being an angel.

But God had not taken the trouble to come to earth simply to uplift a few people in remote India. He came for all the world. And so, when the first children became strong enough, He began to send them out to give the word to others. Eventually the news of God's coming must reach the entire population of the world for all souls are God's children and deserve a chance to take their inheritance.

Of course, many would refuse what God offered. Because the All- Powerful Lord chose to use the body of an ordinary person, rather than a president or king or even a saint or guru, those with weak intellects assumed that Brahma Baba was really the founder of the Yagya. They believed him to be the guru of the Brahma Kumaris. Because Shiv Baba could not be physically seen, they refused to believe in His existence, despite the fact that He spoke directly to people every day revealing the truth using simple but profound words.

In ignorance, they showered abuse on Brahma's head, yet the work of God went on. And now the children took on an ever greater share of the responsibility for they were anxious to establish heaven and then to go and live there.

The outreach service began in earnest five or six years after the founding of the Yagya. One day, Shiv Baba said through Brahma to the mothers and sisters who were gathered round, "Now you have become mature and you are filled with God's power. You must return to your own physical parents and relatives and to all those who did harm to you and you must fulfil your obligations to them. You know the proverb that 'charity begins at home'."

Baba gave further counsel to be aware of six things while away on service:

"Your mental state must be complete, you must be established in soul-consciousness so others may experience a divine revelation. Do not create the illusion that you are their daughter or sister. They must realise that a shakti, an angel, stands before them.

You should appear so awesome that they will not dare to hug you out of attachment.

You can eat fruit or milk or pure food; don't take anything else.

Because you are a child of God's dynasty, you cannot accept any of their money. The food and money of others have a great effect on the mind.

By giving them the knowledge, you have to change their understanding of life and inspire them to lead a pure and divine existence by making them realise the greatness of your own life.

Be in an intense state of remembrance of God while giving His introduction and they will be awed and eager to know more and to experience the same happiness and power. Then they will also come to the satsang."

THE HOMEWARD PILGRIMAGE

The sisters in their white saris returned to Hydrabad from Karachi, taking with them God's message. Each went to her own family home.

Six years is a long time to be separated. None had written home, except occasionally to explain some of Baba's teachings. When they returned now, they did so without informing their families beforehand.

For the most part, their relatives had long ago assumed that these girls would never willingly come back. So when they saw them, they were stunned.

One sister, Manohar Indra, was seen approaching her old home by her youngest sister, who ran inside and told the people in the house, "The one who lived here before!" she shouted, "the one who was going to Om Mandali, the one who went away is coming!" The younger sister did not remember her name, for she had been but a small child when Manohar Indra had left.

The family could not believe it. Suddenly the house was in an uproar. The mother, whose name was Lakshmi, came out of the kitchen. When she heard who was on her way, she ran outside to meet her daughter. The ties of love still ran so deep.

They met on the steps of the porch. Her mother's eyes were wide with surprise. She wanted badly to hug her daughter to her chest, but resisted.

"I stood in silence," Manohar recalls, "A minute must have passed. Tears came to my mother's eyes. I remained at peace."

"Do you know who is standing at your door?" Manohar asked her mother, Lakshmi. "Do you recognise us? We are the powers of Shiva the Shiv Shaktis. I have become the daughter of Brahma. I am your daughter no longer. But we are sisters, both children of the Supreme.

"God has given us this message to carry to His other children. In a few years' time, this iron-aged world will be destroyed and the heavenly order established in its place.

"Mankind suffers today because of evil actions and impure thoughts. Now is the time to earn rebirth in the land of happiness, by making the inner effort of transformation. Will you go on the road to heaven?"

Lakshmi was amazed. By this time, the rest of the family also stood in the doorway listening. They were awe-struck at the change which had taken place in this daughter. She had returned as a yogini, a soul of great spiritual power. The family felt the truth behind her words. Their sleeping souls were suddenly awakened.

"Yes, I will certainly go to the heavenly world,' my mother said, 'You must take me with you. She led me slowly into the house," Manohar recalls, She went ahead and I followed her. She observed my manner of walking, by looking behind her and she was filled with surprise, as if she felt that royalty was present. She looked around for a place for me to sit. First, she spread out a bedspread and said, 'Sit here', and then she put a cushion on the chair and said, 'Sit here'. But each time she reconsidered. For these seats did not seem good enough to her. But I just sat on the ground and began to establish myself in soul- consciousness.

Within a few minutes, a crowd of relatives and people from the neighbourhood had gathered around me. I spoke to them for one hour. Profound effects could be felt. Baba's deep truths resonated in the deepest parts of their being. At the end, they were eager to hear more.

I stayed with them for a number of days. During that time, many neighbours, relatives, and friends came to hear the knowledge. The atmosphere was like a satsang. They asked questions, and the answers they received gradually fitted together and made sense to them. With the practice of yoga, their minds became more clear. The wrong ideas people had held about Om Mandali were dissolved.

"Many came back individually to go further into the knowledge and meditation. They had powerful experiences. I kept my intellect united with God while speaking to them, successfully opening the lock of their consciousness. I was also careful to eat only fruits and to accept no money from these people."

One day, after considering deeply the change in her daughter and the quality of the knowledge, Lakshmi said, "I will also come with you into the Yagya. I will see your ashram and hear the knowledge from Baba and I also hope to experience wonderful things."

Manohar felt both surprise and happiness. This was the same person who had once protested unrelentingly about her going to Baba's satsang. Now she was eager to come and join the group, to listen to the knowledge and be transformed.

While on the road, Lakshmi expressed one wish, "I have done a great deal of devotion but I have not attained self-realisation. Will you help me to get a vision of God? I have heard that in your institution, people quickly obtain such revelations. Until I have such an experience, I feel I cannot have faith or trust."

"I told her, 'No soul can make you realise God, except God Himself. He is the only Bestower of divine wisdom. If it is in your destiny that such a thing should happen, then it will happen. If you have done such elevated worship in your previous birth, or if you have done noble actions, or if your nature is such, then you will likely get a divine vision."

They arrived at the university and, two days later, Lakshmi had a profound experience of realisation. One of the teachers, a great yogi named Dhyani, was going over the first lesson of spirituality with her:

"You are an eternal, indestructible soul; you are not the body. Forget this physical body. It is because of coming into the consciousness of the body that these fluctuations of the mind overtake you. If you simply leave those mental habits of instability behind, you will be reborn into the golden age." On saying this, Dhyani asked, "What is the name of your body?"

"My bodily name is Lakshmi".

"Oh? Once you were the true Lakshmi²⁶"," Dhyani explained, "But later you forgot your real form. Now is the time to become the true Lakshmi once more. Awake now, know yourself and become true Lakshmi."

Upon hearing these charged words, the woman experienced a flood of power. She attained the bodiless state of consciousness and, while stabilised in that blissful condition, she received a divine revelation, the fruit of her previous births' devotion.

Lakshmi saw a palace of gold on the surface of the sea. There was a resplendent court within and seated on the royal thrones were Lakshmi and Narayan, both enchantingly beautiful.

While narrating her experiences afterward, Manohar's mother said, "My mind was telling me I should enter the court but I did not have the courage to do so because I felt that I was impure and unstable."

Thanks to this vision she gained faith in Baba's teachings. After a week on the campus of the university, Lakshmi expressed the desire to remain there all her life. "The atmosphere here is so exquisitely pure. I have immense peace of mind." But Brahma Baba did not give her permission to stay longer.

Manohar went to Baba and asked him why. "You were harassed and driven out of the house," Baba replied, "otherwise, why should you have left? You were young and dependent on them. These people did not allow you to live as you wished and that is why you came here. But your mother is older, it is her own house and she can do what she likes. So tell her that after going home, she may give knowledge to others and make her own home like an ashram."

Hearing this explanation, her mother returned with the firm decision to fill her home with a divine atmosphere.

True stories such as this could be told of the families of each of Brahma Baba's many children. It was a time of revelation. Shiv Baba was giving visions to many.

And so, the numbers of students grew.

PART THREE :

LIFE IN THE YAGYA

Nearly three hundred sons and daughters of this Yagya stayed in those five buildings. They were people of varied backgrounds, ages, castes and economic status. For such a variety of souls to live together day after day, year after year is no small thing. In the outside world, even families of three and four people have difficulty managing to live in peace with one another. But Baba's children flourished without friction or quarrels.

The members of the 'Anti' Party convinced themselves that it would only be a matter of time before rifts arose in the group. But they were wrong. Even when money was short, the bond of faith between the children and the Father never broke. The community survived all storms because it had not been created by a human being, nor did it exist for any human end. The Supreme Being Himself had established this Yagya, and His power protected it.

Under the canopy of Shiv Baba's love, His children went on transforming their old traits and habits (sanskaras), creating new, soul- conscious attitudes. Baba and Mama donated constant inspiration, unshakeable enthusiasm, clear guidance and the unfaltering example of their own lives.

TRANCE

God has explained to humanity that the structure of the universe is triple-layered. Beyond this physical dimension lies a vast illumined region called the subtle world, which itself is composed of three layers, where various kinds of visions are experienced by many souls. Shiv Baba uses this realm as a sort of half-way house once He descends from His incorporeal realm.

Beyond the subtle world lies the infinite world of light, the Brahm Tattwa, which the Buddhists call Nirvana. In this expanse of golden red light, our Father resides for most of the cycle of time, in a part of that world called Paramdham, the highest home. This is the true home of all human souls, where we dwelt before we ever took birth and where we shall soon return to total peace, total silence. Shiv Baba teaches us to go there now with our minds and to sit lovingly beside Him. This is meditation. Before long, every Raja Yogi experiences himself as a radiant, conscient point of light, in an ocean of peace and bliss, light and power. It is in this way that God makes man in His own image.

Some of the students were granted the gift of going into trance to receive a special message from Shiv Baba in the subtle region. These souls, mostly women, were known as 'trance messengers'. Shiv Baba showed them fantastic scenes of the golden age, of the royal court and the elegant, bejewelled apparel of the deities. He told these daughters to make such dresses as they had seen and wear them so others could see and understand the reality of what was to be. Thus their understanding of the truth matured.

Occasionally, Shiv Baba would inform these trance messengers about certain students who still had bad traits (sanskaras) which they tried to hide. Such students thought that no one could see them, that no one knew the impure thoughts that went on in their minds. But when the trance messenger daughters revealed their secrets to them privately, they realised the incredible fact that Shiv Baba is privy to all our thoughts and actions.

The trance messengers also brought back revelations of Brahma Baba's many births, as well as visions of Brahma Baba in his final, perfect form. Gradually it sank into people's intellects that this Prajapita Brahma and Jagadamba Saraswati were the very souls who were famed in the scriptures with so many legends, who were revered as Adam and Eve, Adi Dev and Adi Devi, the Father and Mother of the world, all because of the sacrifice, the untiring service to mankind and the highest degree of inculcation of divine qualities which they achieved.

THE SECRET OF THE SECOND BRAHMA

The subject of trance holds great interest for many souls, despite the fact that Shiv Baba has informed us that this experience does nothing to cut one's sins and is no barometer of one's stage in yoga or one's closeness to God. Neither of the present administrative heads of the Yagya, both of whom are clearly the highest calibre souls, are trance messengers.

But Baba uses the messengers to bring new information to His children, information which could not be so tellingly revealed in any other manner. The experience of one messenger, BK Dadi Hirdaya Mohini, illustrates this. This is how she recalls it:

"One day, Baba announced a new program. For one full week, we were all to observe complete silence - both of speech and of mind. That meant no ideas or thoughts. Perfect stillness within.

"We began immediately, all three hundred residents of the Yagya working as before, but silently, in total introversion. The atmosphere seemed utterly angelic and all the children, robed in peace and purity and light, moved as gracefully as deities.

"Two or three days after this program began, the vibrations were so high that all were in a state of bliss. I was sitting one evening with another sister, in the process of going deeper into soul-consciousness, when I received the grace of divine vision from God the Father.

"I entered the subtle dimension, expecting to view as others had, scenes of the golden age, visions of Radhe and Krishna, or their later roles as Lakshmi and Narayan. But instead, to my amazement, I was suddenly facing Brahma Baba. He was stunningly attractive. I could not understand how Baba could be present in the physical world and also there in subtle form. What was the secret behind this angelic Brahma?

"I couldn't answer this question, so when I returned from trance I went to ask Mama. But she seemed not to know either and said I should relate my experience to Brahma Baba. Amazingly, he also seemed uncertain. At last he said, 'Daughter, Shiv Baba may be trying to explain some secret. If you enter into trance and see again this other Brahma, you should ask him to introduce himself.'

"That day passed. The next evening, I was trying once more to be soul-conscious, when I felt pulled suddenly out of my body into the subtle world. This time I stayed in trance continuously for seven days.

"When Brahma Baba's image appeared to me, I did as Pitashri (the physical Brahma Baba) had bade me do. I remember asking him, 'Can I be lucky enough to receive your complete introduction?' He answered in angelically, 'Daughter, I am Avyakt Brahma (subtle, or non-material Brahma) the complete form of the same physical Brahma that you know!'

"I met him many times after that and that avyakt angel made clear more of the secrets of the knowledge. He taught me the true nature of that subtle world which is beyond the moon and sun and stars. I learned how it had been created out of pure thought. I also viewed the incorporeal soul world and, there, was given a vision of the Highest on High, the Point of Light, Supreme Soul Shiva. From there I travelled through scenes of the great destruction of the present imperfect world and thereon into the divine world of satyug, the golden age. I heard the language we will speak there, felt the shimmering material we will wear, observed the daily routine we will follow and witnessed the customs of the royal court of the gods. I marvelled that all this splendour and happiness was for us.

"When I returned to see angelic Brahma, I understood how this could be the perfect state of Pitashri, and that Shiv Baba must also be present with him."

It was through angelic Brahma that our Supreme Father Shiva gave new and special names during this period to all His surrendered children. Such names are no longer given but trance messages are still brought back regularly. Here is one of them-

Divine message of most beloved Avyakt BapDada From the subtle world through Sister Gulzar on 6 June 1980

I entered the doorway of the subtle citadel of most beloved BapDada today in the early morning hour of nectar. What a panorama it was! Just imagine: Baba in an overwhelmingly busy posture, the World Almighty Authority in a very cheerful and charming disposition, surrounded by an air of powerful vibrations. That was how I observed Baba from quite a distance. As I advanced I gradually felt myself becoming a bodiless, powerful entity until I was face-to-face with Baba in the spiritually intoxicating form of the Shiv-Shakti, like the Father!

I was in this powerful stage for just a short duration. Ah, whenever I am reminded of that exceptional experience now, I actually find myself surrounded by that very same panorama again.

At long last, Baba smiled and His sweet words flowed, "Lovely child, even this momentary experience will help you in the practice of being in your subtle stage." I responded, "Truly Baba, it was as if I was experiencing the practical physical form of the ultimate stage today. It was the stage of the Master World Almighty Authority. It was extraordinary."

Baba then whispered in my ear, "Daughter, you have to maintain this powerful consciousness constantly, day in and day out. Very soon, a storm of tension will start raging throughout the universe. At the time of such tension, through your paying this attention, you must perform the task of erasing tension. Tension will cause prices to sky-rocket. It will cause wounds of mental sorrow and physical suffering. It will also ignite a fire of torment in men and nature, so that people will stumble blindly to satisfy their temporary desires, seeking happiness that proves only to be a mirage, only leading them to face final disillusionment in every field of life political, ethical and material.

"But," Baba said, "the result will be a huge revolution. With one stroke, the world will be transformed. How will it happen? Men have now become over-indulgent and dishonest in obtaining their worldly pleasures. For their pleasures, they have sold their character and sacrificed their principles. Even so, ultimately, their excessive demands remain unrealised and they feel exhausted as if drowning in a whirlpool of adverse circumstances.

"Then will come an inner awakening and they will turn their faces away from worldly desires, to the hope and wish for attainment of the Ultimate. But this inclination towards the Divine will not be abrupt and immediate. After realising their inability to acquire happiness through the previously tried methods, they will initially pass through a stage of searching for something more tangible and substantial. "There must be something new, some new path, for the attainment of happiness and peace of mind, they will ponder. In the end, when even this effort fails, will come a sincere realisation in their minds, 'Yes, Oh God, You alone are our only support and salvation, our final destination and goal. This will be the culmination point.

"The realisation, on the one hand, of God the Father being their only support and solution to their problems, and the breaking down on the other hand of all their hopes and desires of the vicious world, will spread a world-wide vibration and a general atmosphere of total abandonment and unlimited renunciation all the world over.

"This single realisation will control and overpower the entire atmosphere of tension created by worldly desires, and focus the world's complete attention on one entity alone God. With the impact of renunciation of vices as well as regard for God, the soil of all souls will turn soft. At such a time, you children are to be instrumental for sowing the seed of knowledge of God, the Father, in the soil of those souls, and bestowing upon them instantly, the fruit of their recognition of the Supreme Father, with love and sincerity. This will be the time when you need this very powerful stage of World Almighty Authority, like the Father. This will enable and empower you to bestow upon all souls blessings and boons as the fruit of their newly acquired faith." Saying this, Baba suddenly dived deep into the Ocean of Thoughts.

It seemed as if he was concerned about something significant. After a while, I queried, "Baba did you go somewhere?" His response was "Yes."

Baba was concerned with the contrast between the present stage of the children and the final stage. Some children are still playing the game of see-saw with 'tension' and 'attention'.

"You must convey the message to the sweet children, 'Now, when you are making endeavours to represent your perfect form before the world for the glorification of Shiv Baba through your Maha Yagya²⁷, you must keep in mind the aim of transforming the atmosphere of the world with deep understanding befitting the grandeur of the forthcoming festival."

Of course, BapDada had great pleasure in observing the great enthusiasm and zeal of service in the children, and said, "For the future as well, remain constantly as happy and fortunate and full of all treasures of joy, continue to give such treasures of happiness to others, march ahead and you will continue to progress rapidly."

YOGA FIRE

During these days of silence, the residents of the Yagya ate only fruit. They remained in yoga for the entire day, from three in the morning to 10.30 in the evening. At 6am, Shiv Baba would descend from the soul world and deliver through Brahma the murli. Then Baba's children would think deeply on the murli points all day. This was called the bhatti, or furnace. Because, just as bricks or earthenware pots are made strong when fired in a kiln and, just as gold is purified by heat, or as the shape of iron is transformed when heated to red-hot and then hammered by a smith, so also these yogis burned the impurities out of their own minds in the supreme fire of yoga. With such deep, powerful, continuous remembrance of God, they were able to experience being detached from their bodies and body-consciousness. They felt themselves being lighter than air, like angels. They acquired the power of silence.

KARMA YOGA

The discipline of the daily round added fibre to their spiritual muscle. The general program of the day started with a recording of an inspired song, such as 'Awaken Oh My Brides', played over the loudspeaker to wake them up in the early morning. Thus the importance of remembering God would be imprinted as their first thought of the day.

Before arising from bed, the yogis had determined thoughts, such as, "Now, by discarding the sleep of ignorance, I must completely awaken the soul, as I do my body". Sitting up in bed, they would pass some time in meditation, followed by light physical exercise. By 5.30am they were ready to come together for class to hear Baba's flute of knowledge and play another melody.

After class, they ate breakfast and then began the work day. Some washed clothes in the laundry; some worked in the kitchen, others did office jobs and some repaired cars or did carpentry. Every task was performed in loving remembrance of God.

Books on the knowledge were sent to thousands of individuals by mail each day. Many children worked long and hard writing, typing, printing and binding these volumes. The work of book production was done completely and untiringly by the Yagya residents.

A meal was eaten in Shiv Baba's remembrance and usually in silence. It was followed by rest and relaxing conversation, or to attend to other individual needs. Just before dinner, the yogis gathered in the hall for another group meditation, when trance messengers would go into the subtle region to offer the food to God first. Only then would the yogis dine themselves. After dinner, there were other classes they could attend on whatever topics of knowledge interested them. Mama and Brahma Baba themselves used to lead these classes, offering their own realisations on the essence of what God had taught that morning. Afterwards, they would all sit once more in yoga.

With the remembrance of Shiv Baba planted firmly in their minds, the Brahmins went quietly to their beds resolving to improve tomorrow, whatever defects they had noted in themselves that day. They slept in pure and peaceful sleep, in the lap of their loving Father.

THE GODLY COURT

Sometimes 'court' was held at night. This was an event which could have succeeded in no other gathering. For in order to employ this powerful tool of character restructuring, all participants must have total faith in the arbiter and the arbiter in turn must be totally detached and fair. Here it was God Himself who presided.

The court proceedings were informal. If some individual had committed any wrong action, in the presence of everyone, he would simply tell his mistake to Brahma Baba and Mama, and announce a strong determination never to repeat the error. Or, if one had seen someone else make a mistake, he would tell it for the purpose of uplifting that soul and bringing him back to the proper path. There were never any accusations or hard feelings. There was only the motivation to help each other move towards perfection.

Baba and Mama had the best interests of all the children at heart. They presented easy methods to avoid making mistakes and tricks to change old habit patterns. They also fulfilled requests. By asking for things in everyone's presence and likewise, by admitting their mistakes in their presence, the children found that no strain or stress or guilt was experienced by anyone and they were able to transcend egoism. Rumours of favouritism were also put to an end. There were no dark secrets, no suspicions.

A loving family atmosphere was created. The court was not at all an oppressive or frightening affair. It was considered by all to be a profound learning experience. It provided a 'moment of truth', a liberation for all the Yagya children, from habits and guilt which might otherwise have led to lasting sorrow. The court, with its catharsis of self-purification, was the essence of freedom.

Here is a song made up by one of the children, expressing the feelings of all:

At this time of the world's dark night,
You came from the world of light,
To perform the great task of ridding the world of sin.

This time is the best of all
In the Drama of the Rise and Fall,
With Your help we're crossing to the farther shore.

You've turned our bad luck into good,
Your words are the sweetest food,
Your judgements are restoring our deityhood.

Oh, God, You are the Highest on High,
The Creator of the pure New World.

Father Shiva, You've come to Bharat at last,
And by changing our lives
You are spinning the Cycle again.

BRAHMA BABA'S INSPIRING EXAMPLE

Not only did Brahma Baba provide every facility and comfort but, by his unshakeable, gentle strength, he instilled strength in the children. By seeing his untiring and ever-happy face the others took heart and renewed their energy. Though the road they travelled together was steep, though many difficulties came, no one ever gave in to hopelessness or weakness.
Brahma Baba's friendship was the greatest treasure. Though he was old in years he was the most playful yogi of them all. He worked long hours, efficiently performing every type of service, including the most menial work. This spirit of service, of humility and dedication, became the practical ideal of everyone. He taught souls how to co-operate. And always, in the midst of work, his intellect kept churning the knowledge, so that wisdom multiplied and remembrance became constant and natural. He demonstrated the method of complete soul-consciousness.

THE LESSONS OF LABOUR

Sometimes, Brahma Baba would go to the kitchen and help prepare the food. He would give yoga-drishti²⁸ and speak appropriate words of knowledge, "Daughter, if you cook in remembrance of Shiv Baba, there will be power in the food. Consider that you are preparing this meal for Him. This is Shiv Baba's imperishable Yagya. Keep that in mind as you work."

If someone was sewing without the help of a machine, which could be laborious, Brahma Baba would come to lighten the atmosphere. His presence made souls happy. And he never ran out of jewels of knowledge. Brahma Baba said, "Spiritual daughter, while you do your work with your physical organs, remember God with your intellect and in this way, earn a spiritual income. By remembering Shiv Baba, you become entitled to wear the royal gowns of satyug (golden age) in the future, so make effort to remember Baba as you sew."

If someone were washing clothes, Brahma Baba would go to him and say, "You are washing the clothes of the body; Shiv Baba is the Unlimited Laundryman who purifies all degraded souls. Remember then, child, wash your soul along with the clothes." Brahma Baba made them understand that they were the luckiest of souls, the very stars of fortune. They worked for the highest-paying Employer of all and worked on a subtle level, which before they had not even known was possible.

When Baba took them out for a walk, he would say, "See, along with this physical pilgrimage, go also on the subtle pilgrimage. Stay in remembrance of paramdham (the silent home of souls). O, my invaluable jewels, you alone in all the world know about this avyakt (subtle) pilgrimage."

At about that time, Shiv Baba sent another message also, one which was soon to test them all.

GOD'S COMMAND: SERVE INDIA

August, 1947. It was declared that India would be partitioned. Many Hindu families fled from the newly-created, mostly Muslim Pakistan. Baba explained to the children that though Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party were making efforts to win independence and to establish Ram Rajya (the Kingdom of God), in reality, Ram Rajya could only be established when each male and female were pure like Ram and Sita, when they became the highest human beings following the highest code of conduct.

Brahma Baba used to say that the Congress and other parties would bring political independence to India, but not happiness or prosperity, because no effort would be made to establish the highest conduct and purity. Brahma Baba told us in advance that Hindus and Muslims would beat and kill each other because of their religious intolerance.

When the killing started, it came as no surprise to us, nor were we frightened. Brahma Baba had published his warnings in a book and sent the book to kings and influential individuals, both within and outside the country. He also had open letters published in the newspapers. But society did not believe those forewarnings. Most Hindus fled Pakistan for India after the partition but the Yagya stayed on in Karachi, and the Muslims never tried to harm them. Some Muslim officers occasionally came to ask questions but they were never offensive. They were happy to be introduced to Allah.

One of their questions was, "What is the work of this institution?" They were told that all the people here were servants of God, remembering God alone, practising detachment and purity. "Muslims," we told them, "say that God is Pak Parvardigar (the Pure Supreme Being), but you do not become Pak (pure) you have only taken the name Pakistan (Pure Land). Now, it is God's command that you actually become Pak." On hearing such words, they smiled in agreement. They would say, "Tell us what service we can do for you. You are fine people. It is our duty to serve you because you are worshipping God and you are Pak".

RETURNING TO BHARAT TWO

Two or three years had passed since the relatives of the Yagya members had migrated to India from Pakistan. They did not know the whereabouts of Om Mandali and had heard that the university had been shut down by the Muslims and, that the members had scattered.

When they discovered later that Om Mandali was still in existence in Pakistan, they wrote letters asking that the Yagya be brought back to India. They were afraid that perhaps the Muslim Pakistanis would attack the institution. But, on the contrary, the Muslim Pakistanis protected it, considering it quite pure and holy. Some of the relatives of the Yagya children persisted in inviting the spiritual gathering back to India. One day, Shiv Baba, speaking through Brahma Baba and, later through a messenger daughter, commanded that the Yagya should now be moved back to India because the people of India would most be able to take advantage of this knowledge. Shiv Baba informed us, "There is a bigger field for service there and much testing also."

At last, in 1950, the children prepared to leave Karachi. When the Muslims of Sindh came to hear of this they tried to persuade them to stay. "We will give you better facilities," they said. "You will not experience any unhappiness here. Why are you going away then? If you stay here, there will not be any unholy acts done in this country. We will take care of all of you in every way. You are of God; you have no connection with the politics of the Hindu or the Muslim."

But the Yagya children had Shiv Baba's command to go to India so they made arrangements for passage by steamship from Karachi to Okha. They sold the buildings they had lived in.

Still, important people tried to dissuade them from going. Allah Bakhaji and Bulam Hussainji (Past Chief Minister and Vidhi Mantri) and Dr Chopathram Gidvani, among others, came by. They were pleased with the Godly knowledge. "Stay here," they said, "We will all help you." But they were told it was God's command that they must go to India to serve.

There were four hundred Yagya members in those days. When their luggage was piled at Karachi port, a crowd of people gathered. Muslims and Pathans helped the four hundred white-clad yogis to embark. The many Pakistani people who came to say farewell showered a rain of flowers over the Yagya members, who in turn responded with a rain of their own flowers, showered on the loving people who watched as the steamer began to sail away.

It was a moving scene. One Brahmin said the steamer was the ship of truth and they were crossing the ocean of the world. During the trip, the captain and others were quite helpful. They often used to say, "Show us how we can serve." Spiritual classes continued according to schedule. The flute of knowledge played as always, with even the captain taking advantage.

PANDAVS ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE

At last the Yagya members disembarked at the port of Okha. From there, they went by train to Mt Abu. The whole mountain is a pilgrimage place for saints and sages and here is Prajapita Brahma's secret memorial - the lovely temple of Dilwara. In this shrine are two statues of Adi Dev, the first created deity. One idol is black, one white, representing Brahma Baba's transformation from impurity to perfection. In the temple's inner walls are one hundred and eight niches, each containing a statue of a yogi in meditation. An atmosphere of solitude and silence prevails.

Their bodies are shown naked, indicating they had reached the state of soul-consciousness. A large diamond is in the heart of each one, representing their constant love for Shiv Baba. Each has an open third eye, symbolising possession of the supreme knowledge. The reason there are one hundred and eight such yogis is, that out of all the souls in the world, only that number will fully destroy body-consciousness and thus conquer death. The amazing truth is that the entire temple of Dilwara (meaning 'the One who steals your heart') echoes the very events which are taking place right now! It was utterly intoxicating for Baba's children to visit this beautiful place, and see themselves in marble, memorialised forever. No one else in the world could possibly understand.

Mt Abu is famed in the scriptures as the site where God Shiva descended. But who would have believed that Shiv Baba was here at this very moment! At His command, the Yagya settled here for its final phase of work.

A great poet, Shuklaji, met Brahma Baba shortly after his arrival and the following poem is the result:

So much praise there is for Mt Abu!
How beautiful a place.
The light of knowledge burns there,
And illusion is destroyed.
For Shiva descends at Mt Abu, with a gift
For every soul.
He teaches true religion here,
And Satyug is conceived.
At the end of every cycle,
The Gita is re-sung.
Through the Knowledge of the Bodiless Father,
One rises rung by rung.
One who does not know Shiva,
Cannot know himself;
One who does not understand,
What can his life be worth?
This is my own experience.
Whatever I have heard,
I make you hear.
What I have seen,
I write.

Speedily, God's work went on. In the Mahabharat scripture, it is written that the Pandavs had remained in exile in the forest for twelve years and then in secrecy for a further one year. Then only did they come out to battle. The Yagya had been in Sindh for thirteen years (from 1937 to 1950), with twelve years spent in isolation from outside people and then, one year spent in practising profound meditation or tapasya. In this way, they made themselves immune to negative influences, becoming constant yogis. Then, at last they were ready. Now they were each a river of deep, spiritual knowledge. Thus did the children of God begin their task of raising India and the world once more from degradation to purity. They sang in joy of the challenge ahead:

We are the transformers of the world
And we teach Raja Yoga.

Once our palaces were made of gold.
We had one kingdom, one religion,
A world of happiness.
Join us in building that world again.

We are the transformers of the self,
And we teach Raja Yoga.

THE GODLY WORLD UNIVERSITY

Moving the institution from Karachi to Mt Abu was no small matter. How was the new location decided upon? There is an interesting story here, offered by the University's first administrative head, BK Manmohiniji, known affectionately as Didi: "I had very wealthy relatives in India. They wanted me to leave Pakistan. And Baba also wanted me to go and serve India. So when I received an aeroplane ticket and an invitation from my relatives, I flew to Bombay with some other sisters.

"My relatives met us at the airport with garlands of flowers for us. But Brahma Baba had told us not to accept any worship, and garlands are offered only to completely pure gods and goddesses. While we were certainly making efforts to attain such purity, we had not yet done so. Thus, we refused the garlands, explaining Brahma Baba's counsel to them. We were careful to follow all of Brahma Baba's advice and commands while on this mission. At last we reached their home. They had prepared two nice rooms for us. In addition, they had kept another room free where we could meet with people who wanted to study the knowledge and learn the art of meditation.

"That very day, people began coming for that purpose. The same people who had years ago battered our bodies and assaulted our minds with abuse, and who had tried in every way to stop us from going to Om Mandali, those very people were now anxious to hear the knowledge, because they were impressed by our lives. We were happy especially to teach our relatives, for Baba had always said that charity began at home, 'A Brahma Kumari is one who can uplift both her father's family and her husband's family. We were pleased, therefore, that our relatives were following God's counsel.

"We stayed there for two months, constantly occupied with serving. Often, our relatives offered to take us sightseeing in Bombay but, we declined. The present world simply had no taste for us. 'We'll take our outings in Paradise,' we told them. "There we will live in palaces of gold and silver. We will fly in wonderful airplanes powered by atomic energy and steered by the power of thought. All the people will be happy there, so it will be a joy to meet each soul. Here it is a hell. Why do we wish to see the sights of such a cruel continent, this India of kalyug (iron age)? As a poet had written:

"India has lost her faith.
Her worship-worthy deities are worshippers today.
Her ancient purity seems but a dream,
For today we all are beggars.
Sensual pleasures have dragged us down,
Subjected us to death.
Bodily pride, the serpent's illusion,
One bite of poison and the mind was destroyed.
Now some say all are God;
And some say there is no God;
You hear as many stories as there are mouths to speak,
But no one knows a thing."

"No one knew a thing," Didi continued, "until Shiv Baba gave us new eyes. Now we know of the heavenly world. So what is there to desire in this illusory Bombay?"

They soon gave up attempting to persuade Didi and the others to indulge in sightseeing. The sisters' next test concerned food. Their hosts used to bring a variety of gourmet dishes for them at every meal. But instead of giving in to such temptations, they each made two rotis (flatbreads) with their own hands and ate them with plain vegetables.

"After dinner," Didi reports, "we sang a song of God. So we set a good example for the people we were staying with. They saw that none of their valued possessions or pleasures attracted us. Our renunciation awed them somewhat. They did not understand that we experienced joys they could not even dream of. They wanted us to stay on with them but eventually we prepared to return to Karachi. It was time to go, now that we had given our simple message. Someone stated it well in this song:

O bright soul, remember Father Shiva,
Take the birthright that is yours.
The present time is the Confluence Age,
The meeting of the children with God.
Shiva has come again to this world,
And through the lotus mouth of Brahma,
He sings once more the song of truth.
Soon we shall witness the end of the world.
The Terrible Day waits with gaping jaws.
It is the final moment for everyone.
So Baba is teaching us all.
The Shiv Shakti Pandav Army is blowing the heavenly bugle.
With the leadership of God Himself,
War has once more been declared,
Death to weakness,
Death to vice,
Death to death itself.
Evil shall be destroyed,
And the Pure World brought to life.

"We returned to Baba, having established very good relationships with many people in Bombay. Some time afterwards, our relatives sent a letter inviting us, at their expense, to move our whole community back to India. Brahma Baba sent a telegram back, 'Invitation can be accepted only from those who have the desire to hear knowledge and who wish to conduct themselves according to God's rules.'

"They accepted. They requested us to relocate wherever we wanted. So another sister, BK Lilavatiji, and I went to inspect various buildings in Poona and Ahmedabad, but we could not find a place where two hundred and fifty to three hundred people could stay together well. A number of important people helped us in this search and we made many friends for the university. One guru, Siddhanandaji, helped us greatly and later came to visit us when we were established on Mount Abu. On taking his farewell, he said, 'I always believed that if women and men stayed together they could never remain pure. This is the first time in my life that I experienced it to be possible. For as many days as I have lived here, not for a single day was I conscious of woman and man, that it was always the soul which I saw and always souls in great spiritual consciousness. Even after staying with Karma Sanyasins, the vision of my mind's eye was never so pure.'

"At last our search brought us to Mount Abu. Some of our relatives were with us. While trying to find a house with Sister Rukmaniji, I happened across the vacant residence of a king and I liked it. The place was called Brij Kothi. From a worldly point of view, it was not very beautiful but, as soon as I saw it I remembered some of Baba's words, which drew me to the conclusion that this was the right location for us. Years before, Baba had said, 'Children, at the end, you Brahmin children will be going to a mountain and doing penance there, and you will be staying at the residence of kings.' Baba's words came strongly to mind, until I was convinced that this Mount Abu is the mountain he referred to and this residence our destined home. 'At the end,' Baba had said, 'while meditating on a mountain, you will leave the body.'

"I hurried to Ahmedabad and made a telephone call to Brahma Baba in Karachi and asked for his advice about Brij Kothi. Baba gave permission immediately to acquire the place, as if it had been pre-planned in his mind to occupy that place and, that he only gave us the opportunity to find the house on our own because he trusted our yoga power and wished us to be able to serve. We were extremely happy. Everything happens according to the drama."

Brahma Baba sent a very able brother, Vishwa Kishore, to Mount Abu to acquire Brij Kothi. Vishwa Kishore (a name Baba gave him, meaning 'World Prince') was one of the most famous jewellers of Calcutta before he came into the knowledge. He was Brahma Baba's nephew, for whom Baba had immense love and respect. He had also educated him thoroughly in the jewellery business.

When the Supreme Being took over Baba's life and he quit his occupation, Vishwa Kishore had wanted to renounce his worldly calling also. "I shall follow Baba," he decided. But when he spoke to Brahma Baba about this wish, he was told to wait, to keep on working. "At the proper time, you will be advised to surrender completely to God."

Vishwa Kishore was a man who had the secret of staying happy under all conditions. Whatever Brahma Baba suggested, he was ready to do. Some years later he was inspired to offer himself to the Yagya. It was an inspiration from within, not influenced by Brahma Baba. Since then, he and his whole family have devoted themselves entirely to the university.

Brother Vishwa Kishore was experienced, thoughtful, decisive, faithful and honest. He successfully negotiated for the house and grounds.

MADHUBAN!

Though busy in a hundred projects, Baba used to write letters by hand and with great love. Those letters were invaluable to the people who received them and proved to give purity to the soul and radiation of power throughout the body. He remained in Karachi to continue serving countless thirsty souls around the world in this way, while the senior children went ahead to Mount Abu to prepare the new residence.

BK Dadi Manohar Indraji, who was among those who had left straightaway for Mount Abu, recalls an incident which occurred weeks later on Brahma Baba's arrival:

"When I first got to the new residence I saw a large snake in an upper room. I became fearful that we had selected the wrong place for the Yagya. So when I met Brahma Baba at the Okha Airport, I whispered to him, 'Baba, there is a snake in the place that we have bought. I considered it my duty to tell this to him.

"Baba replied with an understanding smile, 'Daughter there is no harm in it. What serpent is going to harm us? We have only to fight against the serpents within. Baba of course referred to lust and anger and the other vices. I felt happy again, and realised anew that Baba himself had selected this place."

But why? What made Baba select Mount Abu for the Yagya? He explained in the ensuing days that 5,000 years before, the first deity, Brahma, had done his penance here, along with the first goddess, Saraswati. On this mountain were the memorials to that momentous event, the most beautiful temples in the world Dilwara, Ambamata, Adhherdevi, Kumari Kanya and Achalgarh. These temples tell in marble, the story of a group of heroic yogis who conquered death through their union with God and, who emerged from their cocoon of meditation as pure and perfect souls who had earned rebirth as royal princes in the dynasty of the sun.

So on one side, the memorials of the Yagya remained here from the last cycle and now the event was being re-enacted live. On this very mountain, we would once again become sun dynasty kings of the lineage of Vishnu.

The Yagya members were soon well settled in Brij Kothi, which they renamed 'Madhuban' - The Forest of Honey²⁹".

Daily, the flute of knowledge played on, while the children grew ever stronger. When time allowed, Brahma Baba took them walking in the hills. People who happened to see them stared in wonder at this white parade of graceful shaktis. Were they dreaming? Or was it a vision? Never had they seen such women, climbing mountains with grace and energy.

Brahma Baba himself was well over seventy years of age. Still, he walked faster and more surely than any of them, as if the heavenly kingdom lay just over the ridge. They rested on the top in meditation, Baba spoke some jewels of knowledge and then simply by the look in his eyes, the shaktis would go into deep trance.

Sometimes, while dancing in trance with closed eyes and experiencing in their minds that they were dancing with Prince Krishna, they would come to the edge of a cliff. Those who watched would become fearful, but this was unnecessary, for how could one who has the support of God fall? And, indeed, nothing untoward ever occurred. The happiness of their lives remained unbroken.

Many times Baba told everyone, "Go in groups of two or three, go on different hillocks, sit in meditation and churn the knowledge in your mind. Just as cows chew their cud, just like that, think over the knowledge you have heard and hold it in your memory." When the white-clad Brahma Kumars and Brahma Kumaris sat on the high mountain tops, from below it seemed as if white clouds were covering the peaks. When they climbed the hills in a row, people on the road thought white birds were flying in formation in the sky.

Outside people think religious life means renunciation. But Baba's children knew that they had only thrown away useless trash and had received real happiness instead. There was no sense of self-denial here. Rather, Baba's children were on a permanent holiday. Often after morning class, it would be announced that Brahma Baba would have a picnic with the children.

"Dear sweet children," Brahma Baba would say to them, "we shall go to the mountain today and sit there in remembrance of Shiv Baba. We will also tell deep and lovely knowledgeful stories and, after that, Shiv Baba will give the children prasad (holy offering) personally, by hand. Children, this is a family satsang (spiritual congregation), as well as a university. You are all very dear children of God separated for many births, and have met at the end of the kalpa (the cycle of time), so the Ocean of Love will lead you all with His own hands and will give you joy. He is without physical form. He has no body of His own. Because of that He has taken the body of this Brahma Baba on loan. He will give with these hands the prasad of the Yagya with great true love. Even the deities pine for the prasad of this Yagya.

"Children, you are very lucky that the One God feeds you personally and educates you personally. It is a stroke of the greatest fortune that Shiv Baba, the Creator of the three worlds, comes from far off Paramdham (The World of Souls) and teaches you! The One for whom the Sannyasis are searching in the forests, for whom the gurus sit in samadhi in caves, the Father of Christ and the Inspirer of Moses, the One whom devotees are trying to find at the pilgrimage places, at Mathura and Kashi. Earning even a moment of His Darshan (vision), devotees are prepared to cut off their heads³⁰ and kings to renounce their kingdoms. Such a dear Father comes and teaches you, He talks to you with love, He plays with you, He is your Friend. There is a famous song about meeting God in this life, but for worldly people to recognise Him in this ordinary human body is difficult. There is a veil over people's eyes, they believe in nothing but the physical."

He set out for the picnic and we hurried to catch up. With a gleam in his eye, he turned around. "Children, are you remembering Shiv Baba, behind whose back you are walking? If you stay in yoga, you will earn millions with every step!"

Further on, he would stop. "You children walk ahead, and I will come behind you. The cowherd always stays behind the cows. I must keep you from getting lost."

Then when the way became tricky, he came to the front again. "The guide must show the way, and the pilgrims walk behind him."

While holding the hand of one of the little girls, he gently asked, "Daughter, whose hand are you holding? Is it of Shiv Baba or Brahma Baba? Daughter, never stop holding this hand. Do you know where you will be led by holding this hand?"

The next moment, he asked another, "With whom are you walking?" He got the answer, "With Baba." Baba replied, "Yes but do you remember what you are inheriting from Baba? Walk on in the joy of getting that inheritance, for Shiv Baba is teaching you children Raja Yoga and He wants to make you King of Kings."

Again he would start walking with great speed. Once, after going far ahead of the rest, he said, "Look what a grand shakti battalion this is! You are so far behind. The young have become old!" Then he explained, "There are two engines in this body. One of them is the soul of Brahma, the second is the soul of Shiv Baba, and so this body of Brahma walks fast."

Sometimes he would deliberately take the children on a hard road up the hill. Many mothers who were old and could not climb would say, "Baba, Baba, stop! Why do you take this way? There is no place even to hold on. There is only a round slippery stone. Where shall we put our feet?" Then Baba would hold out His hand and give them His support.

By becoming the support of every heart and mind, even in so small and practical a way. God brought them into His remembrance. When some of the children were out of breath, they called out, "Baba, that is enough! Please do not go further! Dear Baba, let us stop on this rock." Sometimes he gave in to them, so they were pleased. "See, Baba is listening to us." Sometimes Baba did not believe them and they used to laugh, "See, Baba does not listen to our talk." There was lightness and love in every action; in every conversation there were feelings for each other's welfare.

Study, yoga, transformation, service every act was for the upliftment of the soul. Difficulties were also there, to keep them on their toes. On this subject, BK Dadi Vishwa Ratanji, a Madhuban resident, recalls:

"Brij Kothi, which lay outside the city limits and near a forest, was near a cemetery, in a lonely area. There were snakes and other animals in the vicinity too. The house had been vacant for a very long time before we came. The people of Mount Abu claimed there were ghosts living in the house.

"Such things did not create any fear in us. If a snake passed into view, we watched it with detachment. 'We belong to Shiv Baba', we thought to ourselves, and we are not harming this creature at all, so why would it harm us?' Many times ghosts used to come but, because of the power of yoga and purity, they could not remain. Eventually, the ghosts were forced to find another place. For here were goddesses still growing in strength, learning to conquer the global ghosts of lust, anger, greed, ego, and other vices. We kept our minds connected to Shiv Baba, the Bestower of Victory. Through this union, we became invincible. We felt no fear of lustful people, who were more poisonous than venomous snakes, so how could we feel afraid of lonely places or slithering snakes? On the contrary, we felt more able in this lonely atmosphere to become stable in powerful yoga. Yes, we liked this place very much.

"In those days, after the war, wheat was rationed in Mount Abu. Very little wheat flour was available. There was still some millet and corn flour, and some low quality rice, but even that was not in sufficient quantity. The strange taste of the heavy mineral water on the mountain and the dry, thin air, were further tests for the Yagya children. Many of us came from wealthy families and had never experienced physical discomfort. Now we learned tolerance, economy and being able to accommodate different circumstances.

"We passed the tests of hunger, thirst and climate. We had already become small eaters, but one day the real test came. Shiv Baba gave the order for us to eat only rotis and buttermilk for fifteen days. Even sick children had to eat the same. Several souls questioned how the ill ones would be able to live on only that. Would it not make them more ill? But the sick ones accepted the food without even thinking about it, and with complete faith that whatever was given by Baba is 'Brahma Bhojan', the greatest medicine of all. And shortly, the health of each one had improved. From this test, the lesson that by eating according to Baba's command, much benefit is always gained became deeply engrained. To think there could be harm from doing as God says is the greatest mistake possible. From then on, no matter how adverse the conditions seemed, we found advantage in them."

These spiritual progeny of Brahma had discovered that blame and praise, victory and defeat, gain and loss, hunger and thirst, heat and cold, poverty and prosperity, all the pairs of opposites, are merely tests which come to a yogi in his life. Through remembrance of God and limitless faith, one can meet all situations with a laughing face.

DESTROYERS OF ATTACHMENT

There are so many bondages in the lives of worldly people. They suffer from attachment to their home, their city, to relatives, toο food and drink, to custom and habits, to wealth and prosperity. By abolishing these, benefit is gained for many births.

The aim of a yogi is to destroy all forms of attachment, to be able to bend his life according to his will. To remember God and be free of worry this is the only way. With this perspective, the mouth-born Brahmins readily adapted to their changed environment. Only a few fell away. This was the 'Beggary' period of the Yagya.

For a short time, their poverty continued. There is a chapter in the Shrimad Bhagvad which talks of a particular time during the Pandavs' exile in the forest. A day came when Draupadi's³¹ urn of constantly flowing provisions seemed to run dry. There was only one leaf of spinach remaining. And then God performed a miracle. So it happened now in real life. Later it became clear that these tests had brought the determined children into an even closer union with their Father, while the weak were impelled to leave.

Just as when a boat shakes in a storm, many people on the boat become frightened and jump into lifeboats. So God allowed this rude awakening to occur to the Boat of Truth, in order that some people who were given to fluctuations of the mind and to sense pleasures - people who had entered this Boat of Truth, not for reaching the goal but out of attachment to other Yagya children would see these shaky conditions and leave for themselves. The Captain of the Boat of Truth was God. And He knew what must be done to keep His ship afloat and the crew powerful. The children sang:

One whose wire of the intellect
Is joined with the Creator
Will never know defeat.
The light of my soul is burning bright,
And the wick cannot be snuffed
By any storm.

THE CONQUEST OF INDIA

When their study first began, the children of the Yagya thought there was nothing further in the world to do. "We have God, we are perfecting our nature and preparing to leave the body. This is our only work. We experience bliss. What more should we seek?"

But after coming to Mount Abu, according to BK Dadi Chandramaniji³²", they started getting signs that a new act in this divine play was about to begin. The curtain was going up for an extraordinary new scene.

"Brahma Baba began to teach us how to acquaint doctors, lawyers, judges and businessmen with God's Knowledge. At that time there were no professional people in the knowledge, so we understood that Brahma Baba was going to send us out to serve the people of India. Baba used to say, 'Daughters, you have the knowledge; it is very wonderful. In fact, it is invaluable. It has been lost for a long time. When you make others hear it they will become pleased and will thank God.'

'Daughters, with this knowledge and yoga, you little girls will be able to explain to even great and important people, those who today believe themselves to be God, or believe the soul to be the Supreme Soul, you will be able to make them understand God. You alone have become the instruments for awakening the men and women of the earth from deep sleep. Children, don't you hear the loud cries of the worship of devotees? If you go into solitude and sit there, you will hear your devotees calling on you: O Mother of the World, Oh Goddess we your children are calling you for so long! Defeated by Maya, we have come to your door. O Giver of Light, O Mother, now ignite our extinguished light of knowledge! End our darkness. Grant us visions! Have mercy! All our pilgrimages have been for naught. O Mother, save your children from drowning in this river of sin. Lift us up, hold our hand. Hear our call and help us.

The children of the Yagya listened, and they understood what they must do they must go out, village by village, city by city, lane by lane, and serve to bring knowledge to the devotees of God. They must renounce their most precious Madhuban, their Yagya home.

A struggle ensued between love and knowledge.

"Shall we really have to separate from our dear Brahma Baba and Shiv Baba? We belong to Shiv Baba, the Ocean of Knowledge, for whom we left the world and turned our faces away from our families. We faced abuse and trouble. We lost the taste for our own people. Now, shall we also be deprived of hearing the murli (flute of knowledge) face- to-face? And shall we have to stay away from Brahma Baba for days or weeks or months or even years? No, no, no! We will not accept this proposition."

Such was their initial shocked reaction. But in the next moment, a voice in the soul replied, "O Gopis, surely you have been brought up in the love of God. You have sacrificed everything for Him. Through the Father and His old chariot (Brahma Baba), you have received incomparable happiness. You mustn't keep it only to yourself. After acquiring such a treasure, won't you give any of it to others? Will you not relay the message of the secret arrival of God? You must deliver that gift to the world. Or must God with this old body walk from lane to lane and city to city to wake up those people who are sleeping in the depths of ignorance? You are the Gopis, you have recognised God. Will you not introduce that Dearest Beloved to others? Is it the aim of your life to live deeply in bliss yet leave the suffering souls of the world without Him?" Thus went the war inside them.

Brahma Baba's inspiring counsel won out, "Children, you must flow as rivers of wisdom, irrigating the dried up land of India. The time of secrecy is finished, you must awaken the sleeping people.

"This is the royal imperishable sacrificial fire of the knowledge of Rudra (God) in which the horse (the senses) is sacrificed. After coming out of this Yagya, you will go around the world. This is foretold in the scriptures. You are the creation of this Yagya. So now you must go into the world and blow the bugle, ring out victory in all directions. That is the gift given by God to you. By your blowing the bugle of victory, the people of India will awaken, and then they will sing your praise."

Again, Brahma Baba said, "Children, I have come to establish the family of divine souls. Other religious leaders established their own religions, and then the souls of that religion came down from Paramdham (soul world) to take bodies. In this way the numbers in every religion have increased. But the re-establishment of the divine religion of deities is a different sort of work from theirs. All the souls of this divine religion are already here on earth but, they have forgotten themselves and have become degraded, so you have only to do the work of awakening them. Get them to remember their original religion and also their dynasty. We have to give them the aim of becoming deities and goddesses, children of the divine world of the one government and one religion, which is now being established.

"You souls who serve the fallen by making them pure, will become kings in the new world. I love such serviceable children. I love you all, but I especially love the soul with knowledge, because one with knowledge makes others also knowledgeful. So whatever you have achieved, give it to others."

In such a sweet way, Baba inspired them for God's service. The hearts of the children felt inspired that they should go out into the country and beyond and serve other souls with love. In those who found separation even for a moment unbearable, a voice rose up in their hearts, "Let us show the world our loving God and Father, and only then shall we rest. We must bring this message to the entire world:

"Our joy was lost in passion's game.
We were in sorrow until God came.
Now the karmic debts have all come due,
And death is ever facing you.
But God is here to show the way
To the life divine, the Golden Day.
Have pride of the soul, not the body.
Remember God and the Godly study.
In happiness you should always be,
Oh sweetest flowers of the Kalpa tree".

THE OUTREACH

The seed had taken root and become a healthy plant. Its once tiny buds had blossomed into flowers. Now the time came in the Yagya when from the flowers emerged the fruit, the living, spiritual fruit which was to nourish a starving world. Here is what BK Dadi Dhyaniji³³ wrote-

"By studying the knowledge, humility, love, purity, joy, non- attachment, sympathy and benevolent feelings would develop naturally in the life of human beings. Baba's children had become the first samples, the proof of who was teaching.

"The taste of virtue is addictive. Those who met the senior sisters. wanted the same victory over the senses in their own lives. Baba's children had transcended the world. They could not be pulled back into it. It was not just the white dress and simple life, but also the mind and body were at peace. No ripple of desire marred the surface of the cool waters within. No dust of lust fell on the mirror. Three hundred women from different families had risen above the limitation of the flesh, had discarded their conditionings toward 'femininity', had erased both passion and jealousy from their personalities. They had all relationships with only One."

Just as the heat of the sun changes the ocean water into vapour, which then goes high up in the air taking the form of clouds, then to clash against the mountains and pour out upon the fields, making the earth green and giving sustenance to all creatures, in the same way, Shiv Baba, the Sun of Knowledge, had heated the drops of the ocean, the children of the Yagya. They had risen as clouds filled with divine power, hovering over Mount Abu. Now they were sending showers over India, a land that had become totally burned out. They brought the sweet rain of peace and happiness and silence.

The sisters learned the arts of public speaking, writing, drama. Soon, pamphlets and brochures were being published and distributed on an ever larger scale. Letters were also sent to important people. Finally, the world began to notice the existence of this remarkable group of beings.

Actually, the writing projects had begun much earlier. For example, during the period of harassment of the women by their husbands and families, Baba had them write letters to various officials. One such letter was to the State Commission for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, addressed to the Minister, R. Piggot, on 23rd July, 1938. The letter detailed how a young girl of fifteen had been locked by her relatives in a room for four days and denied food and that her brother had beaten her cruelly. Thus it was put to Minister Piggot, "Let alone cruelty to animals, what will you do about cruelty to human beings? If your institution does only the work of preventing cruelty to animals, then another institution should be established which can prevent cruelty to human beings."

Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, and Chakravarty Raj Gopalacharya all received letters, telegrams and even complete murlis.

Brahma Baba sent a telegram³⁴ to Mahatma Gandhi during one of his fasts, stating, "Dear Gandhiji, fasting and community non-co- operation are forms of hatha yoga. You can achieve complete independence only by the Power of Godly Knowledge and divine self- realisation. You can achieve victory over scientific power by spiritual power. The present time is the time of darkness of religion. Now God is again establishing the ancient religion of the gods and goddesses. This is the period described in the Mahabharat."

Brahma Baba gave the message of the descent of God, the establishment of satyng (golden age) and the destruction of kalyug (iron age) to political leaders, scholars, and to common people. He explained it also to officers of the British Government. Baba even wrote one letter to Elizabeth, wife of King George of England³⁵".

In that letter, Shiv Baba's divine message was clearly explained. It read, in part as follows-

"Dear Sister,

Along with this letter I am sending you a lecture on self-realisation. Many men and women here have achieved self-realisation and divine vision. They have seen that in the very near future a great calamity is coming on earth. At that time, only those who will have established themselves in a state of soul-consciousness will be able to withstand that destruction and will save themselves.

Spiritual power is higher than any scientific or other physical power and is capable of achieving victory over even those powers. During the world war which is coming, great sorrow will overtake those who are not making effort for spiritual realisation.

Do keep yourself informed about all these things and know that our divine independence is coming in the near future.

Against our non-violent army, people are making quite a great row.

Dear sister, you must make an effort to attain self-realisation and also achieve divine independence from all the world..."

Thus Brahma Baba had the message sent around the world, "Understand the soul and be pure." He used to give special attention to mothers because he said that there was great injustice done to mothers, that they had always been images of sacrifice. Baba also gave the example of when a girl married and went to the father-in-law's house, how it was almost like dying and taking another birth. She forgot her old relations and was united with new ones. She was to do what her husband and in-laws told her to do.

Likewise, to imbibe knowledge, a human being must die to his old life and be reborn. He must become united only with God and act only in accordance with God's wishes. So it is very easy for girls and mothers to take the knowledge because they have no pride of wealth or status. They have been educated to break relationships with one family and connect with another.

Brahma Baba often used to say that society and Sannyasis (renunciates) have given a very low status to women. They force them to hide their faces behind a veil. Men consider women to be a lesser creature; and a husband, if he wishes, can beat his wife and expel her from the house. He can marry again (after her death) as well, while a woman cannot. A widow's lot is pitiful. In former days, a woman was forced to burn herself alive on her husband's funeral pyre.

Sannyasis leave their homes, turning their wives into widows, and then teach that the husband is god for the wife. So Brahma Baba was anxious to raise the status of the woman. He wrote a letter to the Minister of the state of Gwalior, Rhi Rajawade, who was also president of the All-India Women's Association-

"Dear Friend,

The husband is considered guru and god for the wife. But only one who is passionless and completely pure can be called a god. Are the men of today passionless? Are they pure? The guru is said to make one realise the self and the Supreme; but the men of today are trapped in the pride of the body. So it is clear that men today are not worthy to be called neither guru nor god. You are a mother, it is in your power to become like the goddess Lakshmi, and to make human society drink the blissful nectar of knowledge. Dear Friend, awake! Know thyself. Otherwise, you are throwing your life into a ditch..."

An international religious conference was held in Colombo in 1939. Representatives of all religions attended. The subject of the conference was 'How to Establish Peace in the World'. Baba sent a wire to the religious leaders who had come there and also wrote a letter, part of which reads as follows-

"...As long as every person in the world does not know that he is a soul, does not act in soul-consciousness, it is impossible to establish peace in the world. In reality there is only one religion and that is the religion of the soul. The religion of the soul is purity and peace. Because of the many religions today, there is much quarrelling...As long as a human being is devoid of self- realisation, he is not a human being, but rather a demon in the guise of a human being and as long as he is demon-like, can there be peace? I am sending you a treasury of the jewels of Godly knowledge. Please think them over..."

Brahma Baba wrote letters to the kings of Jamanager, Jodhpur, and Mandavi. He invited people to come for a 'weekly course' offered by the university. Books were given away. But out of thousands, only a rare person understands this knowledge and is able to practise it. This is mentioned even in the Gita. Brahma Baba knew that most would not believe or comprehend him, as only those who lived in the last golden age would be drawn to the next one (the deities comprised .01% of the present world population!), yet he continued writing, since every soul has the right to at least to receive the word, before the final curtain falls.

Invitations to attend the university were sent to people of all religious backgrounds in every country on earth. A typical letter went something like this -

"Dear Soul,

By studying the invaluable literature which we enclose with this letter, you will be able to understand that God, the Supreme Soul, has descended into the body of an ordinary man, whom he has named 'Prajapita Brahma'. Through him. He is doing the work of ridding the world of passions and vices, just as he did 5,000 years ago and He is re-establishing a divine world of complete peace and happiness. The Gita epoch is now repeating and soon there will be atomic war and world-wide devastation, the very holocaust described in the famous Mahabharat scripture.

If you study this Godly literature with attention, you will be able to know the beginning, middle and end of this world. You will be able to know the present also and you will be able to realise your God, the Father, as well. It is necessary for you to keep in mind that this world is an eternal drama which repeats every 5,000 years. You also are one of the actors of this great drama.

At this university, imperishable jewels are being given away free. Come and take advantage of this priceless knowledge.

Such letters were sent to the Governor, Chief Minister and other ministers of Sindh, and also to the Mayor of Karachi. Along with the letter went a book, "The Great War of Mahabharat', as well as a painting of the world cycle.

Lord Wavel, Viceroy of India, and his wife received this literature. The wife of Lord Wavel wrote back, "Thank you for your pure thoughts". Politicians in Washington, London and other capitals were sent similar packages.

On 2nd May, 1947, a letter went out to Queen Elizabeth and King George VII, along with a picture of the kalpa tree.

It was written like this-

"Dear Soul in the form of King George,

This world is an endless drama which repeats every 5,000 years. You are an actor in the great drama. Do you know that 5,000 years ago you acted the same role as the King of England, in that same body, at the same time and, with the same name? And that you will act the same role again after 5,000 years?

In this eternal, endless drama, the present age is coming to a close and the age of gods and goddesses will soon begin. We are now in the Confluence period, when a few souls are rising again to their original perfection, while others are falling to their lowest imperfection. Soon the Kingdom of Heaven will be established on earth. Perhaps western countries believe that with the atomic bomb, they will be able to conquer the world, but this is a great illusion. The truth is that you invite your own destruction. Following that, the Satyug Kingdom of the world will be in the hands of Shri Krishna.

At the present moment, God has descended in India, but in a secret form. He has borrowed the common human body of Brahma, and they have together recreated the Ancient Sacrificial Fire of Knowledge. On the basis of the divine power of that Yagya, peace will be established.

The British, who have brought about the partitioning of India, have already sown the seed of enmity and their idea is to watch the war between two cats. Nobody is to be blamed, because the world drama is repeated every 5,000 years. The elements of disunity in India must be destroyed, along with the western countries. After that there will be complete purity, happiness and peace on earth. We are sending you some literature in which these secrets are clearly explained."

The letter to King George and Queen Elizabeth was written in golden lettering on a golden piece of paper, with clear pictures. These letters were very simple and to the point, but the royalty of the iron age had no interest in meeting God.

Further letters were dispatched to Muhmad Ali Zina, and the kings of Valaipur and Nepal. One letter was delivered to President Truman, along with a number of books and an invitation to the university.

The books were also sent to libraries in various foreign countries. And so the fire spread. All this effort may have seemed without result but it was not so.

PART FOUR :

DAYS OF THE DAUGHTERS

FOUR LIVES IN ONE

I took four births in this very life," writes Sister Sunderji. "One was the common birth which everyone experiences. After that, my parents brought me up, I grew older, and got married. This I consider my second birth, because for a girl, marriage means a break with the old life. There are new ties. The house, atmosphere, duties, everything changes. The carefree days of girlhood, of independence and purity, come to an end and, a submissive life full of worries and responsibilities begins. She has to give up so much. Ordinarily every woman passes through these two births but, in addition to these two, I passed through two other births.

"First, I was reborn into the Godly Knowledge. Shiv Baba became my only attachment then. 'I have nobody else except God.' In order to maintain this feeling, like a faithful wife, I kept only Baba, my Supreme Husband, in my remembrance.

"This dying of old impressions and sanskaras³⁶, the inculcation of purity and virtue, and a new way of relating to men, was very, very difficult. The world had still to be lived in and yet totally forgotten. This is no small achievement. It is called with good reason, the 'living death'. Sanskaras, hardened after many lives, had now to be rooted out of the soul in one second. Yes, the difficulty was considerable but the tremendous feeling of cleanliness, of holiness, made it all worthwhile. Every Brahmin experiences this life of spiritual happiness. But the fourth birth that I took, hardly anyone has such an experience.

"It was literally a divine experience. God, the Bestower of a clear intellect, the Creator of Divine Vision, thrust me into a future existence in the golden age.

"One day, Shiv Baba simply told us to remain in our room for a few days, to eat only fruit and milk, not to speak to anyone and to remain constantly in powerful yoga. I was quite happy to do just that, since the bliss of meditation was my greatest joy.

"So I sat and faced the Sun of Knowledge, and I blossomed like a sunflower. I had nothing to do but remember God. He became my entire life. All my own sanskaras merged in this remembrance. I became oblivious of this world. I was alive, but I totally forgot my name, my age, my form. I no longer recognised other people. There was only God. And then the transformation happened.

"I experienced myself as a little girl in a divine royal family of the future golden-aged world. I understood the language there, which was completely different from any which now exists. I was a soul of exquisite purity. I did not even know the meaning of desire. Anger and greed were incomprehensible. Such extreme purity emanated from every soul in that world.

"My eyes were the same, but the mind through which the soul was seeing had changed. During this period, I saw everyone with divine vision. God, the Knower of the three aspects of time, gave me for a short time, the power to see my sisters and brothers of the Yagya, in their future forms in the deity kingdom. I knew their names and their status. When they asked me who I was, I told them my divine name, revealing that I was a princess of the future world and I told them my residence and age.

"I informed them who the king was and told them about the kingdom. When people asked about themselves, I described the form which was revealed to me, whether they were princes, maids, or friends. For a month and a half I retained this consciousness,

"During that time, I ate very little, just like the divine princess whom I had become. I took only two or three spoonfuls of milk per day. All were wondering how I could survive with such little food. But I did not experience any loss of ability or power.

"During those days, my worldly relatives had come to meet me, but I could not recognise any of them. When this part of the play was over for me, for many days after that, I did not remember my own name or the names of any relatives or other Brahmins. They had to teach me all over again about myself and the present life. Eventually, my memory returned. As the effect of the extended divine vision gradually wore off, I fully regained my connection with this present form. When they told me that for a month and a half I had been a royal princess, I could not recall a single thought, or even imagine what I had seen. I only knew that for some time I had been lost somewhere. Where I had been, I did not know. This, I consider to be my fourth and strangest life - which I had lived for a short time through the divine power of the Supreme Father. Because of this, a new change came into my life.

"After taking four births, after living so long in the pure atmosphere of Madhuban, I was not prepared for the hellish world which still existed outside its gates. It was so strange, this world of body-conscious people. I saw too clearly the confusion and sorrow in their faces. Sitting in the train, I watched the world pass by and realised how polluted and despoiled it had become. I wanted only to return to Baba's lap. Is it not better, I wondered, to stay in the Yagya and not to experience this impurity? But I knew we had to go to serve".

As a poet once wrote,
"O God, see to what condition this world is reduced.
You have made the sun, the moon, the sky and they remain as ever.
But the man you have created,
see what he is,
how changed,
how strange he has become!
He has sold his self-respect for a little pleasure.
Now deceit is all he knows. The devotees of Ram and the followers of Abraham
rap themselves in cloaks of pretence.
How blind they have become!
Their black tricks have sucked the life from India.
Bharat is a cemetery.

O God, see to what extent the human being has changed.
If we had not quarrelled amongst ourselves,
if we had not fought wars,
then this beautiful play of divine creation
would not be in ruins today.
If we had not quarrelled,
so many thousands would not be homeless
and so many children would not be orphans.

O God, see how much the human being has changed.

O God, see what has happened to Your lovely creation.
What sort of men have we become?"

COMPLETING THE SACRIFICE

The Brahma Kumaris were now on the move, travelling to The different states and countries on missions of divine service.

On one occasion, an individual who was impressed by the lessons he had received, tried to give one of the sisters a roll of money. She refused it. "According to the command of God," she told him, "we cannot accept an outsider's money. First you must make an effort to be pure." The man was amazed. Who refuses money? The sadhus accept it quickly enough. The swamis never turn it down. The more he thought about this, the more baffled he became. Their minds are really unattached, he concluded. They have completed the sacrifice. These are very high souls. He was impressed by the pure life of these sisters in white. When he returned to his home in Ahmedabad, he wrote a letter of thanks and also sent an invitation to the sister to come to Ahmedabad. In response to that invitation, Dadi Prakashmaniji went there and taught the knowledge.

Soon BKs Didi Manmohini and Sister Rukhmini went to Kandala on invitations from friends and relatives, and on the way back they drew up a complete Godly Service Program. BK Dadis Santri, Sati and Prakashmani and brothers Anand Kishore and Chandrahas went on invitation to Calcutta. BK Dadis Manohar Indra and Ganga were invited to Delhi, while Dadi Kamal Sunderi was called to Poona. Thus, the children spread to the north, west, south and east. After fourteen years of preparation, the spiritual army made its spearhead drive into the world and the experience was wonderful.

MEETING NEHRU AND INDIRA GANDHI

Sister Sitaji tells what happened when she first went to serve:

"We had so long been isolated from the outside world that we no longer had any idea what it was like. We didn't even recognise the money which was in circulation there. I had not held any money in my hand since I had come into the Yagya many years before. We received everything we needed without even asking, so money was quite unnecessary. Baba took care of all our needs and He always made our life sweet and full. But now that we were going out to serve, we had a problem, for we had to re-learn how to deal with the impure world.

"I remember once, when two of our divine sisters went out to serve and they had to give eight annas to a carriage driver. They could not decide which coin should be given to the man. In those days there was a new one rupee coin in circulation and also an eight anna coin and both were the same size. One was slightly thinner, so they gave that one to the driver. These things were quite funny to us, but soon enough we became quite adept at dealing with the world, while not allowing its peacelessness to influence us.

"After leaving the most spiritually elevated environment in the world, you can understand how drastic the experience was for us. At first, when we were told by worldly people that they were unable to conquer their passions, we used to be amazed. We could only pity them. for we had the great fortune of being showered with Godly love and knowledge and so had naturally and automatically attained purity and simplicity."

BK Dadi Gangaji writes about her first journey by train:

"While sitting there, all our thought-waves ran to Baba. The ride was at first so disorienting. After great effort, by controlling the waves of my thoughts, I started speaking about the knowledge to some women who were sitting next to me. They experienced peace immediately and they invited us to their house. The knowledge had a great effect on them - as well as on me. Baba's words took form in my memory: "When you teach this Godly Knowledge to people, you will experience exquisite joy and all will look upon you with respect.'

"Later, I stayed with relatives of Sister Manohar Indraji. They had expressed a desire for me to come and give them knowledge. I told them at the beginning, that I get up very early in the morning and that after bathing I sit in remembrance of God, so if there could be a separate room for me it would be good. In addition, I told them I would make my own food and that I did not eat impure or highly spiced food. 'So if you also choose to eat sattvic (pure) food while I stay, so much the better. They arranged all this as I requested.

"So while I stayed there I lived according to Godly rules, my daily program helped them to organise their own lives better and to stay in the remembrance of Baba. They also learned to offer food to God before eating; this prevents greed and instability. I showed them many such things that were helpful on the path of purity. They were very impressed but still one illusion remained for them - they felt that to put these rules into practice was very difficult.

"While I was staying at their house, I expressed a wish to meet Pandit Jawaherlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. They laughed at me. 'How can you meet Nehru? He only gives interviews for very important things. Otherwise he does not see anybody. He has great responsibility. He is the Prime Minister of India. He is a king without a crown. If he took time to see anybody and everybody, then when would he do his work? Thus, they put aside my impossible request.

"This was my first time in Delhi and so I did not know the roads. But taking refuge with God, I started out alone. Baba had given me a gramophone record and some literature to be given to Nehru as a gift. Thus, I was going to give the message of God according to the inspiration of God. How could I fail?

"And then when I reached their offices, I was admitted without difficulty. First I met with Indira Gandhi. She asked what kind of service the Godly Yagya was doing for India? How many mothers lived there? What sort of knowledge we gave? I delivered the Godly message and invited her to come to visit Mt Abu. Afterwards, I met Nehruji. I gave him the record and the literature and invited him also to meet Baba in Mount Abu. Moreover, I explained a number of deep secrets about the present time and the necessity of purity.

"In Delhi, near Red Fort in Chandani Chowk, there is a famous temple named 'Gurushankar Temple'. I delivered two or three lectures there. The secretary of the temple gave me a separate room for my stay and I met many people who were eager to discuss the knowledge. I made them sit in meditation and watched as Shiv Baba gave them extraordinary experiences. A few women who received revelations went to tell their families. But their relatives responded by telling them, 'You are a simpleton. Someone must have played a trick on you. Is it so easy to get revelation of God? Even after doing long penance, our greatest sages and saints have not experienced such revelation.'

A PEACELESS PEACE CONFERENCE

Yagya Mata (Mama, as the mother of the Yagya) received an invitation to attend a religious conference on world peace in Rishikesh. Sisters Manmohini, Santri, Ganga, and Brother Anand Kishore were sent to take part.

Sister Santri wrote:

"Many foreign representatives had also come. We sisters had given lectures also but, after two days of the program, a quarrel broke out amongst the others attending. The dispute was over whether Hindi or English should be spoken there. If those who hold peace conferences fight and quarrel amongst themselves over such trivial matters - even to the extent of throwing chairs at each other what else can it be called except darkness of religion?

"Today, having lost the twin religions of purity and peace, all were prone to anger, jealousy, hatred, etc. The first lesson of religion is that we are all souls and peace is our religion and our nature. So this conference only went to prove that real religion had been lost. That is why God Himself had finally to descend.

"Swami Shivananda, who had organised this conference and was himself a peaceful man, spoke with us one day. He asked about the health of the Yagya pita (father of the Yagya, Brahma Baba) and said, 'Really, by uplifting so many women to such levels of purity and purpose, he has worked wonders. Later he asked, 'Do you not ever quarrel amongst yourselves at Mount Abu?' I said that we had learned to see each other as souls and to display patience and tolerance. We do not see each others' vices but only virtues. We live with detachment as well as love.

"Shivanandaji said, 'Wonderful! I myself have tried very hard to bring women together for spiritual upliftment. In my attempts to do so three or four times, I was not successful. They quarrelled among themselves. And now when I hear that three hundred mothers and girls have stayed together for fourteen years, it is truly remarkable. Tell Baba to send me some mothers, too, through whom I can start classes." Then I told him that our work is being led by Shies himself, that Baba is merely an instrument. No one but God could make our lives so high and noble.

During this period, service also accelerated in Delhi. A large, regular satsang grew there. But after two months, the sisters wanted to go home. Just as small children do not like to go out and do business, the children of the Yagya missed Brahma Baba. They had no real desire to do this service of teaching. So Brahma Baba had to fill them with concern for the welfare of other human beings. Brahma Baba used to say, "Children, all souls who are on this earth are your brothers. You have to become the support of the unsupported. You must make the whole of India divine. Rivers do not stop at one place but they go on from city to city. They quench souls thirst for peace and happiness."

After hearing Brahma Baba's powerful lecture, the sisters sat down and made a project for service. Brahma Baba's main attention was on the capital of India, Delhi. Brahma Baba said that from there the satyugi dharma (new age government) will start.

Around this time, some sisters and brothers of the Delhi satsang had written a letter to Yagya Mata and Yagya Pita. They said they were "...dying for the satsang and the Brahma Kumari sisters have left us." They requested that the Brahma Kumaris should be sent back. So Brahma Baba again inspired His children to go. This time, not only were permanent morning and evening classes begun, but lecture programs were arranged throughout the area.

"We went to the Kumbh Mela³⁷ too and lectured there," Sister Gangaji recalls. "People believed that by taking a bath in the water, the soul was purified. No one seemed to understand that you must bathe the soul in the water of knowledge to purify it. The soul must become drenched in divine qualities. To think that by merely immersing one's body in the Ganges one becomes pure, is blind faith.

"But the mass ritual continued and the mobs grew larger, fighting over who should be allowed to bathe first. A bridge collapsed under the weight of bodies and many people drowned. Still, no one learned a lesson and the nonsensical ceremony went on.

"These poor souls thought the soul to be immune to action and therefore made no effort to change their sanskaras (habits and tendencies) to conquer their inner weaknesses. They entrusted that work to the Ganges only.

"After seeing the destitute condition of the mind of the simple- hearted people of India, we felt sympathy. How could we liberate them from the bonds which tied them to their nature worship? They were destroying themselves in this blindness. So much time and money and energy was wasted in celebrating this useless Mela, while millions of people did not have enough to cat. Even the government of independent India encouraged these Kumbha Melas because they brought in more money through the pilgrim tax and by running railways. No one seemed to understand. And meanwhile, the ignorant masses surged through the streets like an ocean. We realised then, the importance of our serving the people of India. There was simply no one else to do it.

"Religion had become a business. The chains of the false gurus held the people fast. Sorrow burned in every heart. To redeem His unhappy children, Shina, the Supreme, had to come to earth."

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTRES

A permanent centre was established in Kamla Nagar, Delhi. Brahma Kumari sisters, who had gone to Allahabad, began a centre in Kanpur. There, Baba Harvilasray, a famous industrialist and a member of several large religious institutions (eg. Arya Samaj, Gurudwar, Aahlu Valia Samaj, etc.), listened to the knowledge with interest. He gave part of his own bungalow to these sisters to establish service there.

Just before this, BK Dadi Hirdaya Mohini and BK Shantamani had gone on invitation to Lucknow and, there also, a centre was founded. Thus, on invitation, many permanent centres were created, supported voluntarily by the students themselves. The classes grew rapidly.

THE PRICE OF IMMORTALITY

Understandably, the first thing anyone who took knowledge wanted to do was to run to Mount Abu to meet Baba. The Father of All Souls was on earth, so what were they waiting for? Can there be any better or greater thing to do for one's upliftment? In order to retrieve His long-lost children, the All Powerful Lord of the Three Worlds comes to this earth - "Can we not meet Him face-to-face?" new students would demand. "Our Father, whom we have called birth after birth with loud cries, for whom we were searching in temples and at pilgrimage places, in caves, in forests and in the depths of the heart; now when our dearest Father has come, how can we remain without meeting Him, even for an instant?"

But the sisters used to reply, "You cannot see Baba now. Only those who observe celibacy; who do not eat in restaurants, are vegetarian and eat no onion, garlic, or eggs; who have made their vision and sanskaras pure; and have acquired firm faith in Godly knowledge, can go. It is the command of Shiv Baba that only those good souls who understand and make efforts for purity can come to see Him."

"What is a good soul?" they asked.

The sisters replied, "Those who conduct themselves according to the directions of God. His orders are, to be pure in mind, speech, and action and to be united with Him in yoga. The most important thing is celibacy. On the basis of that, we can have control over all the other passions. On that basis, the soul can experience the bliss of Godly life. One who acts according to this first principle and whose food and dealings are pure, he is the obedient child of Shiv Baba and he alone can meet Him. Only when you have attained that stage can we take you there. You see the body still, instead of the soul. You have a bodily intellect. Thus, you will not be able to recognise or understand Father Shiva. It would be a crime to take you in this condition to BapDada³⁸", and if we take you, we will be punished."

The devotees continued arguing. "Sister, will Baba punish? Sister, we request that you take us there. Perhaps our decision to give up vice will then be made easily and determinedly."

The sisters responded, "Determination becomes firm by knowledge alone. Knowledge will be retained in the intellect only when a person observes the rule of celibacy and protects himself from bad food and evil company. So first observe these rules. How much can you wish to experience the happiness of meeting the Father, if you will not even give up drinking the poison of lust? How can that viceless God meet you as you are? If you do not give up the causes of unhappiness, it is clear that you have not understood knowledge. If you are impure, you cannot go, because it takes only one vulture among a flock of swans to ruin the beauty of the meeting for all. I do not want to make you responsible for polluting the pure atmosphere of that place. When you have filled your intellect with nectar, then only we will take you to that greatest of all fathers. Otherwise, we would be partners in the crime. Quickly become a swan and pick up only pearls, then fly to meet your Baba."

Some devotees made effort and some gave up in disappointment. They felt it was just too difficult for them to live according to such high ideals. Others were ready to renounce their old life immediately. "We are ready to do everything in this birth for God. Lust is the doorway to hell. Is it impossible to give this up? If we can get God by giving it up, then we give it up from this very moment!"

Others spoke in this way, "Sister, we are firm Brahmins. Our food and drink are pure. There is change in our sanskaras. Our relatives and our neighbours are witnesses to that, so you must take us along with you. We will put it in writing that we have complete determination. Now we're dying to meet our Father, so let us go."

And such firm lovers of God were taken straightaway to meet BapDada.

THE BODILESS CONNECTION

Those who got permission to visit Mount Abu were overjoyed. They sat in the train and kept their stage very high, just thinking about the incredible meeting which was soon to take place. "We are going to meet Brahma Baba," they thought to themselves. "And Saraswati Mata, and above all, Shiv Baba Himself." The euphoria they experienced was unique and grew even more intense as they drew close to the legendary Madhuban.

When the train stopped at Mount Abu Road, they looked up at the mountains which lay before them and they knew that Baba was waiting for them up there. They felt their connection with Him even before meeting, as if they were simply going home to their Father. Already, they felt an endless flow of happiness. At last they reached the mountaintop. The Yagya buildings stood before them. Brahma Baba had already been given the message that visitors were coming, so they were welcomed joyously. Shiv Baba used to tell the Brahmins in charge of these matters, "My own children, who have been separated from Me for so long a time, have come. Take care of them. See that no discomfort comes to them. Maya³⁹ has made them unhappy for birth after birth, and they are tired. Now they have come to be rid of that fatigue so they should receive both external and internal peace. Please give them every comfort, physical and subtle."

That ultimate moment came when the new children were brought into the presence of their two Babas. The atmosphere was charged. Madhuban residents were overjoyed to see their new-found brothers and sisters; they understood the thoughts which had been going through their minds, the questions which were finally being answered. Before coming here, the new children had been apprehensive, "How would God enter the body of Brahma Baba? Would we recognise His entrance? What will it be like to sit in front of Shiv Baba?" The questions churned on, but now, in the moment of truth, all thoughts dissolved. For the vision of God overwhelmed them. Using Brahma's eyes for windows, Shiva, The Father of the World, met His eternal children. Some could not resist going up and touching Baba and Mama. Ah, such sweetness in their limitless love! The fatigue and pain of many births fell away. No awareness of the body remained. And then the soul truly experienced the meeting with the Supreme. It is an indescribable experience, a total melting of the mind. There was consciousness of neither earth nor sky. Only the soul and God in boundless love, in infinite peace, in silent, powerful communion.

Slowly, the soul would come down again from that great height. But the memory of the experience remained, leaving the single desire to be in that stage again and always. But now, the thought arose, we have to meet our other sisters and brothers. That thought alone enabled the soul to stay under control somehow.

When describing their experiences, many new children used to say:

"We felt the touch of peace. In Baba's eyes we felt the power of God and it was a revelation; it was like electric power, but this current sent thrills of love through the mind. We felt as if a shower of light was being poured on us. All the most negative, evil tendencies were washed away. Weightlessness, angelic light, divinity, were all experienced. And the mind became exalted in holy rapture on the heart-throne of the Lord. Ah, to stay here always. For this is life!"

THE SONG OF GOD

Early in the morning, Baba spoke the murli to the congregation of Brahmins. The flute of knowledge explained reality, awakening the intellect and cleansing the mind. Shiv Baba spoke about the nature of the soul and about Himself, of the three worlds and of the three aspects of time. He spoke and still speaks with greater authority than all the saints, sadhus, mahatmas, jagadgurus, rishis, munis, popes, monks, rabbis, lamas, politicians, kings and ayatollahs. He speaks as the Supreme Almighty Authority. Being ever free from vice, the Eternal Ocean of Love, the Director of the Cosmic Drama, His every word is truth. His counsel is given for our good and He will stop speaking only when He has completed His task of making us pure. Then He will take us home.

Shiv Baba is not a human being. Yet He speaks with such natural and complete pure love, that when He says, "My children, My sweet children", we feel immediately our original and eternal bond with Him. His look, His voice, His words, bring love and comfort to the heart. And whether we know Him or not, whether we believe Him or not, He knows us well. He knows us to be His. He has come here on earth only out of love for us, to benefit us, to lift us from our degradation and to make us pure and happy. This is God's aim and He does not fail.

From His discourses it is clear He is without enmity, He is fearless, He is beyond death, forever incorporeal. He shows Himself to be clearly different from Brahma Baba, in whose body He comes. His expressions, His speech, His light, His love all are unique. His actions and His words are indisputable proof of His identity.

NIGHT CLASS

"At night, when Baba and Mama used to sit with everyone," writes BK Dadi Pushpashanta, "it was a scene worth seeing. They were aglow with purity and in between their eyebrows you could perceive the shining light of the soul. They smiled gently at us and a universe of meaning was revealed. A wonderful thing was happening on earth, yet so many millions of people did not even know."

There is a proverb:

"When God came on this earth and distributed good fortune, many got there late and many slept on in the sleep of ignorance."

How true that has become!

When these two divine beings came to the class, their way of walking, their vision, their vibration, were felt immediately. First of all, Mama would say, "Are you all sitting comfortably?" Meaning, "Are you stable in mind, speech, and body?" "Are ideas, decisions, alternatives disturbing you? Do you take care after coming to such an ideal Father not to get caught in a web of harmful thoughts? This life is invaluable. Do not pass the time in wasteful thinking. If you want anything, let us know. You are in the house of your own Father. Do not feel shy, speak up. Those who want 'salvation' (special privileges) raise your hands."

When these matters were taken care of, she would say, "All right, if you have done anything which is biting your conscience, let it out. By telling it, you will become lighter. We can show you how to deal with it. Then in the future, that kind of Maya will no longer exist for you. If you keep it to yourself, it will go on increasing and one day it will be deadly..."

Then when BapDada came in, all eyes turned to watch. His way of walking, sitting and gesturing was a class in itself. Silence would fill the classroom. He would look at the children and ask, "Mama, have you asked the well-being of every child? Look, children, you have come to the house of BapDada - do not be shy about asking for happiness. Shiv Baba's whole treasure is for you. All of you must have whatever you need for your health and comfort. This body is very valuable because, by being in this body, you can remember Shiv Baba and get rid of all bad habits and earn eternal wealth. So take care of it. Yet, do not be attached to it. You have both to forget the body and at the same time to take care of it."

Baba did not wish the children to suffer. He gave them only one hard task: to always to remember Shiv Baba and be virtuous. "It requires special labour to remember Shiv Baba, but it is no hardship, because you do not have to sit in a special position, you do not have to fast or do pranayamas (breathing exercises). Simply remember Shiv Baba and your sins will be burned away."

When the class was over, the music would begin-

"Sangamyug⁴⁰!"
How beautiful a time!
The Father of fathers is meeting us here,
For a journey beyond the sky!
How great the day! To fly away!
With bodies light as flowers, we are flying in the air!
Leaving the earth, the moon, the sun, even the stars, behind!
Onward to Paramdham! Faraway Paramdham,
far far away World of Light,
The Unlimited Home, from where all souls have come
Where our Point-of-Light Father resides!"

The souls would leave the class refreshed, then go to bed to sleep in peace.

No one could understand where the time went. Too soon the moment came for saying farewell to the new children, their visit over. Baba and Mama used to come to the hall. Everyone would take toli (a gift of sweets) from Baba and say good-bye. In the background a song played which had become traditional on such occasions-

"Do not forget the days of childhood
And do not weep after laughing today"

Baba used to say, "Are you listening to the song? What is it saying? You have found youth again because you are God's students. This student life is the best. The song says, 'Do not forget...' While taking Knowledge, do not leave Shiv Baba to get involved in Maya and do not fall into the quicksand of desire."

A DELICATE SCENE OF FAREWELL

"Leaving Madhuban," remembers Sister Sheel Indra, "was the hardest thing of all. Who would voluntarily leave God? Tears fell from every eye. But Baba and Mama whispered gentle inspirations to each of us. Mama would hug the sisters and Baba would pat the brothers on the back and say, 'All right, son, are you going?' We laughed and cried at the same time.

"The smaller children used to hide in cupboards and beneath the beds until they thought the train had left. When they were found, they just said, 'No!' and they refused to go. If they spied Baba, they would run and catch his hand and plead to stay.

'Oh, sweet children,' he would laugh, 'You are Baba's children. Baba is only sending you to serve. You have to give the introduction of Shiv Baba to other children. You can do greater service than these elders can. Do not ever be angry. Do not quarrel with anybody and keep your conduct such that all should say that these are really children of God. Become great Pandavs (guides) and come back. You are true mahatmas (great souls) because you are all pure and uncorrupted. You will inspire others to be pure.'

"Hearing Baba talk in such a way, our faces would brighten and we would happily agree to go. Everyone sang a last song together, then Baba and Mama waved good-bye with handkerchiefs, until the departing children were out of sight. They left in happiness. Only when we were on the road did we begin to wonder again, 'Why ever did we leave?'

INVITATIONS

A vedanta seminar was held in Amritsar and two sisters were A invited to speak, along with a number of sadhus and sannyasis.

"We travelled third class by train, even though our hosts would have paid for first class tickets for us," recalls BK Dadi Rukhmini. "When we arrived, they had trouble finding us, because they expected us to alight from the first class section. When they found us they took us to our lodgings and offered us lavish food. We accepted only milk and vegetables. This impressed them, because the sadhus generally asked for even more than they got. Our hosts offered to wash our clothes, but we told them we would do that ourselves, as well as whatever other work or cooking was required. They liked that very much, since the sannyasis made them wash their clothes for them and, massage their feet, too!

"At the seminar, we two sisters were invited to sit on the platform and the audience wondered who we were, what we would say. At last, BK Dadi Janki⁴¹ was allowed to lecture. The other speakers all supported the Adwaitist philosophy, that is, that God is everywhere, and that this entire material world is illusion. But Dadi Janki delineated the difference between God, the soul and matter. She spoke clearly and beautifully about the Supreme Soul, His qualities, His three acts of Creation, Destruction, and Sustenance of the world, and His need to borrow a human body to speak through. Many felt that God could not be a tiny point of light. Is He not infinite? Dadi Janki revealed that He is infinite in virtue, in knowledge and in power, but it was not necessary for Him to be infinite in gross size."

We all know that many of the greatest human beings have not been physically impressive. The emperor Napoleon was quite small in stature; Mahatma Gandhi looked weak and frail; and many women, who are widely considered the weaker sex, have proven to possess more spiritual power than even the greatest of men. Indeed, Shiv Baba often stated that Mama was able to reach her highest stage much faster than Brahma Baba did.

"Dadi Janki's lecture stunned the crowd into silence. What she said seemed clear and obvious, but the organisers of the seminar were horrified. The gospel of omnipresence had been breached in the presence of its most ardent supporters. They saw this as an affront.

"In retaliation, the organisers prevented Dadi Rukhmini from speaking, though she had been listed on the program. Many in the audience complained that this was unjust and they wanted to hear what she had to say.

"The next day a large number of those people gathered spontaneously at the sisters' lodging and another seminar took place. Baba gave birth to many new children that day."

Dadi Janki and Dadi Rukhmini were invited to stay with several local families. They split up so they could serve more and soon had organised two sets of ongoing classes. In a short time, despite vehement opposition by the gurus, a permanent service centre had been established.

THE RISING SUN

In 1954, service began in Japan. An invitation had come to attend I a world religious conference. One of the subjects of the conference was "The Descent of God". BK Dadi Kumarka⁴² dropped the bomb on them-

"To establish real world peace, every individual must first have a peaceful mind. The individual is the measure of society. A man can attain peace of mind only when his actions are good because the basis of happiness and unhappiness is the activity of the individual and the basis of action is the mind. The soul is caught in a vicious circle. To get out, one must create a virtuous circle. This is Raja Yoga, by which the thoughts are harnessed to an aim and object that is both elevated and irresistible the goal of becoming a deity.

"With this goal squarely in focus, the intellect detaches from the present world. The restless mind slows down, no longer caught up in the rush of material desires. One becomes aware of subtler thought- waves, emanations from the Supreme. Making contact with the pure mind of Shiv Baba, the soul gains power over harmful habits. The soul takes responsibility for itself. Merged in love for Baba, reinforced by the firm faith in its own guaranteed victory, the soul passes one test after another. In the end, nothing on earth can shake it."

What does all this have to do with peace on earth? Dadi told them-

"Do not worry about peace on earth. That is God's responsibility. All we have to do is establish peace in ourselves. The only co-operation God wants is for us to become pure. This we can only do by staying in His remembrance. To remember Him, we first must know Him. And so He must descend and introduce Himself. This He has now done."

The gathering reacted in amazement. Dadi Kumarka went on to describe the method of God's incarnation, the role of Brahma, the circular reality of time, the world of souls where we have come from and to which we shall shortly return. She said that these are the last days in the history of the world.

Anand Kishore, one of the senior brothers of the Yagya, spoke next. He explained that the atom and hydrogen bombs were made for world destruction, that they would multiply until every population centre was in range of such incinerators. The final world war cannot be prevented because it is through that war that the present diseased world order would be eliminated instantly and mercifully. The Supreme Father will then take all souls back home and peace will reign upon the earth.

Only then can the new age begin. Populated by souls who had previously transformed themselves, they would possess the power to live in utter harmony. For the following 2,500 years no quarrel would erupt on earth. No accident or illness would befall a single person. As much sorrow as there is in the world today, so much happiness and more would be present there. This is God's majestic creation. It is why He is worshipped forever.

Many in the audience were sophisticated intellectuals and they would have put down Anand Kishore's words as fluff and fairy tales except for the authority with which he spoke and the light which shone from around his face. Those who thought deeply about the subject concluded that these strange people from India made a good deal of sense. They began to question the visitors more closely.

"Are you pure vegetarian?" asked the conference chairman.

"Yes, we take only pure food, cooked in the stage of yoga. We consider meat and other impure foods not suitable for human consumption," Brother Anand Kishore answered straightforwardly.

"Why do you consider meat unsuitable?" The questioner persisted, "Today, animals and birds are increasing in such huge numbers that if people do not make use of them for food, they will overrun us."

"The population of humanity is also increasing," smiled Anand Kishore. "Does that mean we should start eating other human beings? We do not eat one another because we recognise that a person is not just flesh, but soul. Inherently, we know it is wrong to harm - let alone kill another person. A man about to be killed can express his terror in words, but birds and beasts cannot. If they spoke our language, they would ask you, "Why do you kill and eat us?' How would we reply? It is injustice, it is a crime, it is cruelty. It is sin. To make anyone unhappy is sin. To kill anyone is a crime from the point of view of the principles of action. It remains a crime even if the government condones it."

The listeners were quiet now. The brother's words had reached them.

"All right," someone spoke up finally. "Perhaps you are right about animals. But how about fish? They are only fruits of the sea just as other fruits grow on earth in the fields."

Anand Kishore nodded gently. "You have witnessed the dying moments of a fish. You know the desperate sound of its breath, you know its agony. Men have found many excuses to eat them. There are many things available for people to eat, far better than fish."

The sisters and brothers did a great deal of service in Japan. They discovered a religious sect which employed an oval-shaped stone as an object of meditation. The sect members had no idea of its significance. They considered the stone to be holy and thought that by concentrating on it, a bridge was built between the soul and God. Dadi Ratan Mohini asked them why they chose such a stone, but they had no idea. They said it was traditional, it brought them peace. Baba's children were surprised by the existence of such a symbol here, for this was clearly a Shivalingam, an image of the Supreme Soul, identical to those which are worshipped in temples all across India. Dadi Ratan Mohini taught these thirsty souls to build a bridge, not to God's stone image, but to God Himself. They were very happy to learn such an eminently rational form of meditation.

"The Japanese organised meetings for us, created opportunities to lecture and teach meditation and printed our literature, translated. Their newspapers announced our presence widely," the travellers later recalled.

They also visited Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries, remaining out of India for one year. When they returned, the news of their foreign trip was published in the newspapers of Bombay and Madras. The India Express contained a feature story. The Brahma Kumaris had gained respect at last in their own land.

GOD SPEAKS TO THE COMMUNISTS

A wire was sent to Krushchev while he was in power and, during one of his visits to India he received a book of the knowledge and an invitation to visit Mount Abu. Other communist leaders were also invited. During this period, the King of Saudi Arabia was likewise contacted.

In December 1955, an International Industrial Fair was held in Delhi. It was the first of its kind in that city. A television studio was also available and one of the senior teachers of the Yagya presented a televised lecture explaining the meaning of world history. Thousands of people saw this program and asked for further information.

The Spiritual University arranged a booth at the fair, where Baba's teachings were displayed in pictorial form. Experienced sisters and brothers were present to offer further explanation. This was the first experiment in holding a spiritual exhibition. It was a complete success.

Brother Ramesh (whose idea it was to arrange the exhibition) noted:

"We pointed out to the government, that if the population of India goes on increasing at the present rate, then despite the efforts being made to lessen unemployment, the problem will become unbearable. So it is necessary to start family planning and eliminate promiscuity. In order to awaken in the minds of the people a commitment to celibacy, spiritual knowledge should be given in schools and colleges. In this way, the future generation will not only accept celibacy willingly but their characters will be such that India will be free of theft, corruption, poverty and violence. A harmonious society can be built.

"Ours was the first institution to draw the government's attention to the importance of family planning and celibacy. We pointed out how much money was being spent to halt crime and yet the jails were full, the crime rate rising faster than ever, that the lawyers had multiplied and the courts were jammed. If we simply made people more tolerant, more virtuous, more pure in short, more Godly - we would greatly improve the welfare of the nation and need to spend only a fraction of the budget at that time.

"In the same way, the government stated that it wished to prohibit the use of alcoholic beverages. But the methods they proposed would at best have filled their stomach but not their soul. As long as the wealthy people wished to retain their privileges, the injustice would continue. But if they realised that the poor were also souls just as they were, and that they were equal sons and daughters of God just as they were, equally subject to the law of karma, we may have convinced them it was in their own interest to behave better. We could awaken a brotherly feeling in them and bring integrity back into society.

"Thus, in many ways we demonstrated the importance of spiritual knowledge. We also demonstrated that people of all backgrounds and religions revered the same ideals. All we were doing was going the next step of actually putting the ideals into practice.

"In reality, there is only one religion. It is comprised of brotherly love, non-violence, self-control, celibacy and a child-parent relationship with God the Father. But the government had thrown aside its religious basis. This was one of the greatest mistakes it could have made, severing its own roots, cutting off its own life-blood. Mahatma Gandhi knew how vitally important it was to take the support of the Gita in the struggle for political independence. Today, in order to establish spiritual self-sovereignty, the government must go even beyond the Gita. The Gita is the supreme scripture, the best guide for people of all religions, because it contains many of the great words which God Himself had spoken when He descended on earth 5,000 years ago. Once this fact is proved with supporting evidence, then the followers of other religions will accept the wisdom contained in the Gita. Then the government would have no trouble organising an acceptable educational system to bring purity back to India. We advised that an impartial commission be appointed to investigate this entire topic further. We, on the other hand, would offer proof beyond doubt that the Supreme Soul spoke the Gita and gave to mankind the knowledge which is contained there."

And so, the message spread. "These people have common sense. They're not blind followers." Businessmen and professionals were becoming Raja Yogis. Physicians were recommending meditation to their patients. Politicians discussed the surprising concepts which were pouring down from a mountaintop in Rajasthan. But how many knew who was really up there?

SARASWATI

The service centres were thriving, but they needed to refuelled. The new children wanted inspiration. Who best exemplified BapDada's teachings? Mama. Everyday, more letters poured into Madhuban, requesting her presence in some distant centre. "Ma, O Ma, very sweet Mama. When are you coming? We have been waiting so long. Bringer of peace, sing your awakening words, fill us with hope for a new life. Our divine mother, we are but stars, bring us the light of the moon."

At last, in November 1956, Jagadamba Saraswati left Madhuban bound for Kanpur

When Mama arrived in Kanpur, a grand reception was held. She spoke to large crowds in her daily morning classes, encouraged new students, answered questions at press conferences and offered guidance in private meetings. Mama showered love on all she met.

Her speeches were published. The articles about her in the papers brought souls running from all over India to meet her. All who did so came away refreshed, amazed and permanently changed. Indeed, they had never met another like her.

The following poem expresses one poet's admiration for Mama:

"O Mighty Jagadamba, Mother of the world,
You carry the torch whose flame is Godly Knowledge,
Always elevating every soul,
You are the destroyer of the darkness of vice.
Troubles all vanish, peace comes to the heart
When you arrive with your gentle, pure smile.
Hail, Sweetest Mama, Hail to thee, Jagadamba,
You bestower of delightful thoughts.
Always in yoga with Supreme Shiv Baba,
God's victorious child you are!
Come and awaken us to the new Day of Brahma!

How the souls at the Confluence dance!
Daughter of Brahma, our own Saraswati,
You carry the Light in your eyes!
You gave us the nectar of Truth undiluted,
You opened up Heaven's high gate.

Hail to thee, brightest goddess,
Unknown yet so famous,
You have taught all of purity's joys.
O Mother, be with us,
Accept the deep homage of all.

More powerful even than Mama's words, was her silence. At one gathering Mama was about to be introduced from the rostrum but, as the moderator turned to look at her, he was so moved by her presence that he simply stopped in mid-sentence, transfixed. Mama walked to the centre of the stage and there she stood in glowing silence. Her eyes touched every soul in the audience. That which cannot be described by words was eloquently displayed with just a look. The crowd was hushed, amazed by what they were experiencing. Mama's presence transformed the auditorium into a cathedral. The moment was unforgettable.

Then Mama began to sing. Her melody was like cool water flowing through a desert.

Something happened inside the souls who listened. Those eyes, that voice, each made an indelible impression on them. The news of what occurred that remarkable evening spread across India. Afterwards, Mama received invitations from many cities to come and sing her sweet song. So Mama went to Delhi for the benefit of the people.

Mama arrived in Delhi by train. Many yogis came to the station to meet her, all clad in white. The strangers on the platform wondered what sort of great dignitary was arriving. Why were so many people gathered here and why were they so happy? The Brahma Kumars, to answer their questions, handed out some literature about Raja Yoga and told them of the qualities of Mama. The happiness of the yogis was infectious and soon everyone on the platform was smiling, even if they didn't know why. They also began to wait eagerly for Mama's arrival.

Soon the train pulled in and the people gathered closer together, each hoping to be the first to see her.

Mama stepped into view, her face shining. The waiting people were not disappointed. Even the on-looking strangers felt the pull towards God which her magnetic personality exerted.

Though Mama had warned them not to, the yogis had brought her garlands of flowers to symbolise their love and respect.

"What is this?" Mama asked, as they came forward with the garlands, "I do not want these flowers. I want living flowers. You are the flowers. Once you were thorns but now you are inculcating every divine virtue, aren't you? You are the garland of flowers of Baba's garden. Now tell me, are you ever-fragrant?"

"Yes, Mama," they answered at last, "Baba has made us into flowers." Mama laughed happily at this.

Each day during her stay in Delhi, more spiritual seekers arrived to meet her. They came from long distances in a steady stream from early morning to night. Mama received them tirelessly, giving each soul what they needed. She cleared away their doubts. She offered support. Saraswati, the destroyer of fear, made them feel as if she was truly their mother. In the compass of her love, they were safe. mother. In the compass of her love, they were safe.

Little children came, too, and Mama always had a riddle for them. "Look, a Traveller from a far, far off land has come to this foreign land. Nobody's eyes recognise Him but He is recognised by the hearts of all. That Traveller has come only for a few days." When Mama had raised their curiosity, she asked, "Who is the Traveller?" She explained that the Traveller is God, Shiv Baba, who has come from the incorporeal world trillions of miles away to this little planet. We cannot see Him with these physical eyes but our mind experiences the power of His words, the Supreme Authority with which He speaks, and the knowledge which He has of the creation. He proves that He is the Seer, the Knower of the three aspects of time, and He is the Master of the Three Worlds. He is Shiva.

Sometimes she would laugh, saying, "People believe that God is the Ocean of Knowledge and the Ocean of Peace, but they do not know that He is also a businessman. There is no other businessman like Him. His goods are imperishable, no one has such merchandise. But He does not give all these for nothing. He is very clever.

"He says, "Give Me your vices, give Me your mind, and then I will fill up your whole bag with treasure. But the Travelling Salesman stays here only for a short time, soon He will be returning Home. Only a few days are left. Then this decrepit world is going to be burned. So why not trade in your useless sense pleasures for unending bliss? You will never find another such deal. Will you strike a bargain with Him? If you do not do it now, when will you do it?"

Mama electrified her listeners. When it was time for her to leave, they made every effort to keep her longer. She promised to go back and tell Brahma Baba how wonderful His children of Delhi were. Perhaps then Brahma Baba would even come himself. Only with the hope of such an event did they let her go.

Baba's children in Delhi wrote letter after letter to Baba, imploring him to come. At last, the Ocean of Love, Shiv Baba, and His medium, Brahma Baba, accepted the invitation. When they heard the news in Delhi, they could barely contain themselves.

Brahma Baba wrote from Madhuban before arriving:

"Sweet, sweet long-lost children,

Because of His love for the children, Shiv Baba has to leave Paramdham and come to this world of Maya. He has come to make us wealthy with knowledge. Baba cannot refuse His children, so He must come to transform Delhi from a city of sand into a city of God. The chariot of Shiv Baba will also have to come. But remember one thing: Who are you inviting to be your guest? Once you have known Him you must be ever pure, because He has come to rid this world of its bad smell, to make it fragrant with purity, so you must remain bound by the rules of the most elevated conduct. You must be constant yogis.

Baba has also said, 'Children, do not bring flowers to the station and it is not necessary for many children to come to the station. You should not waste your money, use it all for world upliftment, for giving Baba's inheritance to others."

Children, I am neither a saint nor a mahatma, I am simply your Brahma Baba, so what is the purpose of bringing flowers? The Father only wants to see you children as His fragrant flowers. Maya should never bring dryness in your life. The scent of virtue should be evident in your behaviour, so that people will understand whose children you are."

Only those who observed celibacy were admitted to the meeting with Baba; they must also have been observing purity of food and drink and faithfulness to Baba in the intellect. This principle was in effect for the sake of the children, since one who is not pure cannot recognise the presence of God. Shiv Baba is secret. One cannot see Him with these physical eyes. Those who have not yet opened their third eye of knowledge would not be able to know that in the body of that common man, this invisible God descends. Such a blind soul could easily harm himself by doing bad karma toward the Highest.

Brahma Baba came in ordinary dress, plain white, without decoration. And what decoration could have been beautiful enough and priceless enough to befit the King of the Universe?

Each morning, the class was filled with souls who wished to hear Baba's murli. Every day a deeper secret was revealed. The power emanating from His presence made them feel lighter, they saw things more clearly, their burdens were lifted. The mind remained stable, open, detached and quiet. The paper tigers of desire lay in ashes. They had arrived at the living core of life. "Ah, let it always be like this! How could we have ever come down from this throne of purity, for there is no wine to compare with the nectar of God!"

Most amazing of all, this rarefied experience was available to all. One need not leave his home to live in a forest or cave, as the sadhus and sannyasis do. Baba said in one of His divine Murlis that the karma sannyasis leave their house and business and live in the forest because they think it is impossible to stay with a woman and still conquer lust. But this is completely wrong. One who has tasted God's nectar will never give it up for poison. We are creating a new world not running away. "You must stay in your homes and families and conduct your lives with the power of yoga."

"Remain pure while living in the world," Baba counselled, "and the world will be greatly obliged. God comes not to push you out of your house but to make the house into heaven. You have called the Father, you have shouted out, 'Oh, Purifier, come! At last He answers, 'Children, I have come. Now give up these passions, put an end to that dirty business. You are souls. In the beginning you were pure, so your true nature is purity. Why should it be difficult to be established in that original state? But until you are soul-conscious it will be impossible. So consider yourself to be a soul and live in remembrance of the One Father. Then you will receive the power to remain pure, automatically.'

DAY OF THE DAUGHTERS

Was it an accident that most of Baba's children in the beginning were women? Or that he put women exclusively in charge of the Yagya? Of course God does nothing by accident. Many reasons can be assumed. For one thing, it was a question of physical safety. If it had been brothers who first went out into the world to announce Baba's revolutionary spiritual teachings, they would have been attacked and killed. Coming from the mouths of young girls the knowledge seemed less threatening, and even Baba's enemies were forced to act with some restraint.

It cannot be too strongly emphasised how much opposition arose against the spiritual university. Baba spoke truthfully and clearly about the diseased state of life in modern India, the corruption which affected every soul. The truth was painful.

Moreover, by demanding purity of every one of His children. something never attempted by any religious movement in history those obsessed with sexual desires felt their very identities threatened. Baba was intent on enabling us to stop identifying ourselves with our bodies, He made us transcend the false ego structure in which we had been trapped. On the whole, the male ego was a greater enemy than the female.

Yet even more importantly, Shiv Baba had by His very presence challenged the authority of every guru not to mention all the scholars, priests, philosophers and scientists in every corner of the world. Shiv Baba had announced Himself as the Supreme Almighty Authority.

He is not simply a high soul. He is the Supreme Soul, the one and only God. No one had ever said that before. Even the gurus who claimed to be God were careful to qualify it by saying that God was in everyone. Were they all wrong and Baba right? Should the entire body of Indian scriptures be thrown out the window? Who would dare say such a thing? Usually, it was a young girl sitting peacefully, dressed all in white, sweet and demure.

Shiv Baba is the gentlest Being in the universe. Yet simply by His now-proven existence, every soul who came in contact was forced suddenly into making the most crucial and difficult decision of his life. For if Baba was God, then one should instantly surrender to Him. On the other hand, if Baba was not God, then he was committing a great sin by making such a claim and ought to be opposed. Shiva's descent therefore, divided humanity into two camps - those who loved God and those who did not.

Very often, Father Shiva spoke about His very special son, Christ. Christ had performed his role on earth in total purity. He had reflected magnificently the virtues of his Father. He had even instructed his followers to pray only to "Our Father who art in Heaven." Christ's role was different from Baba's. His job was to establish a religion, to draw more souls down from the soul world so they could play their parts on earth. Just as God the Father was now sharing a body with Brahma Baba, in the same way Christ had entered the body of Jesus. It was Jesus who suffered on the cross, not Christ. That pure son of God left the body early and went on and took rebirth to help guide his fledgling religion into maturity. Many more secrets about Christ and the other religious founders have been revealed by Baba.

For most of recorded history, men had dominated women in religious as well as worldly matters. Baba had come to bring that state of affairs to a close. So He put His authority into the capable hands of females it was the day of the daughters. The switch of roles had a remarkably therapeutic effect on all of Baba's children, with women in front and the men working powerfully behind the scenes. Mutual respect was fostered and purity more easily maintained.

The daughters learned to deliver the lectures, to sit on the gaddi (the seat of the guru) and lead meditation. They were given the authority to read the murli in centres around the world. It was daughters who went into trance to visit Baba in the subtle world.

These women learned to tolerate adversity and to remain unaffected by praise, which is even harder. Their performance was so astounding that, based on what they accomplished in the last Confluence Age 5,000 years ago, women have been idolised as a memorial even until today.

In early pagan rituals, virgins were sacrificed, in an echo of the sacrifice of fragility and vice into the Yagya, which Baba's daughters had made.

Even in the West, women have been the traditional keepers of the highest human values. Purity, chastity and modesty were always terms of praise bestowed on the fair sex who, for those reasons, were placed on pedestals until modern times when they, along with men, tumbled down into the mud of lust. Today it is no longer even admitted that lust is a sin. This is the measure of how far we have fallen. Now it is women who are once more leading the way to restore these values.

The brothers also performed nobly on the battlefield, however, and so are memorialised in a host of scriptures. Since they gave up their monkey-like desires, they are remembered in the form of Hanuman, the monkey god who served the Lord. In the Ramayana, it is told that God required an army of monkeys to help Him defeat the evil Ravan. In the Mahabharata, the story of the five heroic Pandavs is recorded. They were only a handful yet they defeated the world with the help of God. Now the real Pandavs were defeating the evil army of vices within themselves and thus transforming the earth.

One brother who refused marriage because he wanted to be pure, was locked into a barrel of rats. His angry father left him there for days but Baba's child did not give in.

Another brother from a small village was publicly tormented for spreading Baba's message. He was tied up, blindfolded, and placed backward on a donkey. His face was blackened, and he had to suffer the jeers of the community as he was led through the town in shame. All the while though, Shiv Baba was with him making His child experience the bliss of heaven. When they took off the young man's blindfold, he was smiling contentedly.

Another brother, Nirwair, who now holds a major post in Madhuban, was brought up as a Sikh. He had been trained as a naval engineer and was serving in the military when he recognised Baba. He wanted to be free of that violent life immediately, but the Navy refused to discharge him. There was a border war going on at that time and he was sent to the front. Before he left, Baba told him, "Don't worry, you won't get hurt."

Nirwair's faith in Baba was total. One day he leaped up in the midst of an enemy attack, intoxicated with the knowledge that he would not be hurt. A hail of bullets was fired from the other side but not one touched him. Brother Nirwair was shortly released from the service. His officers thought he was crazy.

***

From Shiv Baba's incorporeal perspective, all souls are brothers. It is only after coming into the body that we identify as male or female. Even then, we wear a series of these costumes of flesh, some as male and some as female.

Only Shiv Baba is beyond gender and, even though He applies to Himself the masculine pronoun, He makes it clear He is our Mother as well as Father. Sometimes, He calls Himself the Husband, and then even His male children are happy to be His brides.

In the past though, religion has been almost exclusively a male province. Men alone performed as priests, rabbis, gurus, monks, popes, apostles and prophets. It stunned the religious community when suddenly Baba's daughters arose, first by the score, then hundreds, then thousands. Powerful women were for the first time leading the way, living and teaching the most elevated ideals and conduct, with the authority of God Himself. Here was a unique phenomenon in history.

In the Hindu scriptures, it is written that Krishna had sixteen thousand queens. But the truth is that this refers to Shiv Baba's act of attracting His shaktis, the future goddesses, and making them worthy of ruling the world.

Through these holy daughters, the balanced, complete, perfect human personality was being re-introduced on earth.

PART FIVE :

WORDS OF THE FATHER

BOARDING THE ROCKET

Baba used to say-

The desires "The of the senses have made you unhappy for many births. Are these good things? If you are unhappy because of them, why do you not get rid of them. You remove mud from your homes. Why do you keep it in your minds? Do you consider these vices a great treasure? Children, give all these dirty things to Me. Then I will put heaven in the palm of your hand. Children, I do not want anything else from you. You only have to give Me these useless thoughts of yours. Don't hold on to them, they have no value. They have spoiled your whole life. This world which was once heaven has become hell..."

Shiv Baba's flute of knowledge played on, but the people of India still believed Krishna was God and that he played an ordinary musical flute. They failed to grasp the significance of Baba's words. So the people still search everywhere for God, making up theories to explain His absence, while at the same time they say He is omnipresent. Yet, He had already arrived in the body of an ordinary man and He was performing the greatest miracle of all: creating the new world once more. Brahma Baba will take rebirth as Krishna, the loveliest of deities. It is no wonder Krishna is confused with God.

One of those who had heard Baba speak when He came to Delhi was moved to write the following poem…

The Words of the Father

In these sweet, priceless words, in these very words,
The whole truth of the world is stored.
The mind and the power are awakened once more,
By these words of the Father of All.
In these words is the deep inner voice
Of the yearning of humanity age after age,
The answer to the questions of all.

The intellect rises like a great balloon
When the pure thoughts of Shiva
Have expanded the mind,
And the weight of illusion dissolves.
The soul swings in the swing of joy.
Borne aloft by Our Father's words.

Many used to ask Baba, "Why does the world exist?" It exists to make us happy. When His children begin to drown in sorrow, then He reappears to make us happy again. Baba is the Supreme Psychologist, making complicated people simple once more, destroying the neurotic labyrinths we have built in our minds.

Serious scholars would meet Him and break out into song. Old men would begin to dance like young boys. World-weary artists would begin to create again. In fact, many people who had never written a line of poetry before suddenly found themselves composing poetry. It was not the poetry of despair, or quest, but that of ultimate success.

I have climbed aboard the rocket,
And I'm going beyond the world.
The gravity has dissipated,
The clouds are left below.
All is clear and calm and silent,
Supersensuous joy

The Sun of Knowledge shines before me
And every problem is solved.
Floating free in the space of love,
I approach ever closer to God.

Who was writing these verses, who was singing, who was smiling so broadly? Not common individuals, nor the recluse or untouchable ones. Conservative, down-to-earth people, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, engineers, scientists, were suddenly smiling as they never had before, telling their friends "a ridiculous story that God had landed on earth!" No one knew what to make of it!

Baba belongs to us. He is the world's greatest Supernatural resource. When every other energy source runs out, Baba will still be there, the eternal Beacon to the world. "Children." He gently calls us, "come and sit in My lap."

Children rush to sit in the lap of a phony Santa Claus. Now we are offered the infinite lap of the real Santa Claus. Was ever so much bliss offered to so many and accepted by so few?

WORLD RENEWAL

Baba's new children were hungry for this spiritual knowledge in written form. They wanted books on the method of Raja Yoga; explanations of how science had been led astray by the false belief in geological uniformitarianism, linear time and brain-based psychology.

Works of ethics were needed, along with instructional texts on overcoming bad habits. Baba's gift of a new intellectual paradigm contained the answers to every question; it was simply a matter of drawing out the implications⁴³.

Baba suggested we publish a monthly magazine. It was called "Trimurti, referring to the fact that the One Supreme Being was the Creator of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar.

Later on, a second magazine, 'World Renewal', began publication. Printed in several languages, including English, it was distributed throughout the globe. The following article, written by an environmentalist, is typical of its contents:

Planetary Transformation through Personal Transformation (The spiritual causes of the environmental crisis)

The environmental crisis is no longer imminent. In fact, it has already occurred. Little effort need be spent in convincing perceptive people of this fact. We have polluted our lakes and rivers to the point of suffocation, poisoning our water supplies. We have destroyed our wetland habitats, stripped our forests and spoiled our fertile soils, thereby adulterating our sources of food. We have poisoned the atmosphere with automobile exhaust and industrial pollutants, blackening our lungs and clouding our brains with noxious fumes. We have robbed ourselves of the beauty of the world.

Why? Why, with all our technological sophistication, have we been unable to create even a minimally healthy, peaceful world? Why has happiness and prosperity eluded us? Why has our garden world become a jungle of thorns, squeezing the joy out of existence at the very moment when we should be able to rejoice?

We have misunderstood the eternal relationship which we have to Nature and to God. In our pride of scientific achievement, we have forgotten that there are laws upon which this Universe is run, laws which we transgress only at our peril. We have broken those laws, and now the threat has arrived.

One of the primary laws of cosmic change may be stated in this way: The outward condition of the world reflects the inward condition of the souls who reside within it. In other words, as long as souls remain pure and unpolluted, free of any negativity, so nature will remain unpolluted; as long as we are caring, nature will be caring; as long as we are the masters of ourselves, we are the masters of the world we live in. In our endeavour to explore and exploit our physical surroundings, we have however, lost the knowledge of who and what we are. So, in the headlong rush for material gain, self-mastery has been utterly lost and our problems have slowly, unavoidably mounted, to such an extent that now they nearly crush us.

Yet, if we examine any of our social or environmental problems, there is not a single one which we could not solve if we so desired. The significance of this observation is deep and requires thorough understanding. For example, if the heads of our major industries installed appropriate safeguards and redesigned their factories, there would be an enormous drop in the levels of pollution; but they are obsessed with taking short-term profits, even at the expense of long- term survival. Car manufacturers could choose to design cars which are safe as well as economical but, blinded by greed and the arrogance of monopolistic control, they choose otherwise, failing to see that their actions lead to a dead end in which they cannot turn around.

These examples could of course be multiplied but the underlying question would then be buried under a mass of data. Inquiry must be directed to the root cause: Why is man greedy? Why do human beings behave against their own best interests? And even more crucial, is greed an inherent quality in the human soul?

This last is most important because, if our conceptual framework does not allow for the possibility of overcoming greed once and for all, then the human situation is truly hopeless. Many do in fact maintain that this negative trait is a part of the human psyche which cannot be eradicated and, a casual look at history would even seem to confirm their pessimistic outlook. Deeper study, however, will reveal otherwise, uncovering the true nature of the self and simultaneously presenting us with the key to regaining our lost paradise.

Over a hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau noted the link between the mental environment and physical environment. He escaped the pollution of both in his retreat to Walden Pond. He noted then what is far more drastically true today, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation". Man's desperation arises from what is perceived as the human situation: We are mortal, it is thought; we shall die; we live in an uncaring universe of chance. With such a world view, it's little wonder that human beings have opted to get the most out of life through material acquisition and sensual pleasure. The fear of death is fertile soil in which the poison plant of greed may thrive. And when greed is not satisfied, anger arises. The ultimate thing we hunger for is love. But since we have taken ourselves for material beings, we have mistaken sex for love, thus exploiting each other and devaluing ourselves further. In this desperate condition, we have despoiled our home, the earth.

Yet this whole chain of events was based upon a simple mistake. We are not mortal, after all. We are souls, non-material units of consciousness. and our bodies are simply temporary earthenware costumes. We knew this once as fact, a result of experience. We wore a crown of light. But as we proceeded through the play of time adopting one clay puppet after another, we lost our right understanding. We became attracted physically to other bodies. The puppet hypnotised the puppeteer. In short, our minds became polluted with body-consciousness.

Since attraction produces repulsion, our unity and our harmony turned into fragmentation and conflict. As we grew apart psychologically, the earth we walked on broke apart. The continents, afloat on their tectonic plates, split away from the central mass of India to which they were once all attached. The various cultures sprang up, along with the various religions of the world; and though each group made peace its yearning, and love its theory of human relations, the practice of each was prejudice and pride.

Yet each of the world's religions served to hold the advancing negativity in check. So long as there was at least a concept of God and a belief in reward and retribution, the intellect was motivated to make an effort in the right direction. Once God was discarded and truth defamed, once relativism was installed in place of universal ethics, and perfection sacrificed as a personal ideal, the human family was hopelessly broken into shards of selfishness.

There were cycles within the larger movement, lights which occasionally sprang up within the surrounding darkness but the dismal downhill trend could not be reversed. We fell through the trapdoor of history with the Fall from soul-consciousness and now we have reached rock bottom. Two choices lie before us either we clean up our act and become pure once more or we drown in a massive whirlpool of destruction.

It is easy to talk about purification. Accomplishing it is another story. All of us recognise greed as an evil but how many of us are willing to make the effort of rooting it out of our psyche? We recognise lust as an even more primary evil. We know it is the vicious force behind rape, is responsible for overpopulation, brings sexually transmitted disease in its wake, causes harassment of women in their jobs, contributes heavily to divorce, is the cause of women using dangerous contraceptive drugs and having abortions, causes many kinds of psychological and emotional disturbance, brings about the degradation of literature, art and of culture as a whole and diverts our minds from more elevated thoughts in general. Yet, knowing all this, how many are even willing to seriously consider making an effort to conquer sex-lust?

In the same way, greed defaces the planet, yet how many are prepared to make the kind of radical transformation necessary to end this crippling psychological disease, thus bring to an end the environmental crisis? How many souls are willing to transcend the body ego in order to act for their true welfare, to save the earth for their own future lives?

Fortunately, it does not take many. A small number of souls who are truly committed to perfection, who act with a deep understanding of the laws of change, can affect the entire universe especially when the Supreme Soul Himself wishes this change to take place for the sake of His unhappy children.

Paradise is being built again. Even in this darkest hour, secret forces are at work. Powerful souls, including the Most Powerful of all, are channelling the energy of purity into the material world. Through Raja Yoga, or union with the Supreme, each one of us can also become such a channel of spiritual light, love, purity and might.

When we have reached the peak of our own long-latent powers and when the forces of good and evil have fully polarised, as they soon will, then the long-awaited transformation will arrive. By changing our own mental environment, we will change the face of the earth itself. The axis of the planet will straighten from its angle of to the truly vertical. The continents will come together once more. There will be no more seasonal variation, but springtime all year long. The replenished earth will give birth to a new society, technologically advanced, yet also completely, divinely virtuous - a paradise of endless happiness.

Such is the world of the ancient past, and the world of the very near future. For the cycle of time has come full swing, and we have arrived at the end, which is the new beginning. The Creator of the New World has descended from the World of Silence to bring us home, to teach us how to live, to solve the crisis of the world's environment, to offer us the opportunity to take re-birth in a paradise beyond our happiest dreams.

This is not a dream, but revealed reality. It is our birthright as children of the Perfect Father. All we need to do is become like Him once more. This is Raja Yoga. This is the pure path to world transformation.

UNION WITH GOD

The Supreme Father reveals to us the method for communication directly with Himself... A method of contact which does not require any third party in-between... A method which is a direct link of I, the soul, with the Supreme Being.

I need not repeat a mantra, nor do I turn a rosary in my hands. I need no physical images to look at. What I must do is stabilise my intellect with great love on God, the Supreme. On the one hand this is the simplest form of yoga, nothing physical is involved at all. I do not need to practice postures, neither do I need to practice breathing exercises, nor do I need years and years of penance. It is really extremely simple. All I need do is sit comfortably, or stand, or even while I work. or talk, whatever else I may need to do my mind must simply be tuned to the Supreme Father. So the only thing that is needed in Raja Yoga is this focus my mind in one direction, stabilising on the Supreme Being.

At this hour of need, the Supreme Father reveals two very basic aspects of knowledge which are the foundation for the system and the practice of Raja Yoga. Firstly, the recognition of who I am.

I and the 'Supreme

I, the infinitesimal spark of light. 'I', not the physical body that is visible but 'I', the being of light, a tiny star, a self-luminous pinpoint, a dot. That is what I am. I' am a soul, located in the centre of the forehead. Let me sit now with this consciousness of 'I', the living energy that is controlling, driving, guiding, motivating this human machine.

As I become aware of 'I', totally separate from this physical body, in this stage, which could be described as soul-consciousness, I can understand and appreciate the existence of the Supreme Being. My Father, the Supreme Being, is also a soul. Let my thoughts now focus on the Supreme among all souls. He is also a being of Light, the Infinitesimal, a pinpoint, a shining star. And yet, this infinitesimal Being is the source of qualities without limit, qualities that are not even limited by time but qualities that are eternal.

The purpose of my yoga is to communicate with this Being. For many, many years, for many, many births, I have been experiencing communication with human beings. But because human souls occupy physical bodies, communication with them is not only through the mind but through the use of physical senses we use sound, we use vision, but now if I wish to communicate with the Supreme Being, who is eternally bodiless, the Incorporeal, never with a body of His own, none of my physical energies can help me in this communication. In fact, it is only when I take my own mind above my own physical body and all the distraction that the physical energies create, that I can achieve this contact.

When I recognise that I am a soul, I become aware of the tremendous energy that I have within myself. I have the power of thought. I know I can dictate the direction of my mind. I know I can determine the direction of each and every thought and so let my thoughts flow only in the direction of the Supreme Being. Let me experience this, the most potent of all powers, the power of my own mind.

My mind moves away from all other physical, mundane things. I forget the past, my own mistakes, as well as my limited achievements. At this moment I am not interested in communication with human beings, nor even with prophets, deities, angels, or spirits. The soul seeks to communicate with only One, with the Supreme Being. I become aware of the form of the Supreme Being. I visualise that Spark of Light. I begin to think of the qualities that emanate from this Source. The unlimited peace, a peace which is undisturbed, a peace that is so powerful that it influences everything within reach.

The Highest Relationship

My thoughts are now totally focused on the peace that my Supreme Father radiates. In the same way, let me experiment, knowing that my Supreme Father is not only a Father, but that He is also my Supreme Mother, the One with total love, the One who is able to give love which is totally for the upliftment of I, the soul. He is the One who will not reject the soul. Though seeing it at its present impure, imperfect condition, the Merciful Mother pours out so much love that I, the soul, feel such strength and comfort that I am uplifted and renewed. Let me experience that vast Ocean of Love.

I am not to stop the thoughts of the mind which come to distract me, but simply change their direction, allowing thoughts to flow based on knowledge of God. This perhaps is the most important aspect of Raja Yoga meditation, that once the intellect is filled with wisdom of the introduction of the Supreme Being, then every thought that emerges is based on this understanding. If any other thoughts do come across and cloud the mind, I let the mind turn them away and let the flow begin once more in the direction of the Supreme.

Sometimes, I allow the mind to dwell on the quality of purity. I let the experience be of God as the Being of bliss. I allow the mind to take up the aspect of God as the Almighty Authority. Whatever quality is being taken up. I let the mind be occupied totally, engrossed completely, within that one aspect. In this way, the soul tastes the sweetness of each and every relationship with the Supreme Being directly, not only the Parent, but even the Teacher, Friend, Companion, even the Supreme Guide, the One who is able to take the soul across from this world to the one far beyond, the one beyond the physical world, the one which is the world of light, the world of silence.

Because the very first meditation is based on knowledge, as soon as we begin to meditate, thoughts begin to flow towards the Supreme Being. They are uplifted away from the level of mundane existence. So as we meditate, the mind is being used very actively. Many, many conscious thoughts are flowing. This ensures that the mind never experiences a moment of dullness. There is never the opportunity for the mind to be bored and therefore to be distracted by anything else at all. The machinery of the mind is kept functioning at high speed but with a specific direction. This process of meditation leads us automatically to a stage which could be described as concentration.

In this stage, all thoughts are focussed on the Supreme Being, the mind no longer pulled by the sounds outside, it is instead engrossed in this experience of contact with the Supreme Being. My effort was to meditate and now the result is that there is easy concentration. But still there are conscious thoughts, no longer as fast flowing as before, but now there will be no distraction because now I am beginning to enter deeply into each one of the attributes of the Supreme Being. My thoughts are pulled deeper and deeper into that particular quality, into that particular relationship, as I find myself reaching a stage described as the stage of realisation. Now there are no conscious thoughts, as such; there is the experience of that particular quality of God, the experience of I, the soul, taking in, absorbing that attribute from the Supreme Being. This is also sometimes described as the seed stage. The soul has moved away from all the things that were additions, extensions; it has returned to its own original eternal form of this pinpoint of light, this spark of light, the seed. While experiencing that perfect love, the soul is totally absorbed in that experience. There isn't even the conscious thought which says 'this is love', but the soul is simply filling itself; it is also radiating this out into the world.

Becoming Pure and Powerful

Afterwards, when I speak of my experience, there will come the conscious thought that this is the love that I had been thirsting for; this is the relationship that I had wanted to experience. This is the stage that yogis describe as nirsankalp samadhi, that highest state of consciousness, which is even free from active thought. And it has been achieved very, very naturally.

Some think that this stage can only be experienced by forcing the mind, but to apply artificial pressure on the mind does not lead to establishing a relationship with the Supreme. It is possible that by forcing the mind I can reach a stage by which the mind stops functioning for a limited period of time but what I, the soul, am seeking is not simply stillness of the mind. I seek the relationship with the Supreme, the realisation of my own eternal state and the realisation of God, and there has to be communication in order to have this realisation.

So the mind is used actively at first but then, because the power of God is being experienced, the mind is pulled directly by the Supreme Magnet. Then the effect of this is that the fast functioning gradually slows down and within this nirsankalp samadhi there is an actual experience not only of stillness but of the highest attributes of the Supreme. As I, the soul, move away from peacelessness and return to stability, only then can I come close enough to the Supreme Being to appreciate His other attributes.

Generally, the first experience in meditation is of the peace from the Eternally Supreme Being, peace flooding the soul, so that I become stable. Now in the stage of stability I can recognise the quality of love that the Supreme Being is offering. There is never a moment that He doesn't offer His love, yet why is it I have not been able to experience it? It is because my mind has been tuned on a physical level. And so now, with this stability of peace and of spirituality, I first take love from the Supreme. I begin to offer my love to Baba; having tasted first love from the Eternal Parent, my own love emerges and flows towards Him.

After this experience of love, there is the experience of cleansing, of purification. The soul becomes lighter and free from the burden it has been carrying of its own past sins. While united in the fire of love (the fire of yoga), the tremendous energy that this love generates and the cleansing process which takes place, returns me to my own natural state of purity.

With this experience comes the experience of happiness because now I am as I should be. More and more, the happiness of this blissful relationship that I have always wanted grows and becomes a source of strength, of nourishment, for the soul. In my union with the Supreme Being, my Father who is the Benefactor, who I can call Shiv Baba-Baba, the Father, Shiva, the Benevolent Being I draw power from the Almighty Authority. The battery is re-charged. I myself become powerful as my connection with Baba deepens, as I allow Baba's influence to come over me. I am transformed. Baba's qualities become my qualities; the soul is changed and is re-created now in the image of God.

Yoga for Kings of Benevolence

Raja Yoga is the transformation of the soul from the state of impurity to a state of perfection. The change is described as the change of a human being into a divine being, a deity. So, Raja Yoga, the highest of all yogas, is that yoga which is union with the Supreme Being, that yoga which makes me the sovereign, the royal yogi, the king; first of all giving me the experience of being master of my own mind but further allowing the sovereign qualities of divinity to develop within the self so that I am uplifted.

As the soul practises Raja Yoga, as it experiences each of the qualities of God, more and more it becomes an instrument to radiate these qualities into the world so that there is not only purification of the individual soul but the vibrations of the highest yoga travel out. They reach out into the universe and eventually there is purification of the very elements of matter, so that peace, purity, love, and harmony are brought about within the world also.

This is a brief description of the stages that one experiences within the meditation of Raja Yoga. Of course, Raja Yoga is not just meditation seated in a particular way. Because yoga is the natural relationship with God, Raja Yoga, can also be experienced through the entire day. It is not a question of how long one must sit in meditation. More, it's a question of how long one cannot be meditating. Can I forget this sweet relationship? As I walk, as I move, as I talk, as I carry out my responsibilities, if I am a yogi, then my consciousness will be that I am a child of the Supreme and as such I must share the qualities of the Supreme that I have experienced in meditation, through my actions, in connection with others, so that then there is a yogi way of life with the qualities of God being revealed in every footstep, in every action.

Om Shanti

A NEW BEGINNING

We have told the story of the divine birth of God into the body of Prajapita Brahma, and of the institution He created in order to transform the world. The main aim of writing this is so that men and women everywhere may recognise the meaning of the present historical moment, can understand the nature of the work being performed by the Supreme Father for their benefit and may take full advantage of this state of affairs. Thus, one may be saved from having to say later, "O God, You entered the body of an ordinary person, You gave us the invitation to join You. You did Your divine work, but we could not recognise you! Oh God, Your activity is profound. Oh God, You played Your divine role with us, You gave yoga power to mothers of India and they did indeed try in hundreds of ways to awaken us from the sleep of ignorance, but still we did not wake up!"

So ends the first part of the wonderful true story of Baba and the Brahma Kumaris. We must leave for another time recounting events which occurred after 1957, including the expansion of service into the West.

For the moment, suffice it to say that in 1971, a centre opened in London. Eventually Dadi Janki arrived, and through her intensive meditation drove deep spiritual roots into that island nation. Today, London possesses not one but many large centres and functions as the hub of Baba's work in the West. There are also numerous centres throughout the United Kingdom.

Soon there was another centre in Frankfurt, Germany, and Australia blossomed along with Africa. Mauritius soon belonged to Baba. Guyana emerged. Then Canada, Japan and the United States. Baba's institution became a member of the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations.

Baba chose and continues to choose many highly talented children, who quickly re-formulate His knowledge into a western mode. They paint enchanting pictures, produce meditational music of great subtlety and power, write and perform captivating dramas, comedies, and mime, and weave magic spells with dance.

The work goes on steadily. Nearly every week another centre opens somewhere. Baba's flag has been raised in Accra... Bangkok... Brussels... Johannesburg... Dublin... Mexico City... Moscow... New York... Rio de Janeiro... Sydney... Tokyo... Vancouver... to name just a few places, for now there are people studying Raja Yoga throughout the world. There are existing today over 5,400 branches of the Spiritual University, in over 80 countries.

THE MOST STABLE MIND IN THE WORLD

Scientists in the West wanted to know if Raja Yoga could really live up to its claims. Experiments were conducted. Under repeated testing with sophisticated EEG equipment, in Langley Porter Institute as well as other laboratories, Dadi Janki, who now directs service in the West, defied the laws of neurophysics by producing constant Delta waves while in the midst of performing various clinically stressful mental and physical ac ivities. She was declared, "The Most Stable Mind in the World".

The last phase of Baba's work is now underway. As the nations of the world thrust blindly in perpetual animosity, blundering their way to the final step of mutual suicide, Baba's children are preparing for their upcoming role as angels, to be played on that final, terrible and mighty day, the Day of the Lord.

No matter who you are or where you are, or what you believe, you shall meet your Father one day. If you do not meet Him here on Earth, then you shall face Him in the court of the Supreme Justice once you have left the body and are clad in your subtle form of light. Meet Him there in happiness. He is taking us to our highest destination.

The End and The New Beginning

EPILOGUE

On 18 January 1969, Prajapita Brahma achieved the final stage of perfection. Becoming the first complete man - Adi Dev - all-virtuous and fully in the image of God and with the authority of God, he felt no further pull to the corporeal world. Father Brahma ascended to take his place as the first subtle deity, the first ascended angel, of this cycle of time. Since then he has been followed by others who have likewise attained completion, and this will continue until the army of angels has filled its ranks, and the last scene of destruction and judgement can be played out. In the meantime, Brahma and Shiva come down together in another chosen medium in order to continue their task of world service.

Brahma has earned his title as Father of Humanity. He overcame all obstacles external and internal and through that victory has enabled the entire human race to be re-born.

As to the praise of God Himself, what can we say that would approach His true greatness? Shiva, the Father of All Souls, is eternally Supreme. He is All-Knowing and All-Powerful, and yet He, too, is bound in this cosmic drama. What most people cannot conceive is how utterly loveable He truly is, and how sweet, how humble, how magnificently real and eloquent.

To conclude, we have chosen two sample discourses delivered by God, each dealing with a different aspect of the knowledge. In these words, even through the following inadequate translation, some hint of His supreme personality may become apparent to you, as well as an appreciation of the imperishable gifts He has come to deliver to mankind.

The Words of Incorporeal God, the Father
Spoken at the Spiritual University of Madhuban (India) on
2 January 1980

A portrait of the world to come.

Which gathering is BapDada seeing today? This is now the gathering of the children of the Lord who are to become the crown princes and princesses of the future. All of you are the children of the true Lord, are you not? Do you constantly have this intoxication? Your present life is multimillion times more elevated than the lives of the princes and princesses. Do you souls know how elevated and great you are? Do you constantly remain in that intoxication? Today, Bap and Dada were having a conversation about how great the importance of being a child of the Lord is. All your sanskars for your future life begin in this life. In the future, you will belong to the royal dynasty and have all rights of the kingdom. You will always be full and prosperous in every aspect, spend every birth amongst royalty and be part of the kingdom. All attainments will follow you around everywhere to serve you in your life. You will have no desire for any attainments, but all your attainments will want you, their master, to use them. Your stores of all physical comforts will always be full. Each physical comfort will always be ever-ready to give you its own happiness. The bugles of happiness will constantly be blowing automatically. You will not need to blow them. Your creation, the trees, will play a variety of music in front of you, the masters of the world, simply by the breeze shaking their leaves. Just as nowadays, many types of artificial music are created, so too, the breeze rustling and shaking the leaves of the trees will play a variety of natural music. The language of the birds will also sound like various types of music. You will have many types of games with living toys (animals). Just as people here learn to speak in many different ways to entertain others, in the same way, when you signal the birds there, they will entertain you with many different sounds. It will also be the same with fruits and flowers. The fruits there will have a great variety of tastes. Just as you create different tastes here by adding salt, sugar or various spices, so the fruits there will have different natural tastes. There won't be any sugar-mills there, but you will have sugar fruits. You will create whatever taste you want with natural fruits. You will not cook green leaves, but you will cook fruits and flowers. There will be rivers of milk (that is, and abundance of everything). There will be different- tasting fruit juices. The fruits for drinking will be different from the fruits for eating. You won't have to labour to extract juice from them. Each fruit will be as full as the coconuts whose milk you drink here. You will just pick a fruit, squeeze it gently and drink its juice. Your bathing water will be like the water of the Ganges (clear and constantly flowing. At present, the water of the Ganges is given special importance because of the aromatic plants from the mountains. That water is said to be free of germs, and therefore, it is said to be pure. There, the mountains will have very fragrant aromatic plants, and because the water flows down from them, it will have natural fragrance. You won't need to use perfume, because whilst the water flows down the mountains, the plants it flows over are so aromatic that the water naturally becomes very fragrant.

You will need no tape playing to wake you at dawn. The natural music of the birds will wake you up. You will wake up early in the morning. However, you won't become tired there. However, you will be like constantly ignited lights. There will not be any hard work for the intellect, nor will you have any burdens there. Therefore, your waking up and going to sleep will be the same. Now, when you wake up in the morning, you think that you have to get up, but there, you won't have this thought. Achcha (all right), what will you study there? Or do you want to become free from studying? Studying there is like a game. You will study as though you are playing games. You will of course have knowledge of your own kingdom. So, your study is of the knowledge of your kingdom. However, the main subject there is drawing. Young and old will all be artists. There will be music, painting and games. Your study will be in the form of singing and playing. History there will be in the form of music and poetry; it won't be straightforward history that would bore you. Dancing is also a game. You will also have plays, but there won't be any cinemas. Plays will be entertaining. There will be many theatres. Outside your palaces, there will be a line of vimans (flying vehicles), and it will be very easy to fly these vimans. Everything there will work on the basis of atomic energy. This is the last invention that has been created for you.

Your currency there will be of gold coins. However, they won't be like the coins of today. Their form and shape will be completely different. They will have much more beautiful designs. The exchange of money there will be just a formality. Here, in Madhuban, whilst all of you are of one family, each department has someone in charge of it. Even though it is a family, you ask for something from the person in charge of that department. One gives and the other receives. There will be a family system there too. There won't be any feeling of customer and shopkeeper. Each of you will feel yourself to be a master and will simply exchange things with one another. You will give something and receive something in return. No one will lack anything. The subjects too will not lack anything. This is why there will be no such feeling there as: "I am a customer, and that one is a master". There will be exchanges only of love. There will be no pressure of accounts. There won't be a register to keep.

Your musical instruments will be embedded with diamonds. Your music will be natural. You won't have to work hard to play the instruments. You will simply place your finger on them and they will begin to play. You will wear very beautiful dresses. You will wear different dresses for different tasks. You will have many types of ornaments. You will have a variety of crowns and jewellery. However, they won't be heavy. They will be lighter than cotton-wool. They will be made of real gold and embedded with real diamonds so that you will see various coloured lights sparkling in each diamond. You will see seven colours in each diamond. Here, you use different coloured tubes, but there, the diamonds will be sparkling with different coloured lights, similar to your tubes. Each palace will be decorated with colourful lights. Here, you have many small mirrors to reflect light at different angles. Similarly, the jewels there will be such that the decoration on the ceiling will appear in many different forms, not just in one. Your palaces will be lit with the sparkle of gold and diamonds. The diamonds and gold will sparkle with the rays of the sun in such a way that the palaces will appear to be lit with a thousand lights. You won't need so many electrical wires. Everything there will be very beautiful. You can see the sparkle of light in the royal palaces here today, and also the various designs of lamps. However, there, because they are made of real diamonds, one lamp will do the task of many lamps. You won't need to make any effort. Everything will be natural.

Your language will be totally pure Hindi - you will understand with great clarity the significance of every word (Speaking to the foreigners.) Where will England and America go? You won't have palaces built there. Your palaces will be only built in Bharat. You will just go there for a trip. They will be picnic and tourist spots. There will be only a few of them; not all of them will be picnic places. Your vimans will be so fast that as soon as you start them, you will reach there even faster than sound. Your vimans will have such a fast speed that you will arrive at your destination as quickly as when you now speak to someone on the phone. Therefore, you won't need to phone anyone there. There will be family vimans and also single-seater vimans. You'll be able to use whichever one you want. You'll go and sit in your viman.

Now, put aside your golden-aged viman and sit in the viman of your intellect. Does the viman of your intellect have such a speed? Does it have the speed of thought? As soon as you have the thought, you go beyond the moon and stars and can reach your home. Is the viman of your intellect ever-ready in this way? Is it constantly beyond all obstacles so that it can never have an accident? Today, you may want to go to Paramdham (The Soul World), but are unable to take off. Or, you may crash into a mountain. To have waste thoughts (negative thoughts) is like crashing into a mountain. So, is your intellect an ever-ready viman that is totally accident-free? Only when you first climb into your viman here will you then be able to receive that viman there. Are you ever-ready to this extent? You have been saying "Yes" to everything for the things of heaven, but you are not saying "Yes" for these things now.

Today, Baba painted a portrait of heaven in the subtle region. This is why BapDada related it to you. Brahma Baba is ready to go to heaven and so he painted a picture of it. All of you are also ready, are you not? You know what preparations you have to make, do you not? Who will pass through the gates of heaven with the Father? Have you been given a pass for that? You have been given a gate-pass, but you must also be paas (close) to that Father in order to pass through the gates with this father. You have a pass for VIPs, another pass for the President, and this is the gate-pass for the masters of the world. Which gate-pass have you been given? Check your pass!

To those who are the children of the Lord at present, and are to become crown princes and princesses; to those who are becoming the masters of nature and who are to become the masters of the world; to those who defeat Maya (negativity and illusion) and thus win the world; to those who attain success through the method of using just one thought; to those who are an embodiment of total success; to those who pass in everything and who constantly remain close and thereby able to pass through the gates with the Father; to such elevated souls, BapDada's love, remembrance and namaste.

The Words of Incorporeal God, the Father
Spoken at the Spiritual University of Madhuban (India) on
17 December 1984

The way to end negativity is the gyan murli (lesson of knowledge), the treasure of powerful thoughts.

Today, BapDada has come into this unique spiritual gathering of the Confluence Age to celebrate a meeting. It is only at this time throughout the whole cycle that you can have this spiritual gathering, this spiritual meeting. Even in the world of the Golden Age the elevated meeting of souls with the Supreme Soul doesn't take place. That is why this age is called the great age, the age of the great meeting, the age of all attainments, the age of the impossible becoming possible, the age of easily having elevated experiences, the age of special transformation, the age of world benefit and the age of easily receiving blessings. In such an age, you souls are the players of a great play. Do you always have such great intoxication? The whole world is thirsty to have a glimpse of the Father for even a second, and we are the elevated souls who have a right to belong to that Father in one second. Do you have this awareness? This awareness automatically makes you powerful. Have you become such powerful souls? Powerful means those who have ended waste (negativity). If there is waste, there cannot be anything powerful. If there are waste thoughts in your mind, powerful thoughts cannot stay there. Waste repeatedly brings you down. Powerful thoughts enable you to experience a meeting with the Almighty Father and also make you a conqueror of Maya. They also make you servers into embodiments of success. Waste thoughts put an end to your zeal and enthusiasm. Such ones always remain confused about "Why?" and "What?" This is why they remain disheartened with themselves over trivial matters. Waste thoughts deprive them of constantly experiencing the treasures of all attainments. The needs and desires in the mind of those who have waste thoughts are very high. "I will do this. I will do that." They make such plans very quickly, that is, they make such plans very fast because the speed of waste thoughts is fast. Therefore, they think of very elevated things, but because of not being powerful, there is a great difference between the plans and the practical form. This is why they become disheartened.

Those who have powerful thoughts will always do everything according to their thoughts. Their thinking and doing will be the same. Their thoughts will be of a slow speed and they will be successful in their actions. Waste thoughts create an upheaval like a powerful storm. Powerful thoughts, like spring weather, constantly make you fresh and fruitful. Waste thoughts are the means of making you waste your energy, that is, your soul power and time. Powerful thoughts constantly enable you to accumulate soul power, that is, energy. They make your time worthwhile. Although waste thoughts are created, the creation of waste causes distress for the soul, (which created them), they make even an almighty authority powerful soul lose its honour. With powerful thoughts, you constantly remain an embodiment of remembrance of your elevated honour. You understand this difference, and yet, some children even now complain about waste thoughts. Why are there waste thoughts even now? What is the reason for this? The treasure of powerful thoughts that BapDada has given you is the gyan murli (the daily lesson of knowledge). Each and every elevated version of the murli is a powerful treasure. Because of not giving sufficient value to this treasure of powerful thoughts, you are unable to imbibe the powerful thoughts, and waste thoughts thereby take the opportunity to get our attention. Continue to churn each elevated version at every moment, and waste cannot enter a powerful intellect. When the intellect remains empty, then because the place is empty, waste enters. When there is no space, how could waste enter? Not to know the method of keeping the intellect busy with powerful thoughts means to invite waste thoughts.

Become the businessmen who keeps busy. Day and night, become the businessmen of these jewels of knowledge. When you don't have time, there will be no margin for waste thoughts. Therefore, the main thing is: Constantly keep your intellect full of powerful thoughts. The basis of this is to listen to the murli every day, to merge it in yourself and to become an embodiment of it. These are three stages. You enjoy listening to it a great deal. You cannot stay without listening to it. This is also a stage. Those who are in this stage have the desire to listen, whilst they are listening and because of having that interest to listen, they enjoy the pleasure and sweetness of that time. They remain intoxicated by listening to it. They also sing songs in happiness, "Very good." However, as soon the listening ends, that interest ends because they haven't merged it in themselves. They haven't made the intellect full of powerful thoughts using the power to merge it within, and so waste continues to come. Those who merge it in themselves always remain full and this is why they stay away from waste thoughts.

However, they are those who do not become the embodiment, (that is those who become powerful themselves and also make others powerful). So for them that weakness remains. They are saved from waste thoughts and stay in pure thoughts, but they are unable to become an embodiment of power. Those who become an embodiment are constantly full, constantly powerful, and also end the waste of others with their powerful rays. Therefore, ask yourself: Who am I? One of those who listen, those who merge it in themselves or those who become an embodiment? A powerful soul transforms waste into power in a second. So, you are powerful souls, are you not? Therefore, transform the waste. If, even now, you continue to spend your power and time in waste, then, when will you become powerful? Only those who are powerful for a long time can rule the perfect kingdom for a long time. Do you understand?

It is now the time to make others powerful through your powerful form. End the waste of the self. You have this courage, do you not? You are those who have great thoughts, are you not? You are not those with weak thoughts. You have a thought and it happens. This is known as great thoughts. You are such great souls, are you not? You are such brave and courageous ones, are you not? This is why you constantly dance in happiness. So, you are the fortunate souls who eat the fruit of happiness. You are great, are you not?

Every thought is great, your form is great, your actions are great and your service is great. You are great in everything. So today, the rivers who are great have met. You great rivers have met, have you not? It is the meeting of the great rivers with the Great Ocean. This is why you have come to the gathering of the meeting. You have to celebrate in this gathering today, do you not? Achcha, to those who are constantly powerful, to those who become an embodiment of every elevated version, to those who are powerful over a long time and make other souls powerful, BapDada's love, remembrance and namaste filled with all powers.

All of you are fearless, are you not? Why? Because you are constantly free from any grudge against anyone. You don't have animosity towards anyone. You have the good wishes and pure feelings of brotherhood for all souls. Souls who have such good wishes and pure feelings always remain fearless. They are not those who become afraid of anything. If you yourself are always stable in a yogyukt (perfect) stage, you will definitely remain safe in any adverse situation. So, you are those who always remain safe, are you not? Those who remain under the canopy of the Father's protection are always safe. If you come out from under the canopy, there is fear. Under the canopy, you are fearless. No matter how much someone does something, the Father's remembrance is a fortress. No one can enter a fortress. In the same way, whilst in the fortress of remembrance, you remain safe: unshakeable even in upheaval, not those who are afraid. Whatever you saw was nothing. That is just a rehearsal. The real thing is something else. Rehearsals are performed to make something firm. So, have you become firm and courageous? You have love for the Father, and so, no matter what the circumstances, you have reached here. You have become conquerors of problems. Love gives you the power to become free from obstacles. Simply remember the great mantra, "My Baba!" If you forget this, you become defeated. If you always remember this, you are always safe.

Do you constantly experience yourselves to be unshakeable and immovable souls? No type of upheaval can create obstacles in your unshakeable and immovable stage. You have become souls who are free from obstacles, unshakeable and immovable. Souls who are destroyers of obstacles overcome obstacles as though they are not obstacles, but just a game. You always enjoy playing a game. There would be a difference between overcoming a situation and a game, would there not? If you are souls who are destroyers of obstacles, situations would be experienced as a game. A mountain would be perceived as a mustard seed. You are such destroyers of obstacles, not those who become afraid. Knowledge-full souls know in advance about everything that is going to come, everything that is going to happen. When you know in advance, nothing seems a big deal. When something happens suddenly, even small things seem big. When you know in advance, then even big things seem small. All of you are knowledge-full, are you not? You are knowledge-full. However, when it is the time for adverse situations, you shouldn't forget the stage of being knowledge-full. You are simply repeating what you have done innumerable times. When nothing is new, everything is easy. All of you are fully baked bricks of the fortress. Each brick is very important. If even one brick shakes, it shakes the whole wall. You bricks are unshakeable. No matter how much someone tries to shake you, those who try to shake you will shake, but you shouldn't shake. Everyday BapDada congratulates the unshakeable souls and souls who are destroyers of obstacles. Only such children have a right to congratulations from the Father. BapDada and the whole family are pleased to see such unshakeable and immovable souls. Achcha.

ABOUT THE BRAHMA KUMARIS WORLD SPIRITUAL UNIVERSITY

As an international spiritual organisation, the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University seeks positive change in society working though a network of volunteers from all sections of the community. It carries out a wide range of programs. The method of meditation and the philosophy of life taught by the BKWSU has transformed the lives of millions throughout the world. The University was founded in 1937 in Northern India and now has more than 5600 centres in over 110 countries.

Locally, centres provide courses and lectures in meditation and positive values, enabling individuals to recognise their true potential and make the most of their lives.

As a registered charitable trust (Charity no. 269971), the Brahma Kumaris offers its courses and seminars free of charge, with finances coming from voluntary contributions of those who have found personal benefit through the university's activities.