2 March 1992 · English

"To celebrate Maha Shiv Ratri means to make a promise, to hold a fast and to sacrifice yourself."

Today, the Father, the Great Divine Light (Divya Maha Jyoti) is meeting His children who are points of light (jyoti bindu). BapDada is the Great Light and you children are also the form of great light. So the Father, the Divine Light is meeting the souls who are divine lights. This Great Light is so lovely and unique. BapDada is seeing the light that is sparkling in the middle of the forehead of each of you. This is such a divine and lovely scene. Baba is seeing such a beautiful gathering of the sparkling spiritual stars. The constellation of these spiritual stars of light is alokik and extremely beautiful. Are all of you also seeing your sparkling form of a point of light in this constellation of divine stars? This is the Maha Shiv Ratri. Together with Shiv Jyoti, there are all you innumerable jyoti bindus, the saligrams. The Father is great and the children are also great. This is why Maha Shiv Ratri is remembered. You are such fortunate and elevated souls that you are celebrating Shiv Ratri in the living form, in the corporeal form with Father Shiva. Never in your thoughts or even in your dreams did you think that you are the saligram souls who would celebrate such an alokik Shiv Ratri. All of you celebrate it in the living form. You now see the memorial of this in the form of the devotees who celebrate it with real feeling for the non­living images. Because of their true love, true devotees experience a form of love from the images whereas you saligram souls are those who personally celebrate with Baba. So, how great your fortune is! Millions, multimillions, or multibillions are nothing compared to your fortune! This is why all of you children say with the sparkle of faith: We saw and we attained. Is this the song of all of you or only of some of you? Do all of you sing this? Or, do you sing: We will see, we will attain at some point? Have you attained or have you yet to attain? Do the double foreigners think that they have attained? You have seen the Father, have you not? You say with your heart that you have seen the Father and found Him. Let alone having seen Him and found Him, you have made Him belong to you. The Father now belongs to you, does He not? Look, the Father belongs to you, and this is why He comes when you tell Him to. So, you are those who have a right, are you not?

What are the specialities of Maha Shiv Ratri? Firstly, you make a promise to the Father. Secondly, you hold a fast out of love for the Father because out of love and happiness you forget everything. This is why you hold a fast. You eat the nourishment of happiness, and so there is no need for any other nourishment. You hold a fast because of the happiness of celebrating a meeting. To hold a fast is a sign of happiness, and to hold a fast also means to have the feeling of renunciation out of love. To give up something is a sign of the feeling of renunciation. Thirdly, Shiv Ratri means to sacrifice yourself. As a memorial, people offer a physical sacrifice. However, it is to surrender yourself with your mind, intellect and relationships – this is the true sacrifice. So these 3 specialities are the specialities of Maha Shiv Ratri. To celebrate Shiv Ratri means to put these 3 specialities into your practical life, not just to speak about it, but to do it. Your speaking and your doing should always be equal. BapDada also heard the good news of the children, and how all of them, both the children of Bharat and the double­foreign children, all of them, made a promise in a practical form for Maha Shiv Ratri. A promise means your speaking and doing are both equal. It is very good. First of all, all of you gave BapDada your promise and your elevated thought as the greatest gift for His birthday. So BapDada is also giving thanks to all the children for their gift. The promise you made as a gift will constantly continue to make you powerful in your awareness. Do not think in advance: I am making a promise, but I don't know whether I will be able to continue or not, whether I will be able to fulfil it or not. To think in this way means to invoke weakness. Weakness means Maya. When you yourself invoke it, then the weakness is ready in advance to come. You yourself are inviting her to come. Therefore, when you create a thought or perform any action, stabilize yourself in a powerful stage, and do it with power. Do not mix in weak thoughts. Have the elevated thought: If I have courage and attention, I will definitely receive help from the Father. By putting your promise into a practical form in this way, you will experience everything to be easy. Always think that you are a victorious soul of many cycles. The happiness of victory and the intoxication of victory will make you powerful. Victory is tied to you Brahmin souls as your constant companion. Where else can it go? Did victory accompany anyone except the Pandavas? You are those same Pandavas, are you not? Since the Father is your Companion, victory is also your companion. Continually check that the tilak of victory is always on your forehead. Those who have become the garland (haar) around God’s neck can never be defeated (haar). You are seeing your memorial as a completely victorious soul in the form of the rosary of victory, are you not? There isn't the praise of the rosary of victory and defeat. No, it is the rosary of victory. So you are the victorious beads, are you not? So the beads of the rosary of victory can never be defeated. So whatever thought each of you had, BapDada saw the entire scene. You made a promise with good zeal and enthusiasm in great happiness. All of you living saligrams have made a promise, and so the devotees also celebrate the memorial of that. Achcha.

Have you sacrificed yourselves? To sacrifice yourself means to have great strength. What do you offer as a sacrifice? Weaknesses. When you have sacrificed all your weaknesses, what do you become? You become someone with great strength. The greatest weakness is body consciousness. To surrender body consciousness means to surrender even its progeny, because the subtle progeny of body consciousness is so huge. There are many little and large forms of body consciousness. So to sacrifice body consciousness means to surrender it with its progeny. You must not even keep the slightest trace of it. If even the slightest trace of it remains, it will repeatedly pull you like a magnet and you will not even know about it. Against your wish, the magnet will pull you towards itself. Do not think that you should put some form of body consciousness aside to use at some time later on. What do you then say? That you cannot do anything without it. Of course you can, but then victory is only visible for a temporary period. You consider arrogance (abhimaan) to be self­respect (Swaman). However, in this temporary victory, defeat is merged for a long period of time. That which you consider to be defeat for a short period of time enables you to claim victory for all time. Therefore, to surrender body consciousness with all its traces, too, is called sacrificing oneself to Father Shiva, that is, to become someone with great strength. You have celebrated such a Shiv Ratri, have you not? You have to imbibe this fast. Those people hold a fast of physical things, but what fast do you observe? Through your elevated attitude, you hold a fast that you will constantly finish the weak attitude and adopt a pure and elevated attitude. When your attitude is elevated, the world will also be seen as elevated, because your attitude has a connection with your vision and actions. Anything good or bad is first instilled into your attitude, and then it enters your words and actions. For your attitude to be elevated, means your words and actions will automatically be elevated. Your special service of world transformation is also brought about through having a pure attitude. You create the vibrations and the atmosphere through your attitude. To imbibe this fast of an elevated attitude is to celebrate Shiv Ratri. You have already heard that to celebrate means to become; to speak about something means to do it practically. In the language of other people, those souls who have attained success are called successful beings, and you call them the souls who are embodiments of success. So whatever thoughts they create for themselves or for others take practical shape in their actions. Whatever words they speak take on a practical form. You call this 'sat vachan', the true versions that take on a practical form. So, you are the greatest souls who are embodiments of success, are you not? So your words and thoughts will become true, will they not? To become true means for them to be worthwhile. For them to take on a practical form means for them to be worthwhile. So always have the consciousness that you are the souls who are embodiments of success. Therefore, every thought, every word and every action of you souls who are embodiments of success enables you and others to attain success. They are not wasteful. If you do something as soon as you say it, it is worthwhile. If you said something and thought about it, but did not do it, it became wasteful. Some think that they have very good thoughts and very good ideas, that they have very good enthusiasm for the self and for service. However, it only remains in their thoughts; it does not come into their practical actions, in a practical way. So what would you call that? They have very good thoughts, but why is there a difference in their action? What is the reason for this? If a seed is very good, but the fruit that emerges from it is not good, what would you say? That something is lacking in the earth or in the care of it. In the same way, the seed of the thought is good. The thoughts reach BapDada. BapDada also becomes happy that you have sown a very good seed, that you have had a very good thought and that you are now about to receive the fruit. However, what happens instead? You lack the earth of determination and the precaution of repeatedly paying attention. BapDada continues to watch the amusing games. Just as children fly a gas balloon, they fly it filled with a lot of gas and become very happy that the balloon is flying high, that it is flying very well, but from flying, it comes down, similarly you must never become disheartened in your efforts: I have to do this, it has to happen, I have to become this. The rosary of victory is my memorial. Do not ever become disheartened and say: Achcha, I will do it at some time, I will see about it. No. Never mind tomorrow, you have to do it now! If you give disheartenment a place for a few seconds or a few minutes within yourself, it will not go away easily. It also enjoys being with Brahmin souls. Therefore, never become disheartened. Do not have any arrogance, and do not become disheartened. Some become arrogant and some become disheartened. Neither of these allows you to become one with great strength. Wherever there is arrogance, there is a greater feeling of insult. Sometimes there is arrogance and sometimes there is insult: you continue to play with both of these. Where someone hasn't any arrogance, if that one is insulted, he will not feel it to be an insult. He will always remain humble and busy in the task of renewal. Only those who are humble can renew something. To celebrate Shiv Ratri means to be humble and to engage yourself in the task of renewal. Do you understand?

So, today, all of you should hoist the flag of victory with the rope of elevated thought in your heart. To hoist a physical flag is a system or method of service for Brahmins. However, as well as this, let the flag of victory also be constantly flying. When something sorrowful happens, the flag is brought down, but your flag can never come down. It is constantly high. So, you will hoist such a flag, will you not?

Achcha, BapDada also received the result of the Year of Tapasya. Each of you became your own judge and gave yourself a number. You did well. From the result of the majority everywhere, it has been seen that the Year of Tapasya has drawn everyone's attention to the effort of the self very well. Since your attention has been drawn, tension will go away, will it not? So, the total result of many of you is good. There is a majority of you in the second number. There are also those in the third number, and there are only a few who have claimed the first or fourth number. Compared to the second number, there are very few in the first and fourth numbers. However, the majority are those with second or third number. BapDada is happy about one thing in particular, that all of you have given importance to this Year of Tapasya. This is why, though the paper came, the majority of you have passed very well. The thought you had, that you have to do tapasya ­ the power of this thought has given you co­operation. This is why the result is good; it is not bad. Congratulations! However, now, the Dadis will give you a prize. The Father has already given you a prize of “You are very good, you are very good!”. Do not think that now the Year of Tapasya has finished, you can become careless. No, you have to claim an even bigger prize. You were told that you have to claim the prize of the balance between karma and yoga. You have to experience the blessings of the balance between service and tapasya, and just claim the prize in name. The true prize is that of blessings from the Father and the family. You are all receiving them anyway.

Achcha, today you have created a subtle region. It is good. A very good atmosphere has been created. Compared to that world of light, this decorated subtle region seems like a model. Even so, the zeal and the enthusiasm of the children and the atmosphere definitely pull the attitude. So, are all of you sitting in the subtle region? While in the corporeal body, become residents of the subtle region and celebrate a meeting with your mind. BapDada is happy that children have so much love for the subtle region, and this is why you have created it. You have created it with a lot of effort and love. You have created it with the elevated thoughts of zeal and enthusiasm. This is why BapDada congratulates all those who have had the thought and all those who put it into the corporeal form. This is also a game within the unlimited game. Which other games would you play? Sometimes, you would create heaven and sometimes you would create the subtle region. These are the games you would play, are they not? This is good. This pulls your intellect. Achcha.

To all the jyoti bindu saligrams from everywhere, congratulations for the divine birth of the Father and the divine birth of the children.

To the most elevated souls who are constantly embodiments of success, to the constantly sparkling divine stars who are constantly beyond arrogance and insult and who remain stable in their self­respect, to the souls who ignite the lamps of elevated hopes, of elevated effort and elevated service with zeal and enthusiasm, to the Shakti Army who have the power of Shiva and who constantly hoist the flag of victory in their heart, to the children who are embodiments of success who constantly and easily experience success in their efforts, love, remembrance and namaste from BapDada.

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