Love? Can it be love? Regretfully, almost with tears in my eyes, I got the answer. No! Many love him, but do all therefore or thereby serve him? No! No doubt it is a high and noble offering. But service? No! Then the answer came to me in a blissfilled flash of light without luminosity. What is it he wants us to do? He wants us to 'become' that which he wants us to become. And in doing this lies the greatest service to the Master. He serves the Master most nobly, most lovingly; who becomes what the Master wants him to become. A simple answer. An illuminating answer. A soul-searing answer. A tear-evoking answer. All these, yes, also an understandable answer.

Is this not, after all, the very thing that every father wants of his children? What can exceed the grief and despair a person feels when his progeny turn out to be nothing: all his dreams and aspirations shattered: all the loving work bestowed upon them brought to naught: a lifetime of dedicated work ruined just because the person on whom all this was lovingly showered refused to become what he was expected to become. There is no greater dis-service a son can do to his father than by this non-becoming, nor can there be a greater service than in the becoming.

If this is so with our worldly parents, how much more so of our spiritual father who is our mother too. Can his grief and misery be any less if we fail to come up to his expectations? And can his joy know any bounds if we become what he wants us to become? Master's work upon the abhyasis and his love for them is his service to us. In fully availing of his services and becoming what he wants us to become lies the greatest service that we can, in turn, do to him. The greatest service we can do is therefore to utilise the loving service he offers to us in the most devoted and dedicated manner. In the total acceptance of his service to us lies the totality of the service that we, in turn, can offer him.

What is it that we have to do to become what he wants us to become? The animal man has to become humanized and then we have to proceed on to the destination. The way is before us - meditation, cleaning, prayer and constant remembrance. We have already covered the journey from what we were to what we are. Now, that which we are, has to become 'THAT', which we ought to be. This is but another way of saying that our sadhana must be correct in every way, then only can the goal be attained. Many meditate, but few meditate as Master asks us to do. Many only 'think' that they are meditating. Many also use objects of meditation not specified in Sahaj Marg. During cleaning, cleaning is not done but thoughts are allowed to breed in indulgent fancy. Remembrance is rare, and if at all it is there then it is about other things and not that which we should remember. And so it goes on, the sad chronicle of our imperfect sadhana. How can such abhyasis ever truly serve the Master?

Our sadhana is purposeful, goal-oriented, and at the same time amazingly simple and undemanding. If in its practice, abhyasis don't progress, then one can only conclude that the will to progress to the destination is lacking. The motive force is lacking. That is, even the desire to serve the Master is lacking. If one accepts the idea that only the abhyasi who meticulously carries on his sadhana and proceeds unlingeringly towards his goal is really serving the Master, then all other aspects of service are seen to be merely lower order of service, at best. There is the danger that such service can even degenerate into hypocritical attitudes of self-seeking. Every currency needs to be 'backed.' Similarly our service to the Master must be backed by love, devotion, and correct practice as these alone help us to become what he wants us to become, and thus set the seal of true service upon our efforts.

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