Baba says, ‘the most elevated star is a star of success‘. They experience success to be their birthright.

To be successful means to attain one’s aim. Our aim of this spiritual life is to realize the self, to become the embodiment of the awareness of who I truly am. In other words, to become soul conscious.

To become soul conscious or to realize the true self, I have to become introspective and isolate myself from all the distractions of the world. I have to withdraw myself from the hustle, let go of the various types of the consciousness of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. In other words, I need to stop chasing after limited attainments – respect, appreciation, status, name, fame etc. This is called renouncing the old world.

Renouncing the old world doesn’t mean that I leave my home and relationships and retreat to the jungle. It just means that my intellect is not attached to the trappings of the world. I see it for what it is – temporary and false. I live in it but am not pulled by it.

When the distraction of the old world is gone, all that is left is the Father and I. I had been separated from my Supreme Beloved for a long time, He is here now. I remain in His company throughout the day, His love heals and transforms. He is also my Satguru and gives me Shrimat and a code of conduct. I focus on following Shrimat accurately at every step because I understand it’s value. I had become degraded in the old world when I fell prey to the vices. Shrimat makes me elevated again by showing me the right way to live. The code of conduct protects me from getting off track.

I now seek my attainments from realizing my own virtues and powers. I spend time going into the depths of the knowledge to understand it and then, in the laboratory of my life, I apply what I have understood. I experiment, I tweak, I learn and I perfect each gem of knowledge. I don’t force realization, rather, I am patient with myself knowing that some lessons take longer than others to learn and perfect. But while it might take time, I have the firm faith that success is guaranteed. Each lesson I learn is now no longer just knowledge, it becomes a trait of my personality, my natural nature. I become strong and unshakeable as I accumulate experience. This is called tapasya or penance where I, in the cave of introspection, work on myself with the determination to bring about transformation.

As I become an embodiment of knowledge, it shows in my every aspect. It is visible in my vision, my face and behavior, in my words and actions. My very being automatically serves. Even if others don’t wish to see, their attention is drawn just as to a beautiful rose in a garden. Just as it’s fragrance and beauty captivates attention, similarly, I, the spiritual rose, radiate spirituality that inspires and transforms the atmosphere. No matter how negative or impure the atmosphere might be, no matter how impure the souls around me might be, my spiritual stage is powerful and not just withstands but transforms. This is called service. The more I serve, the more I learn. I also earn everyone’s love and blessings that move me forward in my journey.

And thus, the three steps of renunciation, tapasya and service are a virtuous cycle. The more I renounce, the more I am able to be a tapaswi. The more tapasya I do, the more I serve which in turn motivates me to transform even more. When I become such a renunciate, a tapaswi and a server, I become an embodiment of success. It is no longer something I depend on the external for. I no longer say: ‘I can change if the situation changes or if someone else changes’. I no longer labor or battle with my sanskars. All I do is renounce the old, useless stuff and follow Baba. Then, attainments simply come to me without me doing anything. I become a star who experiences success to be my birthright.