Baba says, ‘The main virtue of a server is renunciation. Those with an attitude of renunciation are embodiments of tapasya through which service happens automatically.’

Baba teaches me the true knowledge of the Gita through which I attain the sovereignty of heaven. It is one thing, Baba says, to simply come into heaven- everyone who recognizes God and observes purity will come into heaven- and a completely different thing to attain the sovereignty of heaven. That, requires effort, it requires that I study well. It isn’t enough to simply hear the knowledge but I have to imbibe the knowledge into my every day life, He tells me. Then, I become a self-sovereign now which is a sign that I will be a world sovereign in the future.

And I especially need to imbibe three things in particular, Baba teaches, and they are renunciation, tapasya and service. If I can imbibe these three aspects, then there will be no doubt as to whether I can attain sovereignty now and in the future.

Renunciation of what?  The renunciation of just one thing, Baba teaches, easily and naturally enables me to renounce everything else – that is the renunciation of body consciousness. ‘When you become body conscious you experience obstacles in every task‘, He teaches. To renounce the consciousness of the body is to renounce the limited consciousness of ‘I and mine‘. When I am caught up in my own limited desires of the old world, when I am entangled in limited relationships, then that stops me from doing tapasya and service. When I renounce this limited ‘I and mine’, then all that remains is the unlimited – ‘I am a pure soul and mine is One Baba and none other’. This is renunciation based on God’s knowledge or Shrimat. There are many in the world including the sanyasis and the nuns who renounce but there is no attainment through that, says Baba. Here I renounce the old world in exchange for the sovereignty of the new world.

This stage of ‘I belong to the One and none other; I only follow the elevated directions of the One’ is what taspasya is, teaches Baba. It is through this tapasya that your stage automatically becomes constant and stable. The reason the stage fluctuates is because the intellect is wandering between various limited supports or pursuits. When I instead drop the anchor, and constantly have the awareness of one God, that is tapasya. This doesn’t mean that I leave home and settle in an ashram or move to the mountains in order to seek God. Baba says, ‘continue to live in the household like a lotus flower. The stage like a lotus flower is your seat of tapasya.‘

And when I become an embodiment of renunciation and tapasya, I automatically serve. When I am the tapaswi lost in the love of the One, I cannot stay without service. The limited “I” and “mine” don’t allow you to do true service, Baba points out. Why? because they pollute my motives. Any time I do something I will find myself asking: ‘what’s in it for me?’ or after I’ve done something, I will find myself expecting a reward or applause or recognition. That isn’t service, that is hustling. Service is not something I do, it’s what automatically happens when I am in the right awareness. Then, my very being- my thoughts and words, my vision and attitude, my face and behavior- they all serve. Others benefit simply from my presence without my having to do anything. They feel a sense of true soul conscious belonging, a respect, a love and upliftment. In me, they see a glimpse of the Father. How? because I have renounced the ‘I’ and made the Father my one Support. This is true service, says Baba. And because this service is automatic, it isn’t a question of going somewhere to do something. Even while living in the household, because of my awareness, I see and treat my family members as children of God, we become a Godly family. My home changes from being just a home into a place of service – when the souls in my family are empowered and lifted, they then empower and lift others they come into contact with in their workplace, in their schools, etc. Slowly, from a home, a community is transformed, then the city, the country and the world. Baba says, ‘charity begins at home’.

And so the foundation of real service is renunciation and tapasya.  Those who are such renunciates, tapaswi servers, are constant embodiments of success. Victory and success becomes the garland around their neck, they become those who have this as a birthright. They become self-sovereigns now and world sovereigns in the future. Therefore, BapDada is giving all the children of the world these elevated teachings: Become a renunciate, become a tapaswi and become a real server.