Baba says, ‘Fulfil the promise you made to surrender your every moment, your every thought and your every action. Then, you will become a bestower of blessings.’

I become a bestower of blessings when I have a full stock of good wishes within me and the basis for good wishes is pure thoughts. The source of pure thoughts is the remembrance of the One Father – Who He is, His knowledge and His service. To think anything else is to think selfishly – the same way I did for half a cycle. Then it’s all about ‘me, mine’ and this is body consciousness. Baba says, ‘Do not become body conscious. While walking and moving around, you have to remember your Bridegroom, the One you have been remembering for half the cycle.’ To do this is to surrender. It means ‘nothing is mine’, the very consciousness of ‘mine’ finishes. Even the body is not ‘mine’. Mine is only the one Father and none other. ‘In fact’, Baba reminds me, ‘this was your promise on the path of bhakti that when the Father comes, you will surrender yourself to Him fully. Now, I am here, so you must fulfill your promise.’

Surrender was therefore the first step that Brahma Baba took on his path to perfection. As soon as He received the signal from Shiv Baba, He instantly surrendered everything. But he didn’t just surrender the limited/worldly things, his was an unlimited surrender. There are four aspects to this unlimited surrender, explains Baba.

First is that every thought should be surrendered. When I am Manmanabhav, that is, when I make my mind belong to the one Father, there is no room for thoughts other than the Father, the spiritual Beloved, the Bridegroom, the Friend, the Companion. He is my world and even though the hands may be working, the intellect is connected with Him. But when I am body conscious, I am often deceived by second thought. Someone tells me something, rather than just take it at face value, I start to wonder about the motive behind it, ‘what did they really mean’ etc. and allow it to suck away the happiness and contentment in my life. Even when Baba asks me to do something, I start to question it in my mind, analyze it, wonder about it. ‘This is not being surrendered‘, says Baba, ‘don’t think, simply obey Shrimat’.

Second, every moment, that is my time should be surrendered. Am I using my time toward furthering Baba’s task or am I busy in furthering Ravan’s kingdom? If I am not paying attention, I get so busy in the day to day that I don’t have time for what’s important- for the study, for remembrance. Thirdly, my actions must be surrendered. Before you do anything, check, Baba says, if it is according to Shrimat. If you are unsure, you can get it verified with the Father. Fourth, the relationships and wealth also have to be surrendered. Am I using my wealth in a worthwhile way i.e. for spiritual service? Have I surrendered my relationships, that is, do I relate to others soul consciously or do I consider them as ‘my child’, ‘my husband’, ‘my wife’? ‘You must remain in the household and take care of your responsibilities but do so as a trustee‘, says Baba. To be a trustee is to be pure– free from the impurity of attachments, biases, expectations and impositions. When I am pure, I am light, I am also loving.

But this is all still limited surrender, says Baba. To surrender bodily relations is not such a big thing but check, He says, if you have surrendered the relationship between the body and the soul. The soul is most attached to the body. Do I consider this to be ‘my body’ or do I consider this body as entrusted to me for Godly service? Similarly, perishable wealth is not a big thing, says Baba, but what Brahma Baba did was to surrender even the imperishable wealth- the attainment of happiness, peace, purity and love, which was his birthright, in service of other souls. He realized that his peace was in the peace of the children and so in giving peace to them, he became peaceful. Let me check if this is the extent of my surrender. When someone does something, am I quick to forgive and make peace or do I think: ‘they did wrong, so let them apologize’ and hold a grudge? Unforgiveness doesn’t hurt them, it hurts me, it blocks my peace and prevents me from remembering Baba. To forgive is to bless, to remain in unforgiveness is to pollute my thoughts with negativity and the first person that loses my blessing is myself.

‘Yes, what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong but don’t hold on to it in your heart‘, instructs Baba. It isn’t just enough to be knowledgeful, you must also be merciful, He teaches. This is how the Father is. If He were just knowledgeful without any mercy, I wouldn’t stand a chance! As long as I have an honest heart that’s trying to do the right thing, I know that I’m forgiven when I make mistakes once in a while. He doesn’t love me based on my ‘perfect performance’, He is moved by an honest heart. When I need help, my Father doesn’t first check if I did all the things He asked me to do correctly before helping me. He is already waiting for me! Let me be the same way with my brothers- this is not optional, this is what God expects of me as His child. If my brother is in pain, God considers it my duty to put aside everything else that may have transpired and help. If there was a mistake, He expects me to be the peacemaker, not keep score of who’s turn it is to apologize. Whether in Bharat or abroad, the Father is known as ‘The Merciful One’, He reminds me, ‘and as My child, you have to be the same’. Let me realize that God never asks me to show more mercy to someone else than He has shown me. It doesn’t matter if others do or not, my attitude is: ‘I have to do, I have to be like the Father’.

This is what it means to surrender your worldly wealth together with your Godly wealth while being a detached observer, teaches Baba. This is real surrender. It is easy to surrender worldly things- many do this in the world too. But to surrender Godly attainments is to be world donor, is to have good wishes and pure thoughts for others, it is to be a bestower of blessings. Those who surrender everything to this extent are said to be those who are fully surrendered. Such souls attain perfection, they become equal to BapDada.