Baba says, ‘Those who have had unlimited renunciation and have broken away from everyone else and connected themselves to the One can remain happy all the time.’

There are the rich and famous of the world who believe that both heaven and hell exist together on earth and that they are in heaven while the poor, in hell. And then there are the sanyasis who leave the world altogether and move to the jungle because they believe there cannot be happiness in the world. Both are extremes and both are limited. Baba teaches me to go beyond limitations and live an unlimited life. He teaches me the art of living in the world with everything and not be influenced by it. He doesn’t tell me not to use facilities of comfort or that wealth is bad. Neither does He tell me to leave my family and responsibilities behind. On the contrary, He comes bearing the gift of heaven on the palm of His hand! and heaven is characterized by health, wealth and happiness in relationships. So no, He doesn’t tell me these things are bad. But He does teach me to relate to others the right way, to use the wealth, the facilities, the talents, the skills – whatever I have- the right way, as the master, without being subservient to it.

I become subservient when I make acquiring wealth and comforts the goal of my life; when it becomes the thing I get my worth and value from. Then, when I lose it, which I will, I am devastated and when I have it, I am so busy protecting it due to the fear of losing it, that I forget to enjoy it! It’s the same with relationships. I should be able to simply enjoy the people in my life but that’s hard when I have expectations for how they should speak and behave to keep me happy. I forget that my happiness is not their responsibility, it is mine. Rather than celebrate the diversity in perspectives and personalities, I try to make everyone else just like me!

Baba says, ‘only a handful out of multimillions become sensible enough to claim a right to the Father’s inheritance. It is remembered: Follow the Father. So, you have to follow the Father’s shrimat.’

Heaven is liberation-in-life. It means that, like a lotus flower, I live in the midst of the world without being in bondage to the world. I am free from all the pulls, the attachments, and expectations. The foundation for liberation-in-life is purity. When my thoughts, vision, motivations and attitude are pure, then the way I live life is pure and therefore, free. Then, I am content with myself and others, I enjoy myself and others. ‘So now’, says Baba, ‘you must claim this inheritance of heaven very well.’

I claim the inheritance by remembering Him alone. He says, ‘By remembering Alpha, the Father, you receive the sovereignty of heaven. It is so easy!’ For half a cycle, I have relied on my position, title, wealth, accomplishments, relationships and all the other limited things for my worth and value. Now, Baba teaches me to renounce the dependency on the limited and become a sovereign. He teaches me Raja yoga – the study for sovereignty- where I learn about who I really am and and Whom I belong to. I am a pure soul, a free spirit and a child of God, the Father who establishes heaven. Because He remains beyond the cycle of birth and death, He never forgets this knowledge. He alone remains in constant realization and is therefore my only reference point. The more I remember Him, the more I remember who I am. The more I observe how He thinks and operates, the more I learn how to think and live. He says, ‘Follow Father‘.

And while I am in the process of becoming the sovereign that I am, I learn to rely on my Father for my happiness, not on people. I learn to trust Him to fulfill all my needs rather than chase after wealth. I learn to get my worth and value not from people and limited pursuits but from being His child, the child of the Highest-on-High, the Creator. I am intoxicated not impurely based on my accomplishments but it is a pure intoxication that comes from belonging to God’s family! Rather than try to feel good by proving I am better than or more than everyone else, I learn to use all I have – be it physical or spiritual – in a worthwhile way to serve. This is what Brahma Baba did. He used all he had in the establishment and sustenance of the yagya. He changed his physical relationships to spiritual relationships and those that opposed him, he parted ways with. His attitude was: Mine is One Shiv Baba and none other. He didn’t allow anyone or anything to pull him away from the Father and from serving in the Father’s task of establishing heaven. He didn’t just serve with his physical wealth but he also served with his imperishable wealth of peace and happiness – he saw his peace and happiness in the children’s peace and happiness and so he always put them first. He learnt to use his powers of tolerance and accommodation. When there were crises including when there wasn’t even enough food to feed the children, baba didn’t panic and knock on doors of people. His attitude was: ‘He is the Father, the Protector and Benefactor, I am just the instrument, He will sustain us.’ He, thus, completely surrendered the limited ‘I and mine’ in every aspect and became the #1 victorious soul, the first angel; that is, he learnt to live liberated-in-life.

Baba says, ‘follow father.’ Like him, your attitude is: ‘Our love is for the one Father. We break away from everyone else and connect ourselves to just the One.’ When I can do this, Baba says, you cannot help but feel light, liberated and happy all the time. People remember the Mahabharata and think that there is an invasion and a physical war that takes place for the kingdom. Baba says, ‘No!, it is the Father, Whom you remember as the Remover of Sorrow and the Bestower of Happiness, who comes and makes you into kings of kings.’