There is a tendency to confuse renunciation with totally giving up everything. Renunciation actually means attaining a state of perfect equanimity. People may criticize you or they may praise you; take them both with a sense of equanimity. One may try to harm you while another may try to do you a good turn; treat both situations with equanimity. In one business venture, a loss might be incurred while a profit might be made in another; treat them both alike. Equanimity is the hallmark of Yoga. That provides true safety and security for our lives.

To the extent possible, one must make efforts to protect and foster those who have none to help them. If this sense of sacrifice has to be developed, divine feelings must first be developed within. All other feelings are useless if divine feelings are absent in the heart. (SSB 1996, p. 122)

Madalasa gave birth to four sons. When each son was born, she did not desire that they should study, go abroad, earn great wealth and acquire name and fame. From the time the child was in the cradle, she taught the child the ideal of Vairagya (renunciation). She sang a lullaby for the child, treating Pranava Mantra as the cradle, the Mahavakya ‘Tat tvam asi’ (Thou art That) as the bed, awareness as the cord, drawing the cradle. The four Vedas were the chains for the cradle. Rearing each child in this manner, she sent him to the forest telling him that he will find real rest there. (SSS Vol.29, p. 92)