Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan

How can humility go along with self-respect?
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Chaitanya Charan · How Can Humility Go Along With Self – Respect

Transcription
Question: How can humility go along with self-respect?

Answer: Let’s look at it this way. Is there a difference between humility and humiliation? Yes, there is, definitely.

We say we should cultivate humility, but none of us want to be humiliated. Let’s put it another way, we all want to cultivate humility. So, should we start insulting and humiliating each other in our community? Then we will all become humble. You are proud and I will insult you, I will humiliate you and you humiliate me and in this way by exchanging humiliation we will all get humility. No!

Does humiliation make one humble? Not necessarily. Humiliation can make one feel offended, it can make one feel enraged. Sometimes it may make one humble, but not necessarily. So, clearly, there is a difference between humiliation and humility, and certainly although we talk about, say, we should be humble, but we also say respect each other. That’s the injunction in our devotee community and that’s normal human conduct also. So, we could put it that humiliation is false ego frustrated. Humility is false ego rejected.

Humiliation is false ego frustrated. I want to be respected, but instead of being respected, I was disrespected, I was mocked, I was derided, I can’t bear this. So, humiliation is false ego frustrated. I want to be respected, but I was not.

But humility is false ego rejected. That means I don’t crave for respect from others. I don’t depend on respect from others. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care at all. I mean it’s not so easily possible. We are human beings and we will notice how people are dealing with us. We can’t artificially become stone-like and that’s not exactly humility. But humility and humiliation are… Humiliation is I want something and I don’t get that respect, that’s humiliation. But humility is I don’t want it that much.

So, we could look at humility from the perspective of what we expect, what we demand from the world, what we need from the world. So that’s one aspect of humility.

Another aspect is, if I’m not demanding, how am I looking at myself? So now we have great saintly people saying that, Bhaktivinoda Thakura says “Amara Jeevana Sada Pape Rata,” that my life is full of sin and there is no good that is seen in me. Now, he has songs like that, but then he is writing books, he is sharing Bhakti wisdom confidently, countering misconceptions. So, when he is saying there are no good qualities in me, I am sinful, he is looking at it from a very elevated perspective. So, he is thinking of how pure Krishna’s devotees are, how pure Krishna is. As compared to them, what am I? Krishna loves me […]

The Monk’s Podcast 92 with Garuda Prabhu – Relationship is the essential purpose of guru-tattva
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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 92 with Garuda Prabhu – Relationship is the essential purpose of guru-tattva

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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 92 Garuda Prabhu summary – Relationship is the essential purpose of guru-tattva

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The Monk’s Podcast 89 with Krishna Kshetra Maharaja – Churning the Bhagavatam- Dashavatara 5 Vamana
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Podcast:

Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 89 with Krishna Kshetra Maharaja – Churning the Bhagavatam- Dashavatara 5 Vamana

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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 89 KKshetra Maharaja summary -Churning the Bhagavatam- Dashavatara 5 Vamana

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