Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan

How we see it 1, We they mentality & other religious typicals, The Monk’s Podcast 102 with Shyamananda Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · How we see it:1,We-they mentality & other religious typicals,The Monk’s Podcast 102 Shyamananda

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Chaitanya Charan · How We See It:1,We They Mentality&Other Religious Typicals,The Monk’sPodcast 102 Shyamananda Summary

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The Monk’s Podcast 95 Krishna Kshetra Maharaj – Churning the Bhagavatam – Dashavatara 6 – Parashurama
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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 95 KrishnaKshetra Maharaj – Churning the Bhagavatam – Dashavatara 6 – Parashurama

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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 95 KrishnaKshetra M summary – Churning the Bhagavatam- Dashavatara 6 – Parashuram

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The Monk’s Podcast 94 with Lokanath Maharaja – Gaudiya bhakti, Maharashtrian bhakti, universal bhakti
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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 94 with Lokanath Maharaja -Gaudiya bhakti, Maharashtrian bhakti, universal bhakti

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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 94 Lokanath Maharaja summary-Gaudiya bhakti,Maharashtrian bhakti,universal bhakti

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The Monk’s Podcast 93 with Radha Gopinatha Prabhu – Preserving a simple heart in a complex world
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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 93 with Radha Gopinatha Prabhu – Preserving a simple heart in a complex world

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Chaitanya Charan · The Monk’s Podcast 93 Radhagopinatha Prabhu summary – Preserving a simple heart in a complex world

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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 […]

If someone commits suicide, can that be caused by their karma?
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Chaitanya Charan · If Someone Commits Suicide, Can That Be Caused By Their Karma

Transcription

Question: If someone commits suicide, can that be caused by their karma?

Answer: In general, our past karma determines our situations, not our decisions. Now when I talk about situations, it doesn’t just refer to physical situations. We could talk about psychological situations also, so our dispositions also. But just because somebody has a particular disposition doesn’t mean that they necessarily have to make that decision. Yes, those thoughts may come more in some people, those thoughts may come less in some people, but we can’t really say that our past karma makes us do things as extreme as suicide. Yes, there are other factors also. Maybe if somebody does like that, yes, they may have suicidal thoughts, they may have done some things by which they have alienated themselves from people or whatever has happened, somebody is against them and that’s why they are feeling very lonely and persecuted.

Generally, our actions in this life are not forced upon us by our past actions. They’re prompted, but they’re not forced. That’s where the idea of free will comes in. We always have free will. Of course, how much free will we have, that will vary from person to person. That will be affected by one’s past karma, but free will is always there. It’s like, say even a person in a jail has free will, but they don’t have freedom. Freedom is the area over which free will is executed or exercised. So, they don’t have the freedom to go to this part of the city or that part of the country or that part of the world. They have to stay within that jail cell or in that jail premises, but even there they have free will. There they can quarrel with other people, they can fight, or they can maybe read and learn some useful skill and come out wiser. They have choices. Some prisoners might be in a far more restricted cell, they might be in solitary confinement, in a dungeon, and some might be allowed to go around as long as they’re within the prison walls. That will depend largely on what kind of crime they have committed, what kind of conduct they have had in the jail cell as well as before getting into jail.

Like that, we can say our past conduct determines how much freedom we have, but it doesn’t determine our free will. Free will is always something which is with us. If somebody comes to the point of committing suicide, then it is definitely a decision. It is a decision that they took. We can’t put it on past karma alone. Past karma may make them more vulnerable, but then it’s up to them. It’s their choice.

This also is seen to some extent in gender variation within suicides. What is found is that women attempt suicide more, men commit suicide more. What does that mean? Now […]