By Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen)
I recently heard a woman say, “least but not last.” She meant to say the usual, “last but not least,” but somehow, due to a slip of the lip, or perhaps because of some mild form of dyslexia, she inverted the words in this somewhat humorous way. And this got me thinking about humility, which people sometimes confuse with low self-esteem, thus viewing it as an inferior quality. To think of oneself as “least” is the last thing one would want to do.
Our Krishna-c
The third verse of the Siksastakam is trnad api sunicena – “one should be humbler than a blade of grass.” You may wonder, “How can I be humbler than a blade of grass?” Let’s look at one way this is possible.
May you always think of Krsna.
Mahatma Das
Do Not Resist
Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that grass doesn’t resist when it is walked on or thrown around. It doesn’t complain or scream out, “How dare you step on me or throw me here and there?!” As we say in California, “It goes with the flow
As a family therapist, I counsel people both within and outside the Hare Krishna movement. I recently received an e-mail from a young woman devotee who was unhappy in her relationship with her abusive husband but was conflicted about leaving him.
“Maybe it’s good that I feel bad about myself,” she wrote, “because that will help me develop humility.”
This wasn’t the first time I had heard this logic.
The Bhagavad-gita teaches that humility is essential for spiritual progress. Unfortunately, devo
Our false ego prevents us from looking at our own faults. It makes it difficult for us to acknowledge our faults and therefore, instead of being introspective, we see those faults in others. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, “Because I am myself honeycombed with faults, I see the faults of others”.
If you spot it, you have got it
In the realm of psychology it is said that if something about someone really bothers you, it’s usually because you have that fault. Of course, we usually do
Hare Krishna,
If we are honest, then we must admit that we are not perfect.
If we are honest, then we must admit that we are not perfect. And if we are not perfect, then we must admit that we have some faults. Maybe we can write down some of our faults. Three days later, we are still not finished writing! So, the more honest we become about our own limitations and shortcomings, the more humility sets within us naturally.
Watch the full lecture below or on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/
By Jaganmohini devi dasi
Sri Ramanavami day was special for us this year. As I was doing our regular morning worship in our altar with flowers, fruits and incense, we offered special prayers to Lord Ramachandra. Recalling that the abhishek of the Lord was the first festival that we participated in ISKCON temple few decades back, and also reminiscing our childhood days, when my father would daily narrate us(children) different stories from this great epic Ramayana, I expressed to Lord, it has be
By surrendering to a pure devotee, we are actually experiencing freedom. The pure devotee sets us free from our lower nature, the lower nature that we have due to our foolishness. Somehow or other, we got entangled in this lower nature and we know that we do not need it, but we still have it.
Take for example, uncontrolled anger! When people get angry, they often break things and it is a lot of damage which they have to pay for. They worked really hard for those things, but then they also break
“One should be more humble than a blade of grass.” OK, another “one should.” Becoming humble is difficult enough, what to speak of becoming humbler than a blade of grass. I know “I should”, but how do I actually do it?”
In this article I look at one often overlooked and extremely helpful way this is possible.
Do Not Resist
Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that grass doesn’t resist when it is walked on or thrown around. It doesn’t complain or scream out, “How dare you step on me or throw me here an
1. Tantalus
Tantalus was the son of Zeus. He invited the gods to a banquet and served them the dismembered body of his own son, Pelops; when the gods discovered the trick, they punished Tantalus and restored Pelops to life.
He was punished by being “tantalised” with hunger and thirst in Tartarus: he was immersed up to his neck in water, but when he bent to drink it all drained away; luscious fruit hung on trees above him, but when he reached for it the winds blew the branches beyond his reach.
Our
Sometimes our fixation on who’s “junior” and who is “senior” within our ranks, can inhibit proper devotee relationships. And introducing corporate ideas for managing our devotees can hinder, rather than promote healthy interactions between ourselves.
The basis of our learning, spiritual progress, and successful vaisnava relationships is humility. Most, if not all of our junior devotees today will take up leadership positions in the future. They too will become senior devotees. How our present l
“Humility of great souls is the purity within…” This statement reveals the humility of Srila Prabhupada. Although he is the Founder Acarya of a worldwide Organization, he never considers himself to be the best of the Vaishnavas; rather he considers himself unqualified and insignificant. This is one of the shining characteristics of great souls.
Great souls see smallness in themselves and greatness in others. Small souls consider themselves the best devotees. A Kanishtha Adhikari feels, “I am th
