Sobre La Humildad Por Bhaktitirtha Swami

8/18/2019 Sobre La Humildad Por Bhaktitirtha Swami

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A Newsletter from His

Holiness Bhakti TirthaSwami

“Aperson is said to bestill further advancedwhen he regards all—

the honest well-wisher, friends andenemies, the envious, the pious, thesinner and those who are indierentand impartial—with an equal mind.”

(Bhagavad-gita .!" #here aredierent $inds of friends. #here is suhrt , who is b% nature a

well-wisher and is alwa%s desiring one&s welfare. Mitra refersto an ordinar% friend, and udasina is one who is neutral. 'n

this material world someone ma% be m% well-wisher, friend orneither friend nor enem% but neutral. omeone else ma% serve

as a mediator between me and m% enemies, and in this verse heis called madhya-stha. )ne ma% also see someone as pious and

another as sinful according to his own calculations. *ut whenhe is situated in transcendence, all of these—friends,

enemies or whatever—cease to e+ist. hen one becomesactuall% learned, he does not see an% enem% or an% friend

because in actualit% “no one is m% enem%, no one is m% friend,no one is m% father, no one is m% mother, etc.” e are all simpl%living entities pla%ing on a stage in the dress of father, mother,

children, friend, enem%, sinner and saint, etc.'t is li$e a great drama with so man% characters pla%ing

their parts. owever, on the stage a person ma% be an enem% orwhatever, but o the stage all the actors are friends. imilarl%,

with these bodies we are pla%ing on the stage of material nature,and we attach so man% designations to one another. ' ma% bethin$ing, “#his is m% son,” but in actualit% ' cannot beget an%

son. 't is not possible. At the utmost ' can onl% beget a bod%. 't isnot within an% man&s power to beget a living entit%. erel% b%

se+ual intercourse a living entit% cannot be begotten. #he livingentit% must be placed in the emulsi/cation of secretions. #hisis the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam. #hus all the multifariousrelationships between bodies are 0ust so much stage pla%. )ne

who is actuall% reali1ed and has actuall% attained %oga no longersees these bodil% distinctions.-The Perfection of Yoga

2 #he 3reat 4ramaby


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umilit% in devotional servicewith determination is a powerful

combination. hen we lac$humilit%, then we have the tendenc% toonl% see someone else&s faults ratherthan our own. hen someone tries to

show us our faults, we immediatel% seeit as the other person&s issue. #herefore,we conclude that we are o$a%—but we

are not o$a% because nobod% in a material bod% is o$a%. 'f we full% understood our faults, then we would not be in thematerial world in the /rst place. 5rishna, in the heart and

through sadhu, sastra, and guru, is constantl% showing us.umilit% is so signi/cant that it determines the degree of aperson&s advancement. )ne who constantl% loo$s to see whathas to be eliminated will quic$l% advance. 6limination comes/rst because we are alread% eternall% connected with 5rishnaand we are pure, but this purit% is covered over. )ur spiritual

life basicall% involves uncovering. 't is 0ust that simple and 0ust that di7cult. hen some people are uncovered, what dothe% do8 ome people who are sleeping simpl% become angr%

when %ou wa$e them up. #he% want to be left alone.9or this reason, when 5rishna comes, most people do

not $now is real identit%. #he% miss out because the% do notaccept how much the% are prisoners and criminals who are inillusion. #he cra1ier a person, the more the% see ever%one elseas cra1% rather than themselves. An insane person might roam

the streets, eating out of the garbage cans without proper clotheson, but the% notice other people, thin$ing how ridiculous the%are. #he% feel that the% have a good situation since the% cansleep an%where while other people have to wor$, ta$e baths,

change clothes, etc. An insane person in such a situation reall%cannot change their situation because the% cannot hear. #he%

thin$ the% are completel% sane.

#he material world is 0ust one big cra1% house or prisonwhere the living entities are absorbed in the illusions whilesimultaneousl% thin$ing of it as wonderful. 9or instance, when'ndra was cursed and became a pig, he thought of his situationas wonderful. hen :arada came to ta$e him awa%, he thought

of the sage as a disturbance to his sense grati/cation. rila;rabhupada would sometimes tell the public, “' have come toremind %ou about what %ou have forgotten.” And sometimesit is painful to be reminded. rila ;rabhupada would e+plainso much philosoph%, which would disturb some people. #he

deeper their illusion, the more it would disturb or even angerthem to hear the truth.

)f all the elements con/ning us to this material prison,the false ego is the thic$est. 't is di7cult because false ego is


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one of the /rst things that *rahma created when he createdthe material universes. e created the misconception of bodil%identi/cation—ahankara. #he prison environment revolves so

much around false ego.e can even evaluate our state of humilit% b% watching

our minds in dierent situations. 'f one of our peers is glori/edin our presence, to what degree do our minds become envious8'f we feel such intense env%, we can understand that we have adeep level of contamination. e should recogni1e that it is thereason that we are in the material world. Attaining liberation

means becoming non-envious and not seeing ourselves as theproprietors.

e can also evaluate ourselves b% noticing the e+tentto which we maintain the mindset of friends and enemies.

5rishna has said that one who is dear to im does not haveenemies or friends. 6ven if someone acts as our enem%, we do

not have to accept it. 't does not mean that we are in denial oravoid addressing improper behavior. e address it out of lovewith humilit% b% spea$ing truthfull%, but we should tr% not

to see others as enemies, whether the% agree or disagree withus.

e see the most e+emplar% humilit% in the behaviorof amacandra ;uri.>amacandra ;uri, who was e+tremel% envious and devious,

challenged


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amacandra ;uri attac$ed im. 'n thiscase, >amacandra did not even have the


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was—not doing ver% well and needing to come up with some realdirection to $eep from sliding deeper into depression. Cnfortunatel% theonl% thing that inspired me seemed impossible. o ' ;>AD64. ' got downon m% $nees, closed m% e%es, and $ind of 0ust let it all hang out. ' told

5rishna that ' $new that ' hadn&t done much with the merc% he&d given to

me alread% so there wasn&t good reason to give me more. *ut ' told imthat ' was desperate and that ' $new e could help me if e wanted. 'n Eul% ' moved into the 4etroit #emple full-time.How did you meet your spiritual master?

't&s funn%. 't was Srimad-Bhagavatam class and m% e+pectations weren&tso high because the previous wee$ .. rida%ananda 3oswami hadcome through and had given some wonderful classes. ince ahara0a

had been an integral part of the pro0ect to complete the translation andcommentar% of the Bhagavatam, ' was thin$ing that no one else would

be able to present it so well. *ut when .3. >avindra warupanext

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Devotee Spotlight !iri-govardhana dasa;rabhu had /nished his class, ' was stunned b% the insight and clarit% of

his e+planations. ' was hoo$edF"hat are your current services and what services enthuse you

the most in your spiritual life?' recentl% had a big change in m% service. After 2G %rs. in 4etroit, ' 0oined

the *hagavat


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beginning stages of bhakti, then ' 0ust want to $eep the faith and carr%on Htill the end.

If serious dou#ts have arisen during the course of your spirituallife& how have you #een a#le to com#at them?

' thin$ for me it&s less a question of doubt than of “wea$ness of heart”. 'n

the *ible there is the stor% where Eesus& staunch disciple ;eter is afraidafter Eesus is arrested and denies that he is his follower. e doesn&t thin$to stop being a disciple so it&s more wea$ness than doubt. 'n the

bac$ground at least, ' feel con/dent in 5rishna =onsciousness and thepath given us b% rila ;rabhupada. '&ve e+perienced enough of a changein m% life to $now that it wor$s. 'n that wa% ' don&t worr% that ma%be '&ve

made the wrong choice, or ta$en the wrong path or something. %struggle lies more in bringing that faith to bear in da% to da% situations.

How does your association with devotees help maintain yourown spiritual life'sadhana?

#here are philosophical e+planations for how association does what it

does, but at the time it seems to 0ust wor$ as if b% magic. '&m fortunateto have some e+cellent association right now and the eect is reall%ama1ing. 't&s something we&ve reall% noticed in the Eapa >etreats is howpowerful it is when devotees come together for a few da%s of focused

association."hat do you see as the most signi$cant o#stacle facing the

e(pansion of the Hare Krishna movement? How do you feel thatdevotees can tac)le this o#stacle?

' thin$ something we all can do is to step bac$ and loo$ at ourselves asclearl% and ob0ectivel% as we can. 't&s human nature to be a little

generous with ourselves—to pla% up the positives and gloss over the

negatives. 't ma$es it a lot harder for us to ma$e real progress. 6ven if the picture isn&t so prett%—if we can loo$ at ourselves honestl%, we havethe basis for moving forward.

envy envi, n. ill-will or hostilit% (obs"? a feeling of discontent at the goodloo$s, qualities, fortune, etc. of another? an ob0ect or person

contemplated with grudging or envious feelings? to wish to have or tocovet someone&s propert%, good fortune, s$ills, etc.

*

+nvy ,he rginal Sinby !u"a-vilasa dasa #A$BS%&

next

Bhagavad-gita (I.@I" states, iccha-dvesa-samutthena. #wo $inds of propensities arise in the living entit%. )ne propensit% is iccha, whichmeans desire to lord it over material nature or to be as great as the

upreme


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others remains, the cause of our enslavement to matter remains, andfrom such consciousness there is no escape.

rila *ha$tivinoda #ha$ura has e+plained in his Sri $aitanya-siksamrtathat the anarthas (unwanted things" which e+ist in our hearts are

personi/ed b% the demons whom 5rsna and *alarama $ill when such

asuras attempt to enter Lra0a. #he hol% names of the


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disease of env%, and thus he becomes eligible to go bac$ home, bac$ to3odhead. (SB !.22.@ purport"

'n this purport, rila ;rabhupada gives the solution to how to becomefree of env%M to become absorbed in hearing and chanting. #he obstacle

of the envious behavior of others is addressed belowM

#o act under the direction of a bona /de spiritual master with a motive tosatisf% the upreme ;ersonalit% of 1

next

3odhead is pure devotional service. *ut if one has a motive for personalsense grati/cation, his devotional service is manifested dierentl%. ucha man ma% be violent, proud, envious and angr%, and his interests are

separate from the


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#he indications in this purport are that it is not simpl% a matter of passivel% waiting for puri/cation to ta$e place, but that there must beactive endeavor to control the lower self b% the higher self, i.e. acting

with determination, according to scriptural in0unctions. #here are man%instructions about the proper behavior of a Laisnava. 4espite the

condition of our hearts, we can adopt the process of puri/cation andsimultaneousl% change our modes of behavior. undane propensitiesma% dissolve slowl%, but behavior can and must be altered. )therwise,

we are pouring oil on the /re of materialistic propensities and willcontinue to be governed b% env%, lust, anger, etc.

#herefore, although env% is a pernicious problem, troubling to the heart,it can be overcome. 9irst, one must strictl% appl% the process of 5rsnaconsciousness as given b% the spiritual master, and second, one mustalter his or her behavior to conform with the standards outlined in theteachings of the acar%as, and third, one must beg for the merc% of the

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Sobre La Humildad Por Bhaktitirtha Swami