How can we avoid becoming proud on getting a position of power?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, the question is, often when we get a position of power, we tend to become proud or arrogant.
So, how can we use the Bhagavad Gita to stay humble even when we have a position of power? If we have a spiritual vision of life, we see what we have not as our possession, but as a gift entrusted to us. We are not owners, but we are caretakers. Not just the things that we have, even from the objective reality point of view, we may have a big property, but that property existed before we came and the property will continue to exist after we die.
So, we may temporarily as per some law papers be the owners, but how long? But when we understand that we ourselves are eternal beings, as the Bhagavad Gita tells us, we are spiritual beings, we are indestructible, then we understand that our role is not to be owners, but as caretakers. And this vision of caretaking applies not just to possessions, but also to positions. Even the positions that we acquire and the power that we bring, that is something entrusted to us.
And when we use what God has entrusted to us properly, then actually we are all the children of God. And God is a supremely wealthy person. So, he is, as it is said, Lakshmipati.
He is the lord of the waters of fortune. And every parent wants to give whatever prosperity he or she has to his children. So, similarly, God wants to give the prosperity of the earth to his children.
But just as a father will not give a property to a child who has not yet become responsible, similarly, God wants us to become responsible, to grow up. So, if we are given power, actually, if we use the power well, we can do so much good for the world, so much good for ourselves. But if we become proud, if we become arrogant, then actually the good we can do to others and the good we can do to ourselves, it all becomes limited.
Because our vision, once we become proud, then our vision becomes limited to what will increase my prestige, what will increase my honor. Then we can’t focus on what will be the best contribution I can make. And thus, we end up underusing or misusing what we have been given.
And then if we misuse it, God will take it away from us. So, if we see the power we have, from a materialistic view, if we see the power as, Oh, for so many years I was powerless, now I’ve got power, I don’t know how long I’m going to have power. So, let me use this power as much as I want to get, as much as I can.
If we have that vision, if we have a materialistic vision, it will be difficult to not let that power go to the head and to become autocratic. But if you have a spiritual vision, we see the power not just as a result of some circumstance. Oh, you know, these people voted for me or this person, his contact was favorable to me, that’s why I got this power.
Those situations may be true. But beyond them, the higher truth is that position of power is given to us by God as a sacred trust. And God wants to enrich us.
So, if we use what we, if we see the power that He has given us as a gift from God and use it properly, then He will give us so much more. The gifts that God wants to give us are so great that the human mind cannot even comprehend them. So, if we see the power as a gift from God and see the opportunity for the exercise of power as a means to reciprocate with God in gratitude and in devotion, then we will get a far greater fulfillment than what we may get by becoming proud and arrogant by exercising that power.
Because one of the biggest challenges for one who gets attached to the prestige that comes from power is the misery that one feels when the power goes away and the prestige is lost. There are some, say it’s a government office or somewhere, some people are very autocratic. And then everybody respects them very much because they have a position of power.
But once that person becomes retired, when the person has no power, that same person goes to the office, nobody pays any respect to that person. The person feels mortified. Why? Because that power was not something earned by one’s disposition.
It was something just acquired because of some designation. So, not only in terms of our own fulfillment, not only in terms of our own contribution, but also in terms of the meaningful relationship that we have with others, we miss it all if we let the power get to our head. But if we see the power, the position of power as a gift from God, we can make a positive contribution, increase our devotion, and establish meaningful relationship with others, which actually bring out the best from within them.
And help us also to relish the reciprocation of proper, relish the fulfillment that comes from properly using power. That way, by having a deeper purpose for our life and understanding life from a broader vision, as the Bhagavad Gita reveals, we can avoid a power going to our head, but rather use it with a devoted heart.