​How can we be humble without developing inferiority complex?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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How does one Develop humility But at the same time Become self confident Especially if someone has a background of Depression and inferiority complex Then how does one avoid Relapse into that while cultivating humility Actually Humility Is Very different from Inferiority complex The main difference Is that Inferiority complex Is basically False ego frustrated Whereas humility Is false ego rejected That means when I have Inferiority complex I want to be great I want the whole world to know how great I am But There is nothing great about me So I want to be great But there is no way I can exhibit my greatness And that’s why it is false ego frustrated Whereas humility Is It is false ego rejected That means a devotee lives at a different level A devotee delights In Krishna’s greatness A devotee delights in sharing Krishna’s greatness With the world Pallad Maharaj says that In glorifying you I am getting such nectar Oceanic nectar I am getting in this So basically As sadhakas Our focus should be On cultivating Krishna consciousness And delighting in loving and serving Krishna If we Don’t understand humility properly Then as it is rightly said that in the name of humility We may Develop too much negativity Because the whole point of There can be Positive self-obsession And there can be Negative self-obsession Positive self-obsession is actually Ego mania I did this, I went there It’s all positive self-obsession Whereas when you talk about inferiority complex That is actually negative self-obsession Oh I can’t do this, I can’t do that I am like this, I am like that But in both cases the problem is There is self-consciousness In one case the self-consciousness May be how good I am In other case that may be how bad I am But Krishna consciousness Means not self-consciousness But becoming conscious of Krishna And the purpose Of humility Kirtaniya sadahari The purpose of humility Is so that we can do kirtaniya sadahari So for us If we make humility as a goal Separate goal in itself, yes humility is a good quality But in today’s culture The focus Is that we need to Recognize that humility For us is in the service of Krishna So our primary purpose is To give up self-consciousness By which we can become more absorbed In Krishna consciousness More free for being conscious of Krishna Now in this case Humility Means we think Think less about ourselves That means I don’t think So much about myself And Actually inferiority complex means I think low about myself I am good for nothing, I am good for nothing So that is the difference Think less means I am not so obsessed with myself Ok, I have some good qualities I have some bad qualities, whatever I am I am still Krishna’s part, Krishna is still allowing me Opportunity to serve him, so let me serve him So basically We can see humility primarily as Giving up self-consciousness So if we think Too much about our own weaknesses Our own deficiencies And if that becomes our focus That may make us Feel insecure, that may make us Feel depressed When say Great sages talk about When Krishna Swamy talks about say I am lower than a worm in the stool I am more sinful than Jagai and Madai Now this is We may say this is not actually true Why are they saying like this? Krishna Swamy is not that way But why is he saying like that? Actually such expressions Are the result of his Profound absorption in Krishna consciousness When a devotee is very Absorbed in Krishna At that time the devotee feels Krishna loves me so much Krishna is doing so much for me And when Krishna is doing so much for me In return what am I doing? I am not doing anything at all And therefore When he is saying I am lower than Jagai and Madai What it means is Lord Chaitanya has bestowed so much mercy on me But I have not reciprocated And Lord Chaitanya Bestowed some mercy on Jagai and Madai and they reciprocated so much So because I have not reciprocated That’s why I am more fallen than Jagai and Madai The center there is not Whether from the objective point of view Krishna Swamy is a very pure person Jagai and Madai is a very Low grade person relatively speaking At least earlier they were So he is not talking from this platform at all In the light of Krishna’s love And Krishna’s mercy When that becomes more and more apparent More and more evident in our consciousness Then we start feeling I am doing nothing for Krishna I am so unfortunate, I am so fallen And I am not able to do anything at all So that State of exalted humility Cannot be artificially imitated What we can focus on In our attempt to cultivate humility Is three things practically First is that Whenever we are able to do something good We give credit to Krishna and Vaishnavas It is only by Krishna’s mercy My spiritual master’s mercy It is by It is by the Devotee’s mercy that whatever good I am able to do I do that Second thing is that whenever We Get some honor We strive As much as possible Not to Get Carried away by that That means If others glorify you And you believe it Then you are most unfortunate So the point is That we shouldn’t Does that mean others are lying? No, it is not that others are lying The point is There is the culture of devotion in which Devotees naturally glorify each other So what we should see Is when others are glorifying us That is indirect encouragement Rather than saying I am so great What we can see Here Krishna is manifesting some good quality within me So Krishna is using me in some way This is the way I can serve And when we see it that way Then the focus goes on serving Krishna So if somebody appreciates us We say that they are lying or something But it is just that It is because of Krishna That I am able to have this quality It is Krishna who is manifesting this quality through me So this is the way I can serve And lastly We can focus on how We can Shift the focus From us to the service Now Prabhupada Even when he was in America At that time He had so many big temples But Prabhupada never rested on his laurels Prabhupada was always thinking How can I expand Krishna Convention He had nice programs Going on in America I decided I want to go to India So if we achieve something And we rest on the laurels Rest on the laurels means It is an English saying where one just delights in one past triumphs But if we focus on Expanding the reach of the service of Krishna Then that Serving Krishna Will shift our focus from our self-consciousness And we will be able to Maintain humility So when we see there is so much more to do in Krishna’s service Then whatever pride we may have And so much That will go away and we will focus more on service to Krishna So that way If we don’t think too much about what we What are our faults We focus on how we can serve Krishna And that way we can cultivate humility Without getting into inferiority complex