Will those with low self-esteem mistake tolerating injustice to be humility?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
now those with low self esteem can make it seem as if they may feel that tolerating being hurt or injustice is humility see again humility it has to be clearly understood now Prabhupada defines humility in 13.8 parport humility means to not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others that means being honored by others is not the motive of our doing things so I try to phrase it in a different way humility means to not let one’s ego come in the way of one’s purpose something is important for me I will do it even if I am disrespected while doing it even if I am derided while doing it but the point is I have a purpose and I have to do that so whereas when people have low self esteem often they don’t feel that they are worth any purpose at all they don’t feel I can do anything so low self esteem is actually injurious and the difference between, this is a whole big subject I have a seminar on humility and low self esteem but I will just put it in two sentences we have an ego and we could say a low self esteem or inferiority complex that is this ego which is frustrated it is a false ego frustrated whereas humility is a false ego transcended that means when a person is having low self esteem they are still on the ego platform why are people not respecting me but humility means that you know I am not the center of my world I have a higher purpose to live for and that becomes the center and I live for that purpose and I make decisions based on that purpose so in one sense low self esteem is a negative form of the same self obsession that sometimes comes off as megalomania now people think I am the center of the universe so that same idea can come off in a negative way as low self esteem, inferiority complex where we are thinking too much about oneself so the whole process of bhakti is when you talk about humility it is not that I am so fallen yes that is a part of it but the essence is Krishna is so great I am meant to serve Krishna, Krishna is so kind that he is allowing me to serve him no matter how I am so humility is meant to help us shift our thoughts from ourselves to Krishna and serve him whereas low self esteem means that we just get caught in our own thoughts so if we practice bhakti and associate with devotees who infuses the proper understanding of bhakti they will help us understand that no matter however we are usually our low self esteem comes from certain material things which we may not have and which are say glamorized in the social circle that we are oh you don’t look good enough, you are not smart enough you don’t carry yourself so well, whatever it is because of which you start feeling low self esteem but in devotional circles we get an understanding that who I am doesn’t depend on all these things now whatever I am right now Krishna still loves me and Krishna has given me gifts by which I can make a contribution so bhakti actually gives a spiritual foundation for our self esteem and then the material things which make our self esteem go down they become not so prominent in our consciousness that’s how by bhakti we can be we can develop our self esteem and we can be assertive in our purpose. Thank you.