Three weeks after I had joined the monastery in Mumbai, our group leader arranged a meeting of the newly joined monks with Radhanath Swami. We were over a dozen new members and were enthusiastic to serve. We had often heard Radhanath Swami emphasize that humility is most pleasing to God, and we should always render humble menial service. As the meeting progressed, Radhanath Swami enquired from us the nature of our services and the realizations that we had gathered over the past few weeks. One young monk enthusiastically spoke about his service to Radhanath Swami, “You’d be pleased to know that I am cleaning toilets daily for over two hours.” Radhanath Swami had in the past spoken at length about the humble services of Mother Teresa and St Francis, besides many other Vaishnava saints. The young monk obviously thought Radhanath Swami would be impressed by such services. However Radhanath Swami maintained a grave composure and shook us by the depth of his understanding. “One can even be proud of cleaning toilets”, said Radhanath Swami, “humility is not determined simply by the services we render but in what consciousness we perform them.” Later he also spoke on how one can get ‘proud’ of his humility. “This can happen”, said Radhanath Swami, “if we think that I am rendering the most menial service and therefore I am better than others.”
Radhanath Swami’s understanding of humility is profound. He is never impressed by the externals of spiritual life. Radhanath Swami holds humility as a sacred expression of the offering of our heart; it’s not simply a formality or a ritual. For Radhanath Swami, humility is the essence of bhakti; it’s also the substance he’s made of. I am grateful to the Lord that I often get to hear his classes, and thereby get a glimpse of his wonderful, devotional heart.
— Vraj Vihari
158 replies on “Being ‘Proud’ of Our Humility”
Radhanath Swami is practitioner of true humility and we can learn a lot from his life and teachings.
Thank you for sharing. whether showing or feeling proud , actually shows lack of humility.
wow..thank you for sharing.. I am now realizing a bit about what real humility means by hearing this stunning interaction with Radhanath Swami.
Without proper guidance, we can easily misunderstand deep values like humility.
thank you for sharing this definition of humility
Radhanath Swami Maharaja is never impresses by externals
Maharaj time and again reminds us of the famous quote, “Humility is a strange thing…The moment we know we have got it, it is gone”
Radhanath maharaj warns us not be proud on our humility and service we perform. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Humility is truly the substance that Maharaj is made of
Humility is hard in the material world…. one who tries to sincerely practice it, will soon realize how hard it is….
thank you prabhu for sharing this
Real Humility is beyond the external formalities. As Radhanath Swami said, it is the consciousness in which we perform our services.
No one can cheat Radhanath Swami’s eyes…..
Radhanath swami does not want any body to fall down. Rightly cautioned by Radhanath Swami, we should not be proud of our services and qualities. Thank You Radhanath Swami for every thing.
False pride is such a subtle thing and so difficult to overcome. We can become proud of the most insignificant things we do.
Thank you vrajvihari for sharing this intimate pastime with Radhanath Swami. We may think that we are humble and advanced in our krsna consciousness but our leader will smash our misplaced conceptions with his deep realisation.
how true Real Humility is not so much what we do but in what consciousness we do our service
Radhanath Swami is a real encyclopedia of HUMILITY – its defination, its mood, its effects, consciousness, etc.
It is true! We sometimes feel proud of insignificant achievements.However, great saints like Radhanath Swami who have achieved mountain like successes thru various projects, farm communities etc are simple and humble in nature. Which shows the extent of our illusion
Radhanath Swami’s understanding of humility is perfect in every aspect of the term.
Very true. Real humility is not to expect any adhoration/respect from others..Pride is a very potent weapon used by Maya to interrupt/spoil any good work we try to do..Thank you very much dear Radhanath Swami maharaj for this important caution as to how we can become proud of being humble..
very important lesson to remember. some body has said, ” humility is a very strange thing, the moment we think we have got it, we have lost it”.
WONDERFUL
thank you
Very deep and touching !
“..humility as a sacred expression of the offering of our heart..” – Humility is a principle to be internalized. Showing off repels Krsna and therefore His pure devotees.
Pride can creep in undetected. It takes an expert like Radhanath Swami to detect and weed it out!
Wonderful realisation
Woderful realization.
Radhanath Swami lives by this principle
Maharajah has clearly pointed out
“humility is not determined simply by the services we render but in what consciousness we perform them.”
I t is very true sometimes we become proud doing any menial service and think ourselves better than others.
humility is better seen in radhanath swami’s dealing and behaviour,
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj always preaches about humility which is the essence of bhakti.
Radhanath Swami teaches by his own example how to be humble to the core of the heart. As Radhanath Swami says, even to feel proud of humility can cause our fall down. Thank you Radhanath Swami for this deep understanding.
Radhanath Swami is the personification of humility in every sense of the term. Yet, he never wears it up his sleeve. He is thus teaching us by his own wonderful example that we should not become proud of our humility.
Its such a subtle feeling but so dangerous.Thankyou for sharing prabhuji.
Eye opening experience. Thanks for sharing.
jai jai !!! as per one of my dear senior “he is humility personified !!” very true he has such a deep understanding of humility……
thank you very much
thank you very much. it’s a very deep lesson.
thank u 4 sharing….it is so difficult not to be proud of our own humility….hk
Very profound realization.
Radhanath Swami has a perfect understanding of the humility. Radhanath Swami not only teaches humility but also practices it in life perfectly.
Maharaj’s understanding is very profound.There is lot to learn from him.Thanks Maharaj for your wonderful insights.
i am amused to hear a very deep and grave meaning of humility by Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
“Please take note of what I am doing” – this is the underlining message in all that we do, even in what we may do as selfless work. A pure soul like Radhanath Swami is beyond this conduct, but it doesn’t stop there he engages and guides people to serve in the right mood where humility is the bottom line.
I really have to go along way. Thank you inspiring prabhuji.
This is such a thin line.
And need Guidance of an expert like Radhanath Swami
After reading this experience we really come to know that humility comes from within & without real humility love of God is not possible. Thank u Radhanath Swami for guiding us so perfectly.
Thank you maharaj for making us understand what humility means.