Last year Radhanath Swami’s birthday celebrations came right in the middle of his writing marathon. In the Vedic tradition, the spiritual guide who helps one return to God is considered as a special representative of God, to be respected on par with God. So on the spiritual mentor’s birthday his students assemble together in his presence and express their heartfelt appreciation, love and gratitude to him through eloquently written offerings. Radhanath Swami often warns in his talks about the great danger that ego poses on the spiritual path. He also says that a sincere devotee feels most embarrassed to hear himself be glorified. Yet the Vedic tradition that he represents enjoins that he as a spiritual mentor hear the praises that his students shower upon him. No wonder Radhanath Swami often says that the day of his birthday celebration is for him the day of the greatest austerity in the entire year. For an ordinary soul whose ego is always hungering and hankering for praise, such a day would be the day to be most relished in the entire year. But Radhanath Swami’s natural humility makes hearing his own glories an immense austerity for him.
Despite the austerity involved, Radhanath Swami conducts himself on his birthday with consummate grace; he appreciates his spiritual teacher, he appreciates his spiritual peers and he appreciates even the sincere love of his appreciators. How does he not let such an even steal away his own humility? He has himself answered in his talks: whenever a devotee is glorified, he passes the glorification to Krishna.
During the last year’s celebration, one of his students praised him with heart-rending poetry comprised of captivating imagery. Immediately after the celebration, when we were working on his book, he asked me whether I had heard that poetic offering. When I replied, “Yes, it was beautiful,” Radhanath Swami immediately said, “When I was hearing this, I was thinking this would be so good to add in the book to glorify Krishna.” I was astounded at his devotional opportunism; far from delighting in his own praises, he had immediately seen an opportunity to literally pass that praise to Krishna. It was an inspiring example of how Radhanath Swami walks his talk: how his ego-less opportunism enables him to pass on to Krishna the glories that are offered to him.
–Chaitanya Charan Das.
145 replies on “Radhanath Swami’s ego-less opportunism”
Radhanath Swami alway teach us about the great danger that ego poses on the spiritual path.
It is an inspiring example of how Radhanath Swami walks his talk.
Thank you Radhanath swami for inspiring us with your exemplary conduct.
Maharaj statement “whenever a devotee is glorified, he passes the glorification to Krishna” shows the degree of humility he posses.
The humility of great souls is simply astonishing
Thats the nature of Radhanath Swami, He says with his own realization and walks his talk….Humble Personified …
now that’s the sign of a genuine spiritual leader like Radhanath Swami Maharaj , who can always see the ways and means to glorify Krishna without keeping anything for himself.
Wonderful message by Radhanath Maharaj- “Whenever a devotee is glorified, pass the glorification to Krishna”.
This is the quality of a great soul. To always remain detached from all the glories received and in turn pass that to Krsna and the discplic chain of the great saints of past.
Thank you very much for sharing this experience.
Radhanath Swami is really a great soul.
A pure devotee is always transparent who always gives back the glories to Krsna and allows mercy of Krsna to flow thru him.
Only a selfless soul can escape being affected even after being showered with so much name, fame and glory and still remain humble and focussed. This is very very rare quality.
Radhanath Swami is truly a leader who always lead by his own example.
Radhanath Swami Maharaj ki jaiii.
Thanks for sharing.. JAI !!!
What a wonderful practical way of living Radhanath Swami has followed. He has always made the Lord center of his Life and he dedicates all his activities to Guru and Krishna with his entire Life and soul.Certainly very inspiring!
To say the least Radhanath Swami is personification of all of the good qualities in their best, thank you Radhanath Swami for being such a wonderful example.
thank you for sharing these wonderful qualities of Radhanath Swami.
Radhanath Swami’s humility cannot be described in words…..His behaviour is unparalleled…..
Radhanath Swami is an exemplary spiritualist.When he is praised by his desciples then he is most embrassed.It indicates his sincere and honest apreciation of his Spiritual Master and the God,Krishna.Thank you very much.
Because of such divine qualities, Radhanath Swami stands as an source of inspiration for millions of people on the path of spirituality.
That is his eternal nature.
Thank you for sharing this inspiring example of Radhanath Swami’s perfect humility in all circumstances.
It is so heartening to be under the care and shelter of such a sincere follower teacher of spirituality.
I was in search of this answer how to tackle such type of situation where if someone glorifies someone how he will protect himself or herself. I would like to Thanks Maharaj for teaching us this, we should always remember and practice “whenever a devotee is glorified, he passes the glorification to Krishna”.
My heart yearns to get even a drop of such wonderful qualities of Radhanath Swami so that I can serve everyone better.
His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj is himself a great book in which all the purest activities of life are well described with perfect practical examples. Jai
Radhanath Swami is simply great:)
wow..simply amazing.
thank u for sharing
Thank you pr for sharing such a nice incident of HH Radhanath swami
HHRNSM is always absorbed in the Lord and in this article we can very well see the pure consciousness of HHHRNSM and the desire to always glorify the Lord, haribol, rajesh
HHRNSM with his mood to serve the Lord and glorify him is so amazing and inspiring, haribol, bhakti
Radhanath Swami so wonderfully shows how to put into practice spiritual philosophy.
All Glories To H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Will it not be very difficult for us to practice austerity on our birthday.Maharaj’s action infuses inspiration. They not only set examples but are templates for the humanity to follow and lead a life full of gratitude.
Hare Krishna
Prji, u r so fortunate to have such personal exchanges with guru mahraj
Really amazing article. Radhanath Swami is very humble and we can see his humility by this story. It’s very inspiring to all.
Only somebody who is genuinely humble will pass on his praises to others.. All glories to Maharaj!
Thank u for sharing.
It is austerity for Maharajah to hear his glories on his birthday and generally the tendency is , if we don’t get glorification, we get depressed.
Swamiji always live an exemplary life to inspire everyone to follow him…..
Very inspiring pastime
Wonderful. this is so amazing…
Thank you for sharing…
The path shown by HH Radhanath Swami to be simple and egoless and dovetailing everything in the service of Krishna should be our aim of life.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience.
Another example of deep humility by Radhanath Swami.
only a pure soul like him can pass on all praises to krishna, otherwise conditioned souls see their own glory in others praises also.
Radhanath Swami’s humility is amazing.Passing on all praises to Krsna is a fine gesture.Thank you,Radhanath Swami, for teaching us the lesson in true humility by your own behaviour.
So was the poetry added to the book?
Thanks for this very enlightening article. I always had this question how a personality such as Radhanath swami reacts to praise and I got the answer here which I kind of expected. Thanks again.
Purity of Purpose makes Radhanath Swami so special.
Thank you very much for sharing. Pure devotees like Radhanath Swami feel pleasure in hearing the glories of the Lord and his devotees but feel embarassed when they hear their glorification