Humility is the pathway to Krishna, not the password to position in a power structure
Some people are humble and submissive in front of their seniors, but haughty and abusive with their juniors. Why are they two-faced? Because their humility [...]
The ego can misappropriate everything, even humility
The Bhagavad-gita (13.08) lists humility as the first among twenty items of knowledge. The opposite of humility, ego, is extremely dangerous because not only does [...]
Spiritualizing our relationships means decreasing our expectations and increasing our contributions
In every relationship, each party expects something and contributes something. When expectations exceed contributions, the relationship becomes strained. When we become spiritual and connect with [...]
In the war of egos, the winner is the bigger loser
When people disagree on an issue, the disagreement sometimes degenerates into a war of egos, where the issues are pushed into the background. People obsess [...]
Don’t let victory in the battle against temptation come at the cost of defeat in the war for devotion
While growing spiritually, we know that we need to resist certain anti-devotional temptations. But we may get so consumed by the effort to give up [...]
Humility propels us on the journey from self-absorption to Krishna-absorption
People sometimes ask, “Isn’t humility demeaning and disempowering to oneself?” No, actual humility is elevating and empowering, freeing us from self-absorption in all its forms, [...]
To grow in humility, stay rooted in reality
Most of us have met egomaniacs who think that others have nothing better to do than hear them expound their glories. Such hubris stems from [...]
Humility means to not let our ego come in the way of our purpose
Humility is sometimes seen negatively, as something weakening or self-denigrating. However, real humility is empowering, for it frees us from dependence on others’ perceptions. Pertinently, [...]
Accepting our smallness requires greatness
Megalomania, the illusion of imagining oneself to be far greater than what one actually is, afflicts all of us, to smaller or greater degrees. In [...]
Self-pity is not humility
Self-pity can seem like humility because both appear to involve having a low, even negative, conception of ourselves. However, they are totally different both in [...]
Cultivate humility not as the justification for shirking responsibility but as the inspiration for embracing responsibility
Humility is foundational to authentic spirituality. The Bhagavad-gita (13.08) lists humility as the first among the virtues that comprise wisdom. Krishna enjoins Arjuna to cultivate [...]
The purpose of humility is to foster neediness, not helplessness
Some people think of humility as undesirable because it supposedly makes people feel bad about themselves by making them obsess over their defects and deficiencies. [...]
Those who parade their purity accumulate the impurity of pride
On the spiritual path, freedom from the gross impurities of lust, greed and anger is invaluable. Such purity keeps us focused on Krishna amidst temptations. [...]
Humility doesn’t take away our self-respect; it helps us respect the self
Some people feel that humility is demeaning, that it takes away their self-respect. This feeling stems from their misunderstanding that humility means to let oneself [...]
When we mistake self-pity to be humility, spirituality becomes an exercise in futility
The essence of spirituality is the inner transformation from self-centeredness to Krishna-centeredness. Self-centeredness essentially means installing ourselves at the center of our inner world – [...]
Use intelligence to know Krishna, not to show that we know Krishna
“Just see how much I know.” This prestige-seeking exhibitionist motive frequently underlies intellectual pursuits in material life. People love to parade their encyclopedic knowledge of [...]
Are we letting knowledge steal our humility?
When we get introduced to Gita wisdom, we discover a magnificent body of knowledge that answers life’s fundamental questions. As we enrich ourselves with this [...]
How an accountability vacuum can suck our devotion
Some people question: “When Krishna is present in our heart and as devotion is also an inner feeling, what is the need for an external [...]
How humility boosts our self-esteem…
We often feel under-recognized by the world. We frequently think that we have far more talents and much greater potential than what others credit us. [...]
Humility means to accept but not expect respect
We may sometimes wonder, “How can I stay humble amidst the devotional culture of respectfulness? If nobody would notice me, it would be easier to [...]
Resting on our laurels? No resting! Not our laurels!
In material consciousness, whenever we achieve any success, we tend to parade and brag about it. We often carry this tendency with us into our [...]