The Divine Souls!
Today we're going to look at one shlok, a famous and important shlok by Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji which is also oft quoted by Jagadguru Shree Kripalu ji Maharaj. It has to do with remembering Radha Krishna and Their name all the time and developing deep feelings of humbleness. So, let us see what this shlok says and then we'll consider the practical application of it, because along with understanding the basic theory or knowledge, we have to know, in certain cases, the nuances of how to apply it in our life. So Mahaprabhuji says,
Tṛiṇādapi su-nīchen tarorapi iva sahiṣhṇunā. amāninā mān-den kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.
- Chaitanya Charitamrit: Adi 17.31
“A devotee, someone who wants to follow the path of bhakti and attain Radha Krishna in this life, they should be as humble as a blade of grass, as forbearing as a tree. They should not demand honor from others but give respect to other people and chant the name of Radhe Govind all the time.”
Being more humble than a blade of grass like the lawn out there you walk on It doesn't grumble. You put your foot on its head. It bends down. Then it pops back up. So be as humble as a blade of grass, Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji says, and as forbearing as a tree, ‘sahen shīlitā’, we say in Hindi. It means the ability to bear without lashing out. Why is the tree being used as an example? Because think of how generous and giving a tree is. The tree grows tall and provides shade from the sun, shelter from the rain, and wind; fruit for us to eat. And what does it bear? Oh, we plunder its fruit, we break its branches, cut its branches. We use everything and the tree just keeps giving and bearing everything without ever lashing out or getting grumpy. So, such forbearance is the example of ‘sahen shĩlitā’ is the tree.
And in the third quarter of the verse Mahaprabhuji says, “Amāni nā.” Don't demand mān. Mān means ‘respect’. We have that reaction, “Do you know who I am?” That kind of thing. “How dare you?” That type of bhao is opposite of what Mahaprabhuji is saying. Don't demand respect from others. Mān dena - give respect to others. Obviously this is a very high ideal. This is the topmost state of being that we're trying to achieve and it doesn't happen easily. This grows within us as we progress.
Many times people have asked Jagadguru Shree Kripalu ji Maharaj, “How do I know if I'm progressing on this path?” So, if you're progressing, your mind, your heart would be purifying, and the more pure your mind becomes the more it becomes infused with the grace of God and Guru, the more our ‘sahen shīlitā’ grows. Our forbearance grows. We become more like the tree, “Oh, it doesn't bother us. It's okay.” We become more like the grass. “Oh, it's good to be humble. I'm not looking for anybody's respect. I am the lowest of the low. It's okay. Everybody else can be respected. I don't need to be respected.” This is not like acting on the outside, but truly we become more and more like this on the inside. So, Shree Maharaj Ji says, “You want to know how much progress you're making? Measure how much sahen shīlitā has grown? How much dīnitā, how much humbleness has grown? Then there must have been some progress made, but how much you yourself can judge by how much this bhao has grown in your heart. Now practically living this… see, it's something that has to be practiced. Right?
On one hand simply by doing sadhana which we practice here, sitting and doing Roopdhyan of Radha Krishna with kirtan, that will purify your heart. And, doing seva to Guru; that will purify your heart. But along the way, we also have to start pretending. I told you the real progress is you're not pretending from inside; you're becoming more forbearing and more humble. But we also have to pretend from the outside. In this case, pretending is not a bad thing. It's practicing. We're practicing being humble. We're practicing being forbearing.
Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says, “Practice this and see how much mental peace you get. When somebody criticizes you, say, “Oh, thank you! I was focusing on my good qualities, and I was focusing on other people's bad qualities. It was giving me a sense of self superiority, which is the opposite of humbleness. Thank you for pointing out my faults!” He says you should get to the point where you feel like, “Hey! Nobody criticized me today! Something's missing!” You have, like an itch, “Oh, I hope somebody points out my fault so I can become more humble!” He says when that starts happening now know that you're truly a sadhak; you're truly a devotee.
So, it's okay if we're not really like that on the inside but we can know that practicing that will make God and Guru happy. We were listening to a lecture early this morning where Shree Kripalu Maharaj was defining the word bhakti and saying that bhakti means seva. And although we don't have any power or possessions with which we could actually serve God or a God realized Saint, but trying our best to please Them is accepted by Them as seva because They're so kind. It's Their grace on us. So if we want to please Them, this is the best thing we can do. Practice being humble. Practice being forbearing. Practice giving respect to others. Even if we don't feel from our heart, we should still practice it and think this will make Maharaj ji happy. This will make the Guru happy. This will make God happy. And gradually through that practice, we get more of Guru's grace, and eventually we start really being like that from the inside.
Now we also have to look at the practical side of this. Many of you sitting here are probably thinking right now, “If I try to practice this in my office with my colleagues, I'll become a doormat. Everybody's going to walk all over me!” So, yes, there are other considerations. There's a skill to implementing this in life.
Let's just take it with a general principle. If something is not good for your devotion, something is not helping your bhakti… like, let's say there's a person that sometimes you're around. You spend time with them, and their influence is not good on you or their behavior disturbs your devotion. Then following this philosophy of humbleness, should you just not say anything? Let them do whatever they want? No. That's not the correct application of this philosophy. You should be aware, “Being around this person actually hampers my devotion for whatever reason. I'm not looking to find fault in them but I see when I'm around them my devotion gets disturbed.” So, then what is the correct behavior around that person? You want to reduce or eliminate the time you're spending with them. Right? Maybe it's a neighbor who comes over, maybe it's a relative, maybe it's a so-called friend. So how should we behave?
Well, there's an escalation process. You can start by being humble, polite, courteous, respectful but not warm or friendly. Shree Kirpalu Ji Maharaj uses the phrase ‘Rookha vyavahar karo’. ‘Rookha’ means kind of dry, not warm and friendly and inviting. You're still courteous and respectful, but the person will get the feeling like, “you know, maybe I'm not so welcome here.” You're not being disrespectful but you're also not being inviting. That's okay. It doesn't mean you're not being humble; you're just protecting your devotional attitude, your devotional feelings.
Then the next step beyond that would be being more curt with the person. Like, when they talk to you, again, you're being respectful and courteous. But if they say something that requires a response, you're very clipped, very short, like half sentence response, two word response. Again, not rude, but they're trying to give a hint to them. “No, I don't really want to interact with you.” And then finally you may get to the point where you actually have to say, if it's another devotee you can say, “I respect your devotion but I actually just wanna be introverted. So I don't want to have a conversation. I don't want to speak.” That doesn't mean you're violating the principle of being humble and forbearing. You're still being humble. You're not calling this person bad or or trying to harm their devotional feelings, but you're protecting your devotional feelings. That's okay. So whether it's in the ashram, amongst devotees, with your colleagues, there are probably different ways of accomplishing what I'm talking to you about that you would know better than me. How, you know, how would you have to behave or speak with the person or with a family member? But the principle is the same.
You're respectful, but almost disengaged, trying not to interact with them, being very curt, not being warm or friendly, but still being courteous and respectful. And then eventually, if necessary, if they haven't gotten the message yet, getting to the point of just saying, “I need to be alone. I need to just be introverted. I can't have this interaction with you right now.” That's okay. That doesn't mean you're not humble.
So there are a few things like this in devotional philosophy that have to be deeply considered. You can't blindly apply the principle across all situations like this principle of humbleness, and then you're just letting people talk to you and disturb your mental peace and you're not setting boundaries. So, you have to find that balance. That's where the skill comes in of being humble and being respectful and still seeing the other person as a soul who belongs to Krishna. You're not hating them, but you're setting your boundaries. Those boundaries are okay to set and it's important to set. It's okay to say no. Just because you're practicing humbleness doesn't mean you can't say no.
Let's say you're in the ashram and you're doing seva, and someone else says, “Oh, I also need this done. I also need some help here. Can you do this seva?” And, for whatever reason, “I have this physical limitation. I'm tired. If I keep pushing myself, I'll get stressed out, then I'll be more negative. I won't have a positive frame of mind, which I need to maintain here in the ashram, especially. I'll pay for it later. If I push myself now, then I'll be too sleepy for evening kirtan and satsang for whatever reason.” Many times you have to say, “No. I can't! I can't do that. I understand this needs to get done but…”. Again, you have to set your boundaries to protect your own devotion.
You know what's good for your mental space. You know what's good for your devotional feelings and attitude. So, you have to set those boundaries at the same time that you maintain that humble attitude that has been taught by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ji and Kripaluji Maharaj. So, with this in mind then both Mahaprabhu ji and Shree Kripalu ji Maharaj say, “Then remember Radha Krishna all the time, ‘nāmagāne sadāharihi’. Always chant the name of Hari.” And Shree Kripalu ji Maharaj says, “Always do Radha breathing.” You inhale, “Ra.” You exhale, “dhe”. At the very least, we can be doing that throughout the day if not chanting out loud if the situation permits it.
So, this is just a brief glimpse into some practical devotional philosophy as taught by the great rasik Saints of our tradition of raganuga bhakti. So, let us have a couple of minutes of nām sankirtan now. Let us practice Roopdhyan. Let us visualize Radha Krishna physically here with us as we chant Their Divine names.
