To have a sense of self-importance is called pride. To have a sense of reverence towards God and His true devotees is called humility. To consider oneself worthy of any benefit, that is called pride. If they offer a garland, then I am worthy of being garlanded. If they offer a seat of honor, then I am worthy of such honor. All of that is called pride. What does reverence mean? No one thinks that everyone should worship me, just as they worship Maharaj. But one thinks that I am worthy of being garlanded, I am worthy of being praised, I am worthy of being offered a shawl. So wherever 'I' comes in everywhere, then that is called pride. I am worthy of doing service, meaning my role is to serve, then that is the role of humility. Humility: To have a sense of self-importance is called pride. If I think I am worthy of being a servant, then there is no problem. But who says that? No one says that. I am worthy of being a servant of servants. To have a sense of self-importance is called pride. To have a sense of reverence towards God and His true devotees is called humility. It is the opposite of pride, which is humility. What can I do, we, I have no strength at all. What? Weak. This weakness is not humility. Capacity is humility. One becomes humble through capacity. One does not become humble through weakness. If there is capacity to serve God and God's devotees, then humility comes from that. Now if one is weak and cannot even shoo away a fly, has he become humble? So one does not become humble through weakness, one becomes humble through capacity. One must have that capacity. Humility, so one must have the capacity to renounce that pride. I do not want any of this, so how can that happen without capacity? As for the etiquette of speech and behavior, we cannot do anything, we cannot do this, we cannot do that, so that is not humility, that is called wretchedness. So weakness is called weakness. So being weak is not humility. Humility is capacity. So if there is capacity, then Akshar Akshar 1) Imperishable. In his personal form, Akshar serves Bhagvãn in Akshardhãm, and takes birth on earth as His ideal bhakta (sat-purush). Both forms are human in appearance. In his impersonal form, Akshar is the dhãm of Bhagvãn called Akshardhãm. In his all- pervading anvay form, Akshar is called Chidãkãsh. Tap to open in glossary → Akshar Akshar 1) Imperishable. In his personal form, Akshar serves Bhagvãn in Akshardhãm, and takes birth on earth as His ideal bhakta (sat-purush). Both forms are human in appearance. In his impersonal form, Akshar is the dhãm of Bhagvãn called Akshardhãm. In his all- pervading anvay form, Akshar is called Chidãkãsh. Tap to open in glossary → To have a sense of self-importance is called pride. To have a sense of reverence towards God and His true devotees is called humility. As for the etiquette of speech and behavior, formality is not considered humility. Many appear very humble in speech but carry a great sense of self-importance. "Ji Swami, Ji Swami," they would say. We would be pleased that "Ji Swami" means that "Ji" should be attached at the end, but he attached it at the beginning. "Ji Swami Ji" means we should understand that "Ji" is attached at the end, that he is calling us "Swamiji." Now, instead of someone barely calling us "Swami," if someone starts calling us "Ji," how wonderful that is. That is not humility. If one acquires some capacity and serves, then he is called humble. Service has to be done, right? What? The capacity to renounce defects, only if one serves can those defects be renounced. The defect of pride goes away only by doing service. The very means to remove pride is to serve God and His devotees. Other than that, if one just does this in the mind and pushes it, it will not go away. If one decides in the mind that I do not want pride, I do not want pride, it does not go away like that. If one gets service to do and then says I do not want pride, then it is gone. A capable person can become humble, a weak person cannot become humble. And a capable person can also become a fool. Even to become foolish, capacity is required, right? So capacity itself is not humility. Capacity is required in it, it is necessary, it is essential. Whether one wants to be humble or foolish, one needs capacity. To be weak, one does not need any capacity. To be weak, one only needs one thing, what? "I cannot do this." Then he immediately becomes weak. In that, one should memorize it not once but ten times, "I cannot do this, I cannot do this, I cannot do this, I cannot do this." So the title should be attached as "extremely humble" (weak in brackets). If one cannot even shoo away a fly, should he be called weak or humble? He became humble in front of the fly. AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details