There are 8.4 million species on Earth. Among them, the human form of life is the only one in which spiritual practice is possible to rid ourselves of sorrow and attain eternal happiness. This human life is so rare that even celestial gods long for it. This human form can only be attained by the grace of God.
We are already aware that the Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna, is synonymous with bliss. This therefore proves that the attainment of God is the only goal of human life since we all seek happiness. We also know that the only way to achieve this goal is to practice bhakti or devotion. All we need to do in our devotion is remember God in our minds and keep increasing our love for Him. We have to increase our longing for His divine vision. This alone has the power to purify our hearts, and when this process is 100 percent complete, our Guru will bestow upon us the priceless treasure of the divine love of Shri Radha Krishna.
There are many types of bhakti, but three are foremost: shravanam, kirtanam, and smarana. Shravanam means to listen to knowledge related to God, to understand it, and then to follow it. To chant, sing, and immerse oneself in the glories of the divine name of God - His virtues, His abodes, His pastimes, and so on, is known as kirtanam. Smarana bhakti is to remember God. It is a deep meditation on the personal form of God in your mind. This is called rupadhyana. Every person is qualified and has the right to practice bhakti, unlike other paths specified in our scriptures such as jnana and yoga, where there are many rules, conditions, and prerequisites. To follow the path of devotion, there are three main conditions that every follower must fulfill if he or she desires to attain God.
Humility
An aspiring devotee must be humbler than a blade of grass. A spiritual aspirant must realize and consider himself to be humbler than a blade of grass. When you walk on grass, crushing it under your feet, the grass never protests nor complains. It bows down as directed and later stands straight once again. In the same way, a spiritual aspirant should always be humble in his or her behavior.
Forbearance and Tolerance
An aspiring devotee must be more forgiving and more tolerant than a fruit-bearing tree. When someone throws a stone at that tree trying to dislodge its fruit, the tree does not retaliate or become angry. The tree gives us its fruit. Is it not amazing? The tree responds to your aggression or anger by giving you succulent fruit for your benefit! The tree itself does not consume its own fruit, yet it freely feeds everybody.
Respect for Others
An aspiring devotee should not seek praise or compliments but have great respect for others. A spiritual aspirant should always give respect to others and should never desire anything in return.
In this way, one should lead a life filled with humility, tolerance, and respect for others. An aspiring devotee should always chant, sing, and remember God: His pastimes, His grace, and His virtues with affinity in every moment. Having respect for others, not seeking any compliments, being humble, and always being forgiving are all virtues that can be expressed in one word: humility. Humility is the foundation of devotion. Devotion starts, remains, and flourishes only based on humbleness. Any hint of pride, arrogance, or ego will spoil your devotion just like a pinch of salt spoils a chocolate cake. Pride, ego, and the like are obstacles to devotion. The humility within an aspiring devotee will foster and strengthen dedication to the teachings of the spiritual master and dependence on God's grace.
Many of us, however, like it when we are appreciated by those around us. But this is a major cause of a person's spiritual downfall. We should instead strive to become good, rather than expect others to appreciate us as such, even though we may harbor ill feelings towards them. When someone criticizes us or scolds us, we feel bad about it. We become angry and annoyed at the person and can even become hostile in our behavior towards them. We harbor hatred and negative feelings for others. These sorts of feelings are very harmful to us.
If you continuously remember people or incidents that increase negative feelings within you, then understand that you are causing harm to yourself by further dirtying your mind. Your aim should be to practice the art of continuously remembering God and Guru, who are pure divine personalities. Through this practice alone you will cleanse your heart and mind. In our lives to date, we have developed a one-sided attitude where we only like to be appreciated and not criticized.
Once, a person started to abuse Lord Buddha and continued to do so for an entire day. By evening, the person could hardly speak a word. Lord Buddha directed one of his disciples, "Give him something to eat. He has been hard at work since morning and must be very tired." The man was astonished! "Are You made of stone? I have humiliated you the whole day and you are giving me food to eat?"
Lord Buddha replied, "Tell me something, my friend. If you give something to a person that he does not accept, with whom does that thing remain?” It will remain with the giver. “In the same way, whatever abuse you hurled at me today remains with you, as I have not accepted it. If you had spoken some words about God, His virtues, His pastimes, or His abodes, I would have gladly accepted them." In this way, a spiritual aspirant should strive to develop a liking for criticism and resist the temptation to be appreciated. When you reach such a stage where you like to be criticized and dislike being complimented, you will progress rapidly towards your goal.
We should also remember one very important fact. Until the moment a person attains God, he or she will be under the influence of maya and will continue to suffer from the diseases of the mind, such as desire, anger, jealousy, hatred, ego, and so on. Every individual soul has accumulated innumerable sins from infinite past lives, and all of this will be destroyed only upon the attainment of God. Therefore, if someone calls us names or criticizes us for being angry, sinful, lustful, or whatever else, what is wrong with it? It is a fact. We must learn to happily accept all our faults and strive to rectify them.
Consider the following analogy: When we introduce a policeman as a policeman, he will never complain or insist that we address him as director general. He is content being called constable. In the same way, when all people are sinners, why do we feel bad about being criticized? Saint Tulsidas says, “The one who points out our faults or our mistakes is our well-wisher.” When a snake or a scorpion crawls up our body and someone alerts us to it, we would consider that person to be our well-wisher.
There is one more point that we need to remember. When we are remembering God, only for that period (or moment) can it be considered a good or righteous deed. For the rest of the time, we can conclude that only bad deeds are being performed since that time (or those moments) are not dedicated to God. Have you ever thought or realized how many hours you think about God in a twenty-four-hour day?
We must repeatedly think and resolve that even if someone criticizes us, we will not feel bad. Practice makes perfect. At night before you sleep, recall, "How many times did I err today? How many times did I make the same mistake?" If you practice in this way, the next day you will be more alert and cautious. In this way, by constant practice, you will stop feeling bad when others talk ill of you.
Shri Krishna resides in our hearts and notices our every thought. We should not get hurt, feel bad, or become disturbed because His grace is dependent on our mind being detached from worldly feelings and completely attached to Him. Constant remembrance of this thought will lessen your faults, and at the same time, you will attempt to remember God. You should not have any ill feelings towards the one who criticizes you because Shri Krishna resides in his heart too. Be neutral to the one who finds fault in you and do not have any feeling of hatred towards anyone. Shed tears by saying this prayer again and again, "O Shri Krishna! If you bestow Your grace on humble ones, then I am not even the slightest bit humble. Therefore, grace me in such a way that I develop the feeling of being humble and shed tears."
Remember that there is no way out of this, and it is mandatory to practice in this way as human life is transient. Eventually, through constant practice, your faults will reduce and vanish, and you will feel calm and peaceful.
Recommended Book:
There are 8.4 million species on Earth. Among them, the human form of life is the only one in which spiritual practice is possible to rid ourselves of sorrow and attain eternal happiness. This human life is so rare that even celestial gods long for it. This human form can only be attained by the grace of God.
We are already aware that the Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna, is synonymous with bliss. This therefore proves that the attainment of God is the only goal of human life since we all seek happiness. We also know that the only way to achieve this goal is to practice bhakti or devotion. All we need to do in our devotion is remember God in our minds and keep increasing our love for Him. We have to increase our longing for His divine vision. This alone has the power to purify our hearts, and when this process is 100 percent complete, our Guru will bestow upon us the priceless treasure of the divine love of Shri Radha Krishna.
There are many types of bhakti, but three are foremost: shravanam, kirtanam, and smarana. Shravanam means to listen to knowledge related to God, to understand it, and then to follow it. To chant, sing, and immerse oneself in the glories of the divine name of God - His virtues, His abodes, His pastimes, and so on, is known as kirtanam. Smarana bhakti is to remember God. It is a deep meditation on the personal form of God in your mind. This is called rupadhyana. Every person is qualified and has the right to practice bhakti, unlike other paths specified in our scriptures such as jnana and yoga, where there are many rules, conditions, and prerequisites. To follow the path of devotion, there are three main conditions that every follower must fulfill if he or she desires to attain God.
Humility
An aspiring devotee must be humbler than a blade of grass. A spiritual aspirant must realize and consider himself to be humbler than a blade of grass. When you walk on grass, crushing it under your feet, the grass never protests nor complains. It bows down as directed and later stands straight once again. In the same way, a spiritual aspirant should always be humble in his or her behavior.
Forbearance and Tolerance
An aspiring devotee must be more forgiving and more tolerant than a fruit-bearing tree. When someone throws a stone at that tree trying to dislodge its fruit, the tree does not retaliate or become angry. The tree gives us its fruit. Is it not amazing? The tree responds to your aggression or anger by giving you succulent fruit for your benefit! The tree itself does not consume its own fruit, yet it freely feeds everybody.
Respect for Others
An aspiring devotee should not seek praise or compliments but have great respect for others. A spiritual aspirant should always give respect to others and should never desire anything in return.
In this way, one should lead a life filled with humility, tolerance, and respect for others. An aspiring devotee should always chant, sing, and remember God: His pastimes, His grace, and His virtues with affinity in every moment. Having respect for others, not seeking any compliments, being humble, and always being forgiving are all virtues that can be expressed in one word: humility. Humility is the foundation of devotion. Devotion starts, remains, and flourishes only based on humbleness. Any hint of pride, arrogance, or ego will spoil your devotion just like a pinch of salt spoils a chocolate cake. Pride, ego, and the like are obstacles to devotion. The humility within an aspiring devotee will foster and strengthen dedication to the teachings of the spiritual master and dependence on God's grace.
Many of us, however, like it when we are appreciated by those around us. But this is a major cause of a person's spiritual downfall. We should instead strive to become good, rather than expect others to appreciate us as such, even though we may harbor ill feelings towards them. When someone criticizes us or scolds us, we feel bad about it. We become angry and annoyed at the person and can even become hostile in our behavior towards them. We harbor hatred and negative feelings for others. These sorts of feelings are very harmful to us.
If you continuously remember people or incidents that increase negative feelings within you, then understand that you are causing harm to yourself by further dirtying your mind. Your aim should be to practice the art of continuously remembering God and Guru, who are pure divine personalities. Through this practice alone you will cleanse your heart and mind. In our lives to date, we have developed a one-sided attitude where we only like to be appreciated and not criticized.
Once, a person started to abuse Lord Buddha and continued to do so for an entire day. By evening, the person could hardly speak a word. Lord Buddha directed one of his disciples, "Give him something to eat. He has been hard at work since morning and must be very tired." The man was astonished! "Are You made of stone? I have humiliated you the whole day and you are giving me food to eat?"
Lord Buddha replied, "Tell me something, my friend. If you give something to a person that he does not accept, with whom does that thing remain?” It will remain with the giver. “In the same way, whatever abuse you hurled at me today remains with you, as I have not accepted it. If you had spoken some words about God, His virtues, His pastimes, or His abodes, I would have gladly accepted them." In this way, a spiritual aspirant should strive to develop a liking for criticism and resist the temptation to be appreciated. When you reach such a stage where you like to be criticized and dislike being complimented, you will progress rapidly towards your goal.
We should also remember one very important fact. Until the moment a person attains God, he or she will be under the influence of maya and will continue to suffer from the diseases of the mind, such as desire, anger, jealousy, hatred, ego, and so on. Every individual soul has accumulated innumerable sins from infinite past lives, and all of this will be destroyed only upon the attainment of God. Therefore, if someone calls us names or criticizes us for being angry, sinful, lustful, or whatever else, what is wrong with it? It is a fact. We must learn to happily accept all our faults and strive to rectify them.
Consider the following analogy: When we introduce a policeman as a policeman, he will never complain or insist that we address him as director general. He is content being called constable. In the same way, when all people are sinners, why do we feel bad about being criticized? Saint Tulsidas says, “The one who points out our faults or our mistakes is our well-wisher.” When a snake or a scorpion crawls up our body and someone alerts us to it, we would consider that person to be our well-wisher.
There is one more point that we need to remember. When we are remembering God, only for that period (or moment) can it be considered a good or righteous deed. For the rest of the time, we can conclude that only bad deeds are being performed since that time (or those moments) are not dedicated to God. Have you ever thought or realized how many hours you think about God in a twenty-four-hour day?
We must repeatedly think and resolve that even if someone criticizes us, we will not feel bad. Practice makes perfect. At night before you sleep, recall, "How many times did I err today? How many times did I make the same mistake?" If you practice in this way, the next day you will be more alert and cautious. In this way, by constant practice, you will stop feeling bad when others talk ill of you.
Shri Krishna resides in our hearts and notices our every thought. We should not get hurt, feel bad, or become disturbed because His grace is dependent on our mind being detached from worldly feelings and completely attached to Him. Constant remembrance of this thought will lessen your faults, and at the same time, you will attempt to remember God. You should not have any ill feelings towards the one who criticizes you because Shri Krishna resides in his heart too. Be neutral to the one who finds fault in you and do not have any feeling of hatred towards anyone. Shed tears by saying this prayer again and again, "O Shri Krishna! If you bestow Your grace on humble ones, then I am not even the slightest bit humble. Therefore, grace me in such a way that I develop the feeling of being humble and shed tears."
Remember that there is no way out of this, and it is mandatory to practice in this way as human life is transient. Eventually, through constant practice, your faults will reduce and vanish, and you will feel calm and peaceful.
Recommended Book:
The Sacred Rules - English
Prem Ras Siddhant - Hindi
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