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Humble attitude

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 4

Although a devotee maintains an attitude of meekness and gentleness, it is a great fault on his part if he remains silent when the Lord or His devotee is blasphemed.
SB 4.14.32, Purport:

One should not at any time tolerate blasphemy and insults against Lord Viṣṇu or His devotees. A devotee is generally very humble and meek, and he is reluctant to pick a quarrel with anyone. Nor does he envy anyone. However, a pure devotee immediately becomes fiery with anger when he sees that Lord Viṣṇu or His devotee is insulted. This is the duty of a devotee. Although a devotee maintains an attitude of meekness and gentleness, it is a great fault on his part if he remains silent when the Lord or His devotee is blasphemed.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

The Lord can be pleased only by a humble attitude in the service spirit. The more we render service unto the Lord under the direction of the spiritual master, the more we make advancement on the path approaching the Lord.
Krsna Book 58:

The Lord can be pleased only by a humble attitude in the service spirit. The more we render service unto the Lord under the direction of the spiritual master, the more we make advancement on the path approaching the Lord. We cannot demand any grace or mercy from the Lord because of our service rendered to Him. He may accept or not accept our service, but the only means to satisfy the Lord is through the service attitude, and nothing else.

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Try to hear about Kṛṣṇa in meek and humble attitude.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

Try to hear about Kṛṣṇa in meek and humble attitude. Then gradually, everything will be revealed. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). By simply speculation you cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is His name, what is His form, what is His quality, what is His pastimes. We cannot. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. By these blunt senses we cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. But if you engage yourself in His transcendental loving service, beginning with the tongue, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau... So hearing by the ear and chanting by the tongue is the supreme method recommended by all authorities.

If one adopts this process, hearing from the realized soul in an attitude of humbleness, then he can conquer the ajita.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

Just become humble, namra. Jñāne prayāsaṁ namanta. Namanta means namra. Namra, offering obeisances. Just like we offer daṇḍavats. So similarly, namanta, to surrender. In a surrendering spirit, in a humble spirit, try to hear about the Supreme from the realized souls. This is the process. San-mukharitām. Not professional. One who has actually realized, from him, if you hear, meek and humble, without speculating mentally, then by this process only, one can realize the Supreme Lord very easily. Supreme Lord is called Ajita; nobody can conquer Him. But if one adopts this process, hearing from the realized soul in an attitude of humbleness, then he can conquer the ajita. He can understand. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately accepted this process, eho haya, āge kaha āra. Eho haya "This is nice."

Bhakti means serving, service. When you become in service attitude, just to serve Kṛṣṇa with humble attitude, with devotion, then Kṛṣṇa will reveal.
Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

Simply by devotional service one can understand. Bhakti means serving, service. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). When you become in service attitude, just to serve Kṛṣṇa with humble attitude, with devotion, then Kṛṣṇa will reveal. Otherwise you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. It is not possible. If you think that "I am very rich man, I can offer Kṛṣṇa so many things, nice dress, nice foodstuff. Kṛṣṇa now is within my grip." No. Kṛṣṇa is not so cheap. There also it is said that vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa because you are very learned scholar in Vedic knowledge. No. Vedeṣu durlabham, it is very difficult. But adurlabham, He is very cheap unto His devotees. He is very cheap. Like Vidura. Vidura invited Him, and Kṛṣṇa did not to go Arjuna's house..., I mean to say, Duryodhana's house, very palatial building. Vidura, a cottage, so He went there. And Vidura being in ecstasy was offering Him some banana. So he was so overpowered by ecstasy that instead of giving the fruit banana, he was giving the skin, and Kṛṣṇa was eating. So when he came to his senses he saw that "I have given only the skin, and Kṛṣṇa is eating." So this is bhakti. This is bhakti. Kṛṣṇa wants that. Kṛṣṇa can eat anything, either you give the pulp or skin, He can eat anything because He is all powerful and everything is equal to Him.

Festival Lectures

So Sanātana Gosvāmī he's approaching his spiritual master with humble attitude. Therefore he's speaking like that. "I am born of lower family. My associations are all abominable, and I am fallen."
Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami's Appearance Day -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

So these Gosvāmīs, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, they gave up their posts. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śrenīṁ sadā tucchavat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau kṛpayā kaupīna-kantāśritau. Kaupīna, the underwear, loincloth, and a torn quilt, and a kuraṅga, That was their possessions. And they used to live underneath one tree, and next day another tree. In this way, in this Vṛndāvana... First of all, Sanātana Gosvāmī came here after taking instruction from Lord Caitanya in Benares. And Madana Gopāla's temple you have seen, old. He was living there underneath a tree. There was no temple at that time. The temple was constructed later on. So this Sanātana Gosvāmī, just after giving up his ministerial post, with great difficulty, he came to Benares and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave him instruction for two months for guiding the Vaiṣṇava principles. So he's approaching his spiritual master with humble attitude. Therefore he's speaking like that. "I am born of lower family. My associations are all abominable, and I am fallen." Actually, he was minister. He was coming of a brāhmaṇa family. But these material qualifications are not sufficient to improve one's Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One must approach a bona fide spiritual master. That is being exhibited by Sanātana Gosvāmī. He's approaching the original spiritual master, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, with due humbleness. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21). Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇi śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). One must approach. Sanātana Gosvāmī's teaching us the Vaiṣṇava principle that one should approach a proper spiritual master. So he's approaching Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So one may argue that "Where is Caitanya Mahāprabhu now? Where is Kṛṣṇa now?" It doesn't matter. Kṛṣṇa's words are there. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's words are there. Instructions are there. So if we follow the direction and instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu or Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of a superior, bona fide spiritual master, then we associate with Kṛṣṇa or Caitanya Mahāprabhu without any deviation.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

But just like special respect and ordinary respect. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. This is instructed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that you should offer respect even to a person who has no respect. Amāninā mānadena. You should not expect any respect for yourself, but you should give respect to others.
Room Conversation with Pater Emmanuel (A Benedictine Monk) -- June 22, 1974, Germany:

Pater Emmanuel: (German)

German devotee: He is asking if he should not show this humility, attitude of humility, to all others.

Pater Emmanuel: Exercise upon others.

Prabhupāda: But just like special respect and ordinary respect.

Pater Emmanuel: But I think it is a very necessary, this mutual respect.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. This is instructed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that you should offer respect even to a person who has no respect. Amāninā mānadena. You should not expect any respect for yourself, but you should give respect to others.

Pater Emmanuel: I agree with all my heart.

Prabhupāda: I think those who are Christian priests, they should cooperate with this movement, chant the name of Christ or Christo and stop animal killing. This is according to Bible. This is not according to my philosophy, but their Christian philosophy. Simply let them do it and see how the situation becomes nice.

Pater Emmanuel: I am very thankful to you for this...

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

That attitude will help him. That humbleness, that "I cannot follow," that will help.
Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Yogeśvara: Professor Chenique thanks you very much for receiving him, and he says that he is...

Prabhupāda: Many thanks for his coming.

Yogeśvara: ...he is very happy to see you, and he does not have any questions. He appreciates very much the Vaiṣṇava point of view.

Prabhupāda: Take this to the daughter.

Yogeśvara: And he thinks that seeing the decline of religion in the West he says it is very important that we are pushing on this mission as we are doing.

Bhūgarbha: He doesn't think he'll be able to follow the life of the Vaiṣṇavas, because our life is too difficult.

Prabhupāda: That attitude will help him. That humbleness, that "I cannot follow," that will help.

Bhūgarbha: He says he has a tendency more of a jñānī, and his training has been according to Śaṅkarite and also Buddhist lines. But still he appreciates very much bhakti, and he is very happy to meet the devotees, and at the same time he's very depressed to meet all these intellectuals who know so many things but cannot understand anything.

Correspondence

1967 Correspondence

Please convey my thanks to Satyavrata (Moskowitz) & inform him that I've received his letter. His humble attitude is just befitting a genuine devotee.
Letter to Rayarama -- Navadvipa 27 October, 1967:

Please accept my blessings. My blessings are for you for the latest nice edition of BTG's. I am so pleased for your sincere endeavour for improving the quality & quantity of BTG. Krishna is helping you in this endeavour & he will help you more & more for your sincerity. Our circulation manager, Sriman Gargamuni, is surely taking great interest in seeling the copies. Regarding Kirtanananda's article, I do not know what he has written but I can guess that it must be polluted with impersonal poison, so for the time being you can keep this article aside. I was so glad to learn that you are acting exactly like a lion cub & I know that in the future you shall conquer ever many jackals. We have got experience in India that the jackals roar four times at night without any influence but the one roar of a lion drives away many elephants. The pressure Maya is elephant-like, big, but the roaring of Nrsimhadeva can drive away many elephants. Please convey my thanks to Satyavrata (Moskowitz) & inform him that I've received his letter. His humble attitude is just befitting a genuine devotee. I very much appreciate his devotional attitude. Hope you are well.

1968 Correspondence

Your humble attitude is very praiseworthy. You keep yourself in that very humble mentality and Krishna will be very pleased upon you.
Letter to Mahapurusa -- San Francisco 28 March, 1968:

Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your recent letter, and I am so glad to receive notes of your different Kirtana functions. So far preaching work is concerned, I am expecting both you and Janardana to be very powerful preachers in the near future. Both of you are sincere souls, sincere servitors of Lord Krishna, and He will be very kind to bestow His Blessings upon you. As you go on preaching you will become expert. In every sphere of activity the more a man becomes active, he becomes more and more expert. Your humble attitude is very praiseworthy. You keep yourself in that very humble mentality and Krishna will be very pleased upon you. All three of you are very sincere servitors, and you all should become very good preachers, Janardana, yourself, and Sivananda, so that this Krishna Consciousness movement will be spread all over the world.

Your humble attitude of service is noteworthy, and this will help you more and more in advancing your Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Krsna dasa -- Los Angeles 25 November, 1968:

Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter of Nov. 14, 1968, and I have noted the contents with great satisfaction. It is all very much encouraging to me. Your humble attitude of service is noteworthy, and this will help you more and more in advancing your Krishna Consciousness.

I thank you very much for your sincere endeavors and I am sure that Krishna will bestow upon you all blessings for your notable service attitude. This is the key to progressing in Krishna Consciousness that one learns to serve Krishna and the Spiritual Master in humble attitude and this attitude in you shall certainly bring you further and further in perfecting your life.
Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 1 December, 1968:

Please accept my blessings to yourself and to your good wife Yamuna Devi. With the greatest satisfaction I have read your letter of November 25th and just yesterday I received our published pictures of Prahlada Maharaja. I thank you very much for your sincere endeavors and I am sure that Krishna will bestow upon you all blessings for your notable service attitude. This is the key to progressing in Krishna Consciousness that one learns to serve Krishna and the Spiritual Master in humble attitude and this attitude in you shall certainly bring you further and further in perfecting your life. In humble submission the devotee finds such sweet transcendental pleasure that no more he is interested in the nonsense material world and no more he is affected by the influence of the inferior energy, the maya.

So if you try to continue in the humble attitude you have now, with little time you will have wonderful success in further developing your Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Krsna dasa -- Los Angeles 11 December, 1968:

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your very nice letter dated November 5, 1968 and I thank you very much for the kind sentiments that you have expressed therein. Because you are very nice, sincere boy so Krishna is now giving you very good facilities by which you can serve Him and at the same time perfect yourself for going back to Godhead. So if you try to continue in the humble attitude you have now, with little time you will have wonderful success in further developing your Krishna Consciousness. Actually the Krishna Consciousness is already there, but it is now covered up so we must wipe away the dirt of maya from our consciousness so the pure essence of consciousness, or love for Krishna, may once again shine forth. I am always praying to Krishna to help you more and more so if you remember to always increase your efforts to make progress in spreading this movement, then Krishna will certainly save you, rest assured.

1969 Correspondence

Your feelings of appreciation are too much kind, and I can see you are making good advancement with your humble attitude of service to the Lord and His devotees.
Letter to Himavati -- Hawaii 23 March, 1969:

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your nice letter of March 17, 1969, and I thank you very much for it. Your feelings of appreciation are too much kind, and I can see you are making good advancement with your humble attitude of service to the Lord and His devotees. This is very nice. Yes that is the way—Krishna wants to be approached through His devotee. Just like the prayers we sing—yasya prasadat bhagavata prasada.

I am always very much pleased with your humble attitude, and a Vaisnava devotee of Lord Caitanya always thinks himself as naradhama, the lowest of mankind; although he is narottama, the best of the mankind.
Letter to Krsna dasa -- Boston 25 December, 1969:

Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter dated December 17, 1969 with enclosure of $15, for which I thank you very much. You have signed your name as Krishna das naradhama, but actually, one who is Krishna das is Narottama. But a Krishna das can deliver all naradhamas. I am always very much pleased with your humble attitude, and a Vaisnava devotee of Lord Caitanya always thinks himself as naradhama, the lowest of mankind; although he is narottama, the best of the mankind.

1970 Correspondence

I am very glad to note your humble attitude, so keep this nice state of serving mood and your success is guaranteed in Krsna Consciousness.
Letter to Sri Govinda (Bob Lindberg) -- Los Angeles 23 May, 1970:

I am very glad to note your humble attitude, so keep this nice state of serving mood and your success is guaranteed in Krsna Consciousness.

1971 Correspondence

I am very pleased by your humble attitude, so if you will kindly continue to execute your devotional practices in such state of mind then you are sure to achieve perfection of Krsna consciousness very quickly as it is stated by Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His third verse of Siksastakam, "In such humble state of mind one can chant the Holy Names of the Lord all day long."
Letter to Jaya Jagadisa -- Bombay 24 April, 1971:

I have duly chanted your beads and given you the spiritual name Jaya Jagadisa Das Brahmacari. I am very pleased by your humble attitude, so if you will kindly continue to execute your devotional practices in such state of mind then you are sure to achieve perfection of Krsna consciousness very quickly as it is stated by Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His third verse of Siksastakam, "In such humble state of mind one can chant the Holy Names of the Lord all day long."

1972 Correspondence

By your quiet and humble attitude, you shall set the example of Vaisnava so that all may learn from you, and very soon their puffed-up attitude will disappear and they will come to you and seek your advice in matters.
Letter to Atreya Rsi -- Bombay 4 February, 1972:

I am very pleased that you are assisting your godbrothers so nicely. Yes, this is our real position, to be servants of the servants of the servants. And by your quiet and humble attitude, you shall set the example of Vaisnava so that all may learn from you, and very soon their puffed-up attitude will disappear and they will come to you and seek your advice in matters.

For my part, there is no question of dissatisfaction. I am very much pleased with your sincere service and humble attitude of Krishna Consciousness devotee.
Letter to Krsna dasa -- Calcutta 24 February, 1972:

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of February 11, 1972, and I am very much pleased that you are going on with your work in Krishna Consciousness despite so many obstacles which Maya has placed in your path just to try to deviate you from going back to Home, back to Godhead. So I am very glad that you are trying something there, I have heard Sweden is a very good field. So I have informed Hamsaduta that you may stay there and work for opening a branch if there is good response. And so far money and books, I have informed Karandhara what is the position and he shall be sending you some money for immediately renting one place for temple, as well as sufficient stock of literatures. Without such books and magazines, our preaching work has no authorized basis, so there must be always books. Now you develop there very nicely, it is Krishna's grace you are there, so just as you practically developed first the Hamburg center, so you will be getting the extra credit for starting Sweden branch.

I think that if you go on in this way and spend your whole time preaching and engaging others to hear you and become themselves engaged in Krishna's service, that will cure you of all misgivings and miserable conditions. Follow this simple formula of chanting regularly with full attention, reading at least one hour, and balance time preaching and speaking and managing one center, and then everything will be all right. For my part, there is no question of dissatisfaction, I am very much pleased with your sincere service and humble attitude of Krishna Consciousness devotee. And I am also aware that sometimes Hamsaduta will be very stubborn, but he is also doing something there, so why not let him go on, and you take charge of opening branches in those northern European countries like Sweden, and that will be very much appreciated by me. If you require some more help in any way, just inform and I shall do the needful, do not worry. Also, Syamasundara. is writing to Dayananda to send you books, whatever they can, from London, and they can send some men to help also if you require.

Service of Krishna's devotees is the highest stage of spiritual perfection, so your desire to render service to the other devotees is very nice. You keep this humble attitude always, and your example will be a source of spiritual inspiration for everyone.
Letter to Anuttama -- Sydney, Australia 12 April, 1972:

I am very pleased to know that you are feeling happy in your execution of devotional service. Service of Krishna's devotees is the highest stage of spiritual perfection, so your desire to render service to the other devotees is very nice. You keep this humble attitude always, and your example will be a source of spiritual inspiration for everyone.

One quality of a devotee is that he is always very much tolerant of other people, so I request you simply to tolerate the faults of others and always think that I am myself the most faulty. In this way your humble attitude will qualify you to advance very quickly in Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Jayarge, Lindon Lomese -- Los Angeles 25 May, 1972:

So far your description of events in the Seattle temple, I have informed Makhanlal what is your opinion, so do not worry. I am going to Portland on 8 June and I understand that the devotees from Seattle are coming down there to meet me so you may also come at that time. One thing, we can never expect to find any kind of utopia, even in the spiritual world. Where ever there are persons there are bound to be differences, so we should not expect any kind of perfect arrangement, especially here in the material world. Even sometimes amongst the gopis there is envy, but that enviousness is transcendental and should not be accepted in the mundane sense. Anyway one quality of a devotee is that he is always very much tolerant of other people, so I request you simply to tolerate the faults of others and always think that I am myself the most faulty. In this way your humble attitude will qualify you to advance very quickly in Krishna Consciousness.

1973 Correspondence

Even the devotee doesn't care a pinch for even Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, like that, because devotees are the most exalted personalities as the servants of Krsna, still they think themselves lower than everyone, and that humble attitude is their credit.
Letter to Hamsaduta -- Bombay 2 January, 1973:

Consider that each day shall be a new challenge for you to push on Krsna Consciousness movement within your range of managing. But I think that you are developing things nicely already, you are one of my senior disciples, and you know these things already, only you are little humble so you have said like that. Yes, even the devotee doesn't care a pinch for even Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, like that, because devotees are the most exalted personalities as the servants of Krsna, still they think themselves lower than everyone, and that humble attitude is their credit. What credit is there for someone who is himself actually lower than everyone but claims that he is better than everyone, or even he may claim that he is lower than everyone, still what is his credit? But the devotee, being the topmost grade of living entity, when he gives all credit to others and takes nothing credit for himself, that is his credit. Thank you, along with your good wife Himavati, for helping me in this way.

Your humble attitude is very much appreciated by me. Always chant Hare Krsna and as far as possible help me push on this movement by preaching this philosophy and distributing our books.
Letter to Karnamrta -- Los Angeles 3 December, 1973:

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 30, 1973 along with the Vaisnava poem.

Your humble attitude is very much appreciated by me. Always chant Hare Krsna and as far as possible help me push on this movement by preaching this philosophy and distributing our books.

1974 Correspondence

I appreciate your humble attitude, and I have a good report of your activities from Jagadisa prabhu. Please go on increasing in Krsna Consciousness and you will find all spiritual understanding and happiness not only for you, but for whomever you meet.
Letter to Brian Marvin -- Vrindaban 15 March, 1974:

The Bhagavatam we have is the same Bhagavatam. It was originally spoken in four slokas by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to Lord Brahma. All these descriptions are in my books and I request you to read them very carefully as you are a learned scholar. I appreciate your humble attitude, and I have a good report of your activities from Jagadisa prabhu. Please go on increasing in Krsna Consciousness and you will find all spiritual understanding and happiness not only for you, but for whomever you meet.

Page Title:Humble attitude
Compiler:Serene, MadhuGopaldas, Visnu Murti
Created:13 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=4, Con=2, Let=16
No. of Quotes:24