quote on vaisnava humility

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Œr•mad Bh•gavatam 7.9.8

œr•-prahr•da uv•ca

brahm•dayah• sura-gan•• munayo 'tha siddh•h•

sattvaikat•na-gatayo vacas•m• prav•haih•

n•r•dhitum• puru-gun•air adhun•pi pipruh•

kim• tos•t•um arhati sa me harir ugra-j•teh•

SYNONYMS

œr•-prahr•dah• uv•ca — Prahl•da Mah•r•ja prayed; brahma-•dayah• —

headed by Lord Brahm•; sura-gan••h• — the inhabitants of the upper planetary

systems; munayah• — the great saintly persons; atha — as well (like the four

Kum•

ras and others); siddh•h• — who have attained perfection or full knowledge;

sattva — to spiritual existence; ekat•na-gatayah• — who have taken without

diversion to any material activities; vacas•m — of descriptions or words; prav•

haih• — by streams; na — not; •r•dhitum — to satisfy; puru-gun•aih• —

although fully qualified; adhun• — until now; api — even; pipruh• — were able;

kim — whether; tos•t•um — to become pleased; arhati — is able; sah• — He

(the Lord); me — my; harih• — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ugra-j•teh• —

who am born in an asuric family.

TRANSLATION

Prahl•da Mah•r•ja prayed: How is it possible for me, who have been born in a

family of asuras, to offer suitable prayers to satisfy the Supreme

Personality of Godhead? Even until now, all the demigods, headed by Lord

Brahm•, and all

the saintly persons, could not satisfy the Lord by streams of excellent

words, although such persons are very qualified, being in the mode of goodness.

 

Then what is to be said of me? I am not at all qualified.

PURPORT

A Vais•n•ava who is fully qualified to serve the Lord still thinks himself

extremely low while offering prayers to the Lord. For example, Kr•s•n•ad•sa

Kavir•ja Gosv•m•, the author of Caitanya-carit•mr•ta, says:

jag•i m•dh•i haite muñi se p•pis•t•ha

pur•s•era k•t•a haite muñi se laghis•t•ha

(Cc. •di 5.205)

Thus he considers himself unqualified, lower than the worms in stool, and

more sinful than Jag•i and M•dh•i. A pure Vais•n•ava actually thinks of himself

 

in this way. Similarly, although Prahl•da Mah•r•ja was a pure, exalted Vais•

n•ava, he thought himself most unqualified to offer prayers to the Supreme

Lord. Mah•jano yena gatah• sa panth•h•. Every pure Vais•n•ava should think

like this. One should not be falsely proud of his Vais•n•ava qualifications.

Œr•

Caitanya Mah•prabhu has therefore instructed us:

tr•n••d api sun•cena

taror iva sahis•n•un•

am•nin• m•nadena

k•rtan•yah• sad• harih•

[Cc. adi 17.31]

"One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind,

thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more

tolerant

than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and should be ready to offer

 

all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of

the Lord constantly." Unless one is meek and humble, to make progress in

spiritual life is very difficult.

The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup•da, Founder •c•rya of the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness