Fwd: Humility, Shame And Shyness

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Humility, Shame And ShynessThe Hindu monastic has special disciplines in regard to remorse. If hedoesn't, he is an impostor. If he is seen struggling to observe it andunable to accomplish it all the time, he is still a good monastic. If heshows no remorse, modesty or shame for misdeeds for long periods of time,even though he continues apparently in the performance of no misdeeds,the abbot of the monastery would know that he is suppressing manythings, living a personal life, avoiding confrontation and obscuringthat which is obvious to himself with a smile and the words, "Yes,everything is all right with me. The meditations are going fine. I getalong beautifully with all of my brothers." You would know that this is a"mission impossible," and that it is time to effect certain tests to breakup the nest of the enjoyable routine and of keeping out of everybody'sway, of not participating creatively in the entire community,

but justdoing one's job and keeping out of trouble. The test would bring him outin the open, into counseling sessions, so that he himself would see thathis clever pride had led him to a spiritual standstill. A monastery isno place to settle down and live. It is a place to be on one's toes andadvance. One must always live as if on the eve of one's departure.Another side of hri is being bashful, shy, unpretentious. The undevelopedperson and the fully developed, wise person may develop the samequalities of being bashful, shy, unpretentious cautious. In the former,these qualities are the products of ignorance produced by underexposure,and in the latter, they are the products of the wisdom or clevernessproduced by overexposure. Genuine modesty and unpretentiousness arenot what actors on the stage would portray, they are qualities that onecannot act out, qualities of the soul.Shyness used to be thought of as a

feminine quality, but not anymore,since the equality of men and women has been announced as the way thatmen and women should be. Both genders should be aggressive, forceful,to meet and deal with situations on equal terms. This is seen today inthe West, in the East, in the North and the South. This is a façade whichcovers the soul, producing stress in both men and women. A basically shyman or woman, feeling he or she has to be aggressive, works his or herway into a stressful condition. I long ago found that stress in itselfis a byproduct of not being secure in what one is doing. But this isthe world today, at this time in the Kali Yuga. If everything that ishappening were reasonable and could be easily understood, it certainlywouldn't be the Kali Yuga.If people are taught and believe that their spiritual pursuits areforemost, then, yes, they should be actively aggressive--but asactively passive and modest as well,

because of their spiritualpursuits. Obviously, if they are performing sadhanas, they willintuitively know the proper timing for each action. Remorse, or modesty,certainly does not mean one must divorce oneself from the ability tomove the forces of the external world, or be a wimpy kind of impotentperson. It does mean that there is a way of being remorseful, showingshame, being humble, of resolving situations when they do go wrong so thatyou can truly "get on with life" and not be bound by emotionally saturatedmemories of the past. Those who are bound by the past constantly rememberthe past and relive the emotions connected with it. Those who are freefrom the past remember the future and move the forces of all three worldsfor a better life for themselves and for all mankind. This is the potentVedic hri. This is true remorse, humility and modesty. This is hri,which is not a weakness but a spiritual strength. And all this is

madepractical and permanent by subconscious journaling, vasana daha tantra,which releases creative energy and does not inhibit it.

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