Radhanath Swami on Greatness of Character

Who is a great person? People come to adore great people or envy great people. And people like to become great in their own way somehow or the other, but what is actual greatness? What are the actual qualities of a great soul? Is it greatness to have a lot of money? Some of the most degraded people in the world are billionaires and millionaires. We see very wealthy people are funding terrorism and cruelty to innocents. Is that great? Is greatness fame, being a good singer, being a great dancer or having a beautiful body or being very strong and athletic or being heroic? According to the universal principle of all spiritual paths, one's greatness has to be estimated by one's ability to tolerate provoking situations. It is easy to make a show of being great, but when you are challenged, when provoking situations face you, then is the actual test of the substance of your character.

Radhanath Swami on A Humbling Experience

The great problem we face in life is that we all want to be in control of our destiny, today and tomorrow. But the problem is, no one is in control. There are higher powers, dictating circumstances upon everyone; we have control over our future destiny by our activities today. That is the law of karma. But what is coming upon us is something not always under our control. Ultimately we all are being controlled by time. You loose your beauty, you loose your memory, you loose your physical capacities, does any one want to be old? But can anyone stop the process? It is a humbling experience to live in this world, because we are not the controllers.

Radhanath Swami on Relations with God

The Lord has inconceivable potencies. An ordinary man may deal in one way with one person and in a completely different way with another in order to make profit or maintain a particular friendship. Each personality of every human being has many diversifications. A police officer, when he catches a criminal, is very harsh and very severe. When he comes home to his children, he is very soft, very warm, very loving. And when he comes under the subjugation of his wife, he is like a pet dog! In this way one single man can have many, many different personality faces according to his relationships in this world. God is the supreme personality. And therefore, His inconceivable opulence is that, of all living entities, which are innumerable, He can reciprocate, can relate to each and every one of them uniquely, individually and personally. He does not have the same relationship with any two spirit souls.

Radhanath Swami on Getting Better

When we go to the hospital, as soon as we walk in, we are not free from disease. Usually after we walk in, there is more pain than before we walked in. They may cut us up, stitch us, do so many painful tests and exams. They will give us as many painkillers as we want. There is a lot of pain, many restrictions and many problems. So when we go to a hospital as a patient, expect things to get worse before they get better. Because that is the process of taking out the disease - restrictions of diet, restrictions of movements and medication. You are not even allowed out until they discharge you. Similarly spiritual life is like coming into a hospital for the heart. There are going to be a lot of difficulties that we wouldn’t have to deal with if we just remained in the diseased condition, without trying to get better.

Radhanath Swami on Tolerating Religious Differences

Everyone has their own logic, even in the circles of religion. Everyone has their scriptural quotes to show that we are the way to truth and light and there is no other way except through me. That I am the greatest, my religion is the greatest and everyone else is subordinate or evil. I am Hindu, I am a Christian, I am a Jew, I am a Zoroastrian or I am a Jain and because I am that, that is the greatest because if that is the greatest, that makes me the greatest. Look what this has done to the world. Religion is supposed to create a sense of seeing every living being with equal vision. Religion is supposed to bring about a sense of compassion and love for everyone. If you don’t love everyone you cannot love God. But religion today has the opposite effect of its purpose. It creates sectarianism, bigotry and hatred toward others. We have to learn to tolerate the envy in our heart in the name of God.

Radhanath Swami on Good Leadership

Our aspiration should be to serve. Leadership is just a very wonderful opportunity to serve. We shouldn’t be attached to be a leader; we should be attached to the service that we can render. Sometimes people strive to be a leader because they think they can really do great service to the society. And sometimes people don’t have any inclination to be a leader, but because of their selfless service others put them in the position of leadership. Yes, that often happens. Sometimes the most qualified person to be a leader doesn’t want to be a leader. Whether we are leading a family, whether we are leading in a small circle of friends, whether we are leading a business or whether we are leading an entire nation, we should all cultivate and strive to be leaders by example — by the words we speak and by the example that we live. I have even seen humble street sweepers whose character and virtues are so good that can be considered great leaders. The real thing is to lead by setting an example of high ideals and high integrity. And whether or not we come to the top of a particular field that we are working in, we can be a great leader if we live with character, integrity and devotion.

Radhanath Swami on Honor and Dishonor

To tolerate dishonor is very difficult, but it is more difficult to tolerate honor. When you become dishonored, you may become angry or you may become depressed, depending on the person and the circumstances. Some people, when they become dishonored, they might pull out a sword and call a war against theoffenders but other people might just remove themselves from society, go to a lonely placed and cry in depression. In fact, the scriptures say that for one who is honored, dishonor is worse than death. But more difficult than that is to tolerate honor, without becoming proud.