Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Radhanath Swami on Shaved Head and Real Life

The devotees dress the way they do to help remind themselves of their true identity. It’s not that one has to do these external things, but those who do should be understood in proper context. For example, why do some devotees shave their heads? Shaving the head is symbolic. It represents death to the ego because beautiful hair is something that gives people beauty and prestige. In all great religions, whether Christian monks or Buddhist monks or Hindu monks or Vaishnava monks, to shave the head is an expression of the death to the ego so as to start one’s real life as a servant of God.
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30 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 29, 2011 at 3:41 AM

    Wonderful explanation.

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  2. AnonymousMarch 29, 2011 at 4:11 AM

    Thank you Radhanath Swami for the wonderful insight.

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  3. Manish AdvaniMarch 29, 2011 at 6:21 AM

    Radhanath Swami is so true

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  4. Kuldeep SoniMarch 29, 2011 at 7:07 AM

    Thank you so much for enlightening us.

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  5. Vidya PathamMarch 29, 2011 at 7:57 AM

    Thank you Radhanath Swami for giving us the essence of these external rituals.

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  6. Pradeep KumarMarch 29, 2011 at 9:20 AM

    wonderfully described on the appearance of devotee, it is also very evident that in the life of devotee everything even hair style :) is for the purpose of coming near to God in a humble mood of servant. Thanks to Radhanath Swami for describing this.

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  7. sandeepMarch 29, 2011 at 9:38 AM

    Thanks to Radhanath maharaj, Till now I did not knew why devotees shave their head.

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  8. ChandraMarch 29, 2011 at 12:17 PM

    Radhanath Swami understands the inner essence of why we do what we do.

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  9. Oksana SMarch 29, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    I often thought about the reason behind it but never asked anybody to find out. Thank you very much maharaj for explaining the meaning of shaving heads. It makes sense now.

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  10. KathiresanMarch 29, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    Thank you Maharaj for the perfect explanation.

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  11. Shoba RamachandranMarch 29, 2011 at 6:00 PM

    Thank you Maharaj for explaining us the real meaning behind how the devotees dress. This helps us to remind ourselves that we are servants of God as you said and also help others who inquire our about devotee attire.

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  12. Shyam Bihari DasMarch 29, 2011 at 6:29 PM

    This is so nicely explained, as I myself could not associate the shaving of the head to the ego. Thank you Radhanath Swami Maharaj.

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  13. RanjeetMarch 29, 2011 at 9:47 PM

    Its awesome. I have never thought in this way. Thanks a lot Maharaj for nicely explaining.
    ys
    ranjeet kumar

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  14. RenukaMarch 29, 2011 at 10:01 PM

    Everytime ,I open this site,I learn new things with wonderful and convincing explanation.Thanks Maharaj.

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  15. Vinay MalaniMarch 29, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    Shaving the head in the humble mood of surrender to God is indeed symbolic of the transformation of our consciousness to the higher level. We have much to learn & be inspired from Radhanath Swami in this regards.

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  16. Piyush SinghMarch 29, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    Thank you Radhanath Swami for sharing this somewhat unknown information.

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  17. Sumit SharmaMarch 30, 2011 at 12:14 AM

    Thakns Radhanath Swami for this great lesson. I could have never fathomed the mystery of shaved head.

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  18. Y.RajaMarch 30, 2011 at 12:52 AM

    As explained by HH Radhanath Swami, all the Devotee attires or external attributes are meant not for any show off, but to kill the ego of bodily platform and remind us our eternal service attitude.

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  19. T.Sita RamaiahMarch 30, 2011 at 1:02 AM

    "Shaving the head represents death to the ego because beautiful hair is something that gives people beauty and prestige." Thank you Maharaj for this explanation.

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  20. Milind M ChuriMarch 30, 2011 at 3:21 AM

    A very nice explaination by Radhanath Swamiji.In hindu religion some people shave their head when their dear and near one departs from this world.Actually in that helpless situation it is a indication that concern person has taken a shelter of Supreme Power.Thank you.

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  21. SunnyMarch 30, 2011 at 8:21 AM

    Another often debated topic : Every aspect in Spirituality has a external view and a deep Spiritual essence which go with it. Externality is practised to help develop the essence - however manytimes - we are too focused on externals and forget the essence or criticize the mistakes of others based on externals and not seeing their intent of cultivating the essence...thanks to Radhanath Swami for this clear understanding...

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  22. AnonymousMarch 30, 2011 at 3:58 PM

    Nice explanation.

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  23. Shra1wizMarch 30, 2011 at 8:30 PM

    This essence behind shaven heads of ISKCON monks is now only clear to me, thanks to Radhanath Swami Maharaj!

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  24. ChandrikaMarch 31, 2011 at 6:45 AM

    Thank you for this profound post.

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  25. Ravi GargMarch 31, 2011 at 11:11 AM

    Thanks for your explanation Swamiji

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  26. AnonymousApril 1, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    many thanks to Radhanath swamiji for the explaination

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  27. SRILAXMI CHHABRIAApril 5, 2011 at 3:33 AM

    THANK YOU GURUDEV !

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  28. prakash s chhabriaMay 10, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    a very satisfying and convincing explanation. thanks RADHANATH SWAMI.

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  29. Kushal Bihari DasSeptember 16, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    Thank you very much Maharaj

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  30. surekhaDecember 11, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    Thank you Radhanath swami for explaining us to understand the real concept of following anything.

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