“Swamiji, you talk about humility, but how do we cultivate it?”

Very often we see masters high up and people say “Oh, they are very high”. We are here to serve. It’s not you who are serving the Master, but the Master who is serving you, all the time. Whether you know it or you don’t know it, it’s the Master that is serving you. The Masters don’t come here for themselves. They come to lift you all up. So taking the example of the life of saints, taking the example of the life of great ones, we learn a lot; we learn how to develop selfless Love, unconditional Love and humility. People will say “Swamiji, you talk about humility, but how do we cultivate it?” It’s so simple, I tell you, really. It’s the simplest thing that you can do. Love is there, in the heart, but humility is in the mind. How will we make this mind, which is so ferocious - this big beast - how will we make this mind humble? We always say that it’s our mind, but we don’t say we are the mind, do we? Or do we say we are the mind? No! The truth

is that the mind is something apart from man. Man is the master of the mind. Man is the master of all the negative qualities that emerge from the mind, but illusion is so great that it seems that they are the master. We need to remind the mind continuously who is the master to build up humility. It’s not that I am telling you to flagellate yourself every time you have a thought, no, but flagellate the mind with the Divine Names. Always remind the mind that it’s God that does everything. He’s the cause of everything. Every thought is Him. Remind the mind continuously. Whenever the mind becomes negative, say “Mind, it’s not you, it’s only the Lord himself”. It’s only God. If God didn’t allow you to think, where would you get the power to think? In the Gita, Krishna said, “If the Lord didn’t allow the leaves to move, the leaves would not move”. Even if there was a great wind blowing, the leaves would not move. Such is the power. So if He who governs everything is inside each one of you, he’s seated in each one’s heart equally! So how can we forget about Him? So train the mind to remember that it is not this pride; it is not this big ‘I’ - which is the ego - the ‘me’, ‘myself’, you know. Transcend this pride and say “God, it’s You”, and continuously talk to Him. Whether you have an answer, whether you hear from Him or not, it doesn’t matter. Deep inside know that He’s listening. From time to time He will give you a hint. From time to time, He will give you a sign in the outside that he’s listening. Rejoice in this sign; look at this sign and say “Yes, He’s with me.” But, don’t let pride rise inside of you. If you are spiritual, on the spiritual path, and you want to realise God, let go of pride. Pride will attack everybody: whether a saint or not. Pride will be there, but the saint knows how to have pride under control, you know.  And such is this huge pride that if we let this pride control us, it will take left and right, left and right. Then, there’s no control. So when you have control over it and say “God is the Master”, Love will generate. Love will grow. And you will see that there is love that you always say with pride and then Love which will be a different kind of love that you will experience: Unconditional Love. This is the same way the Divine loves, you know? This Love you will experience, because you are part of the Divine. The Divine is seated in each one of you. So, if He can love like that, you also can love the same way. If He can live in humility: even Christ, you know, He was so humble that He even accepted the cross; Krishna was so humble as to be the charioteer of Arjun. If they are so humble, these Divine incarnations, you know, these Avatars, great Maha Avatars, who are we not to be humble? We have to be more humble than them. It’s true that they have everything, yet they’re humble!