What do we define as humility? Who do we define as humble? Do we call people humble because of who they are, or what they do?
Humility is, in fact, about an attitude; it is all to do with our state of mind. It is about being open to other people’s opinions and ideas. It is about listening, and not just hearing. It is about giving regard to others in subtle ways and not to go through life like a bulldozer.
In spiritual language, humility is about being egoless… as we drop the labels of the body, our roles, performances and all those details of body consciousness, we automatically become egoless, which means humble. Becoming soul conscious is the key to humility; in soul consciousness, humility shines like the sun, humility simply comes naturally. Humility is an innate quality within the soul… one has no ego about anything because someone who has humility is simply in a state of self-respect.
When we come from a place of inner self-respect, then there is nothing to lose because we feel secure within our self, it is from this place that humility can grow. By contrast someone who is insecure will not be in their self-respect and will be using the tools of body consciousness, especially the ego, to prop themselves up. Humility is about acceptance. Accepting the other person… for what they are and also the roles that they play. Humility is not about having a hierarchy of egos and playing the game of ‘who is better than who’… the humble person has no need to play these games any more.
It is not that one has to always demonstrate being humble… in the extreme this can also be known as ‘playing the martyr’. But when one is full of all divine virtues, then one naturally becomes humble, one need not make effort, or have to prove one’s humility. In being-ness there is a natural flow of energy, it is almost as if there is no other way of being, but to be humble because it is part of our nature.
We forget that humility is one of the latent virtues and powers of the soul. There is no loss in humility, there can only be gain; actually, it is a state of power within the soul. Humility can only come from a steady and stable place of self-respect, inner soul respect really, which is based on a true knowledge and experience of the self, not as the body, but as a pure consciousness. That is who we all are in our essence, now is the time for us to live from that place of awareness of being pure consciousness.
Courtesy of itstimetomeditate.org Aruna Ladva, author of several books on self-development, is a Rajyoga meditation teacher who has taught this ancient art of meditation in many countries