Blessed Are the Meek
It is a common misconception that humble and meek people are weak. Just because they do not express their opinions freely or just because they admit and apologize for their shortcomings easily does not mean that they are not intelligent, talented and do not have opinions as others do. They simply choose to maintain a harmonious and peaceful atmosphere at all times. In Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I, Maharaj Charan Singh clearly explains:
Meekness and humility are essential qualities for going back to the Lord. Meekness truly means elimination of our ego, of our self-importance. This ego holds us down and does not let us merge into the Lord.
Everyone has something to be proud of. Some of us are proud of our family. We shower them with love and attention and try to provide them with the best things in life. But who can say that they have never been disappointed by their family members for one reason or another? When we grow old, we lose our physical strength and we are no longer able to help out with household tasks the way we used to. And then we find that the same children who we devoted our entire lives to have no time for us.
Some of us are proud of our beauty and fine health. But often we don’t realize that these gifts too can be taken away from us in a blink of an eye. There have been many real-life incidents where a strikingly beautiful person becomes paralyzed and disfigured in a terrible accident. Moreover, no amount of plastic surgery can save us from our internal aging process. We start to wither away slowly till death claims our physical form just like every living being on earth.
We are simply the Lord’s treasurer of a certain amount of wealth for a particular period of time. He has left all this in our trust and our duty is to look after it to the best of our ability. If we are only treasurers of this wealth, then what is there to be proud of?
Master has often given this example during his discourses: We are proud of the fact that we are the head of our family. But when we compare ourselves to our manager at work, or the CEO of our company or to the President of our country, what happens? As we compare ourselves to those with a higher status, our own status diminishes.
At the end of the day, what do we gain by being proud and arrogant? No genuine relationships can be formed with our family or friends if they sense that we look down on them. No one likes the company of a boastful person. India, during its toughest fight for freedom, chose a meek and humble person like Mahatma Gandhi as its leader. His noble views and thoughts have become an ideology and a way of life for many even today. A humble person recognizes his inner strengths, but at the same time has the confidence to recognize greatness in others. He respects knowledge and experience. If we possess the jaded attitude of “I’ve seen it all,” it is a turn-off to many and makes us feel far more important than we actually are.
Just think for a moment. While we are in this body, what are we proud of? Is it our youth? Have we not seen old age creeping up on people? Have we not seen the pitiful condition of patients in hospitals? Is it our wealth? Have we not seen rich people losing all their money? What then are we proud of?
Maharaj Charan Singh, Divine Light
It is clear how important it is to keep our ego in check at all times. This means that even for one second, we cannot let our ego creep in and give ourselves a pat on the back for the ‘good deed’ that we think we are doing. We should maintain a humble attitude in any task that we attend to. In Philosophy of the Masters, Vol. III, Maharaj Sawan Singh clearly says:
The way to God is firstly humility, secondly humility and thirdly humility.
And what a beautiful example his own disciple Maharaj Charan Singh set throughout his life when he kept addressing himself as a humble servant of the sangat. Till his very last day he worked in his office, he maintained a very humble attitude. It was on that day, that he left a note written in Urdu which read, “In service of my Guru, the perfect Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji….” These are the words which grace the very first page of Legacy of Love, a pictorial book that lovingly depicts his selfless service throughout his life.
No tree can grow except from the root on which it sprang. Through all its existence, it can only live by the life that was in the seed that gave it being. Humility is not just a virtue along with all the others; it is the root of all. Being meek and humble in the presence of the Almighty is the best attitude one can have as it allows the Creator to decide what is best for us in every aspect of our life. In Quest for Light, Maharaj Charan Singh affirms this in a letter pacifying a disciple who complains of the ups and downs in life:
Who knows? Things could have been worse. So our feeling of gratitude to him must never be lost. He alone knows what is best for us and it is for us to live within his will.