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<\/center><\/p>\nBy Devaki dd<\/strong><\/p>\n A culture of respect forms the very foundation to spiritual practice. In We can observe a similar tendency when we show off and try to bring
\nour daily lives, any truly intimate relationship has to be based on deep
\nrespect. If this foundation is not there, intimacy may invite over-
\nfamiliarity which spoils any relationship. Over-familiarity means that
\nwe treat each other cheaply and take each other for granted. Thus,
\ndisrespect will infiltrate, and we may use each other for our own
\ngratification. In the purport to the Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.23.2), it is
\nstated:
\n\u201cThese are two important processes in serving the husband or the Supreme
\nPersonality of Godhead. Visrambhena means \u2018with intimacy\u2019, and gauravena
\nmeans \u2018with great reverence\u2019\u201d.
\nNot only do we find these two aspects in the husband\/wife relationship and
\nwith the Supreme Lord, but in any close relationship of intimacy and
\nconfidentiality.
\nIn modern day life we consider respect to be formality and impersonalism,
\nand we try to artificially create intimacy in a cheap way by discarding
\nrespect. We don\u2019t want to pay the price for true intimacy, which is service
\nin humility while honoring the other.
\nAnd in return we simply create over-familiarity \u2014 taking each other lightly
\nand using each other in subtle ways for our own gratification. Such
\ntendencies also infiltrate our spiritual practice and dealings within our
\ndevotee communities. For example, at times we can observe how we are losing
\nthe tradition and etiquette of rising up from our seat when a senior person
\nenters or passes by. Or, when meeting a devotee after a long time, we may
\nnot bother paying obeisances by going on our knees and lower our head to
\nthe ground, but we simply say with folded hands: \u201cOh, how nice to see you!
\nVancha kalpas!\u201d Or we may speak about a sannyasi in a very casual way,
\nreferring to him by his name, without adding the title of Swami or
\nMaharaja: \u201cDid you hear \u2014 Kadamba Kanana is coming!\u201d By doing so, we want
\nto show off how we are a confidential associate and \u2018buddies\u2019 with such a
\nhighly elevated personality and enjoy an easy-going relationship with him.
\nWe use this person for our subtle sense gratification, showing off how
\nclose we are to him. Such behavior is becoming rather common and, sadly,
\ndemonstrates a very uncultured and disrespectful attitude.<\/p>\n
\nattention to ourselves by laughing loudly, behaving in a loose and
\nfrivolous way, or for us ladies dressing in an unchaste fashion. The root
\nproblem of such inappropriate behavior is, once again, disrespect. We use
\nothers to show off, either on a gross or subtle platform.
\nIf we had genuine respect for others around us, we would not want to
\nexploit them for our subtle gratification. Then, our respect manifests in
\nour reserved behavior of not wanting to bring attention to ourselves and
\ndistract persons of the other gender from their attention towards Krishna.
\nWe don\u2019t want to disturb others\u2019 minds. It is rather subtle yet factual
\nand deep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devaki dd: A culture of respect forms the very foundation to spiritual practice. In our daily lives, any truly intimate relationship has to be based on deep respect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80543"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80546,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80543\/revisions\/80546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}