There are two types of respect.
- Respect that comes to you because of your position, fame or wealth. This type of respect is impermanent. It can be lost once you lose your wealth or status.
- Respect that comes because of your virtues like honesty, kindness, commitment, patience and your smile. This respect, no one can take away.
The less you are attached to your virtues, the more self respect you have. If you get attached to your virtues, you look down upon everybody else, and the virtues start diminishing. Non- attachment to virtues brings the highest self respect.
Often one confuses ego with self esteem. Ego needs the other for comparison; self esteem is just confidence in oneself. For example, a gentleman claims that he is thorough in Mathematics or Geography, this is self esteem. But to say that I know better than you, that is Ego.
Ego simply means lack of respect to the Self.
Ego upsets you very often. Self esteem is immune to getting upset by external factors. In self respect, everything is a game, winning or losing has no meaning, every step is joy, and every move is celebration.
This time all roads did not lead to Rome, but to Florence, where people from all over Italy flocked to meet Guruji. The President of Tuscany who has also done the 'Art of Living' Basic and Advanced courses, organised the program. Then Guruji arrived in Lithuania to inspire the assembly of East European teachers and an advanced course.
On His return to Bangalore, Guruji blessed 35 yuvacharyas (youth leaders) who graduated on Sunday and will be covering 236 villages spanning 4 districts under the aegis of the 5H program.