Verse 1
In the first of his Teachings for the mind, Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī instructs us to give up our pride.
Giving up our pride is a special kind of surrender. In the West we are taught the importance of pride. We are taught that in order to be successful in life we must take pleasure in ourselves, be satisfied with our selves. Those who succeed, we are raised to understand, are those who have esteem for themselves, those who value themselves, who find satisfaction in themselves, those who are able to care for themselves and, ultimately, love themselves.
Self-pleasure, self-satisfaction, self-care, self-love: these are all precious qualities. Why then do the the saint admonish us to surrender them?
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