A person who finds inner peace and inner happiness is unaffected by the constant onslaught of happiness and distress, honor and dishonor, pleasure and pain, success and failure, diseases… these are constantly coming like a flowing river. Sometimes the river is wide, sometimes the river is dry, but the ocean is not affected by the power of its own depth and volume of water. Similarly, when the ocean of happiness awakens in our heart, then whatever may come in this world is not really very significant. It is only due to forgetfulness of God that things in this world are disturbing or apparently enticing.

- Radhanath Swami

How do we become strong? One way is by lifting weights. Lifting weights means to struggle against a force. Gravity is pulling the weights down, and we are trying to pull them up. It’s a struggle, it’s a strain. Similarly, the law of nature in this material world is to make everybody proud, to infatuate everyone’s ego. Even a pauper is proud of his penny. The rich people are putting better diamond jewelry than the other rich people, and the poor people are sleeping over better rags than other poor people do. Everyone is competing against peers to get a more prestigious position. Everyone wants honor and respect. It is the nature of illusion to pull our consciousness down to the egoistic platform. But our goal is different.

We have to struggle against the tendency of egoism, of exploitation, and we have to take the position of being a humble person; not to exploit but to serve, not to seek respect but to give respect. If we just try our best, God will give us the power to succeed. Then we can experience the ultimate treasure of true spiritual humility, and in that humility, we can understand the greatness and glory of Supreme Lord; in that comes the ultimate bliss.

- Radhanath Swami