Q. Is there an increase or decrease in one’s consciousness if he/she praises himself or herself? Is it considered self-gratification or is it an offense as a devotee to praise yourself? I know it’s not good ethics to praise yourself so much, but as a devotee, is it OK to do so?
Answer by Romapada Swami: There is a nice story of Ramanujacarya (the chief acarya of Sri sampradaya) that I would like to share in this regard.
Ramanujacarya had a wonderful disciple named Govinda and everybody used to praise him a lot and Govinda would tell them, “Oh that’s all. Can you not see anymore qualities in me? Praise me more. Praise me more.” This kept going on for sometime and soon the other disciples of Ramanujacarya started noticing this behavior of Govinda and they decided to disclose it to Ramanujacarya. Ramanujacarya told them that he will personally look into the matter. Ramanujacarya then visited Govinda and asked him, “I have heard that you are asking others to praise you. Is this true and would you like to offer an explanation of why you are doing this?” Govinda replied, “Guru Maharaja, yes it is true but when they praise me I am thinking that all those praises are for you. Because I know that all the qualities I have are only because of you. Therefore I want them to praise you more and more.”
Ramanujacarya became very happy to hear this explanation but later advised him, “it is very nice that you have this consciousness but unfortunately others who are not similarly situated will misunderstand you. Therefore please stop this.”
Most of us are not on the level of Govinda in our consciousness and therefore we must be very careful to praise ourselves. It is not an offense to speak about some quality that we have, provided we realize that the quality has actually been given by the mercy of Krsna and His loving representatives. Ultimately any quality that we have has value only if it is a spiritual in quality and one can acquire spiritual qualities only by Krsna’s mercy. The primary quality of a devotee is ‘Krsnaika saranam – Krsna is my only shelter’ and when this is there and as this deepens Krsna Himself decorates the devotees with other qualities.
In SB 5.18.12 it is said –
“All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord’s external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?”
You can read the purport by clicking on the link –
SB 5.18.12
If we don’t see the connection of our qualities with Krsna and descending mercy while speaking about ourselves, we will feel that we are actually the doers and that by our effort we have achieved them and it will lead to pride. And we all know pride cometh before the fall. Even when we receive praise from others we should never accept it towards ourselves but pass the credit on to our previous acaryas and Krsna and be grateful for Their kind mercy upon us. In this way we will be protected.
