Humility and unworthiness

There is a great difference between humility and unworthiness. Let us deal first with unworthiness. When we are about to do something, certain incapacities that we are born with may make us feel unworthy. Again, unworthiness may come as a result of something undivine that we have done. But whatever the reason, he who feels unworthy of something will automatically remain far away from the world of delight.

This is a negative way of approaching the truth. But if we take the positive approach, then we feel always that we have come from God. We have to be conscious of God within us, not through the feeling of unworthiness, but through humility. If I am unworthy of my Source, then why did the Source create me? Parents bring a child into the world. Now, who is responsible for the child’s life? The parents! If the child feels that he is unworthy of his parents, it is a mistake on his part. According to their inner capacity, illumination and meditation, the parents have brought their children into the world, so the children must not feel unworthy. Only the children should be humble, because in humility there is soul’s light.

God has created us. We are God’s children. Some of us are conscious children; some are unconscious. If we have entered into the spiritual life, that means we are conscious of God’s Presence. It need not be for twenty-four hours a day, but at least for one fleeting second we are conscious of God’s Presence. We may not see God face-to-face, but His inner Presence compels us to meditate on Him. If our Source is God and He has created us, then we must not feel unworthy of Him. Only we should be humble, because it is through humility that God’s Light can be seen, felt and manifested.

The more an individual has to offer to the world, the more he feels that he has to come down to the world’s level. If he remains above, then he cannot be approached. He is like a tree that is full of fruits; therefore, its branches bend down to earth. God has everything to offer us: Peace, Light, Bliss and all divine qualities. He is all Love. When He wants to offer us His Love, He has to come down to our level. The mother is very tall and the child is very short, so when the mother wants to give something to the child, she has to bend down. If she is standing erect, she cannot give anything. She has to bend down to the level of the child’s height.

Here also, when we bend, it is not that we are offering our obeisance or our surrender to someone. It is only that we have to come down to the level of other individuals in order to become one with them. When we are humble, we become totally one with the standard of the people around us. It is not through humiliation, but through illumination, meditation, concern and divinely fulfilling compassion that we come down to their level. God does it and spiritual people also do it because that is the only way to be inseparably one with others on their own level.

Humility is always good, because in humility we consciously expand our consciousness and become one with God and with mankind. But if we have a feeling of unworthiness, then we are only going farther and farther from the Light and from the Source. Why should we feel unworthy? There is no reason. Only we have to aspire with humility. Through aspiration we will bring to the fore our own divinity. With humility we come down and with humility we can go up. Inwardly God has made us one with Him and with His creation. Outwardly also He wants us to realise everything as one, and for that what is necessary is the soul’s light. The soul’s light can be expressed only through humility, for humility has the inner capacity to identify itself with anything or anybody as its very own.

Unworthiness is a very negative thing in our life. It comes from frustration, defeat and self-imposed or self-created doubt. “I cannot do this, I cannot be so great. How can I do it?” These feelings come from doubt, fear, despair and frustration. They are all negative forces, undivine forces. We have to feel that we are worthy. Why? Because we want to be inseparably one with our dearest Father and Mother, the Lord Supreme. A child must never feel unworthy. A child should be happy and loving, and he should have implicit faith in his parents. The very fact that he has implicit faith in his parents will give him confidence and inner assurance and allow him to totally accept the light in the proper way.

By feeling unworthy we will not be able to draw God’s Compassion. It is absurd. Not even one drop more of God’s Compassion will rain down on earth if we feel that we are unworthy. Far from it. But if we are humble, if we aspire and feel that the little capacity that we have has come from God, then we can fulfil ourselves and God will be pleased. So never feel unworthy. Only feel the necessity of real humility in your life so that God can act in and through you on your own level.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Ego and self-complacency, Agni Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/esc