Show respect (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"show respect" |"showing respect" |"shown respect"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Actually worshipful is the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Others, they should be shown respect. But worship means for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:

Actually worshipful is the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Others, they should be shown respect. But worship means for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is worshipful. Śaraṇyam. He is to be taken shelter of; He is to be worshiped. That is being taught. That is religion. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Always thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, worshiping Him, offering Him obeisances, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The Deity room offering obeisances, worshiping, chanting, dancing, always be engaged to offer respect and submission to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the duty of everyone. Because all living entities are by constitution eternal servant. That is their healthy position. So long they remain servant of the Supreme, that is healthy.

This is another indication how superiors should be shown respect. Arjuna says, "Although they have become avaricious, still, they are my superior."

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

This is another indication how superiors should be shown respect. Arjuna says, "Although they have become avaricious, still, they are my superior." Avaricious, why? "They have got full affection for me. My grandfather Bhīṣma has got full affection for me. And Droṇācārya, I am his very dear student so he has also my very affection... good affection for me. But because Duryodhana has paid them, he has accepted their service. Paid them. So avaricious. Simply for money, in spite of so much affection and intimate relationship, they have accepted the service of Duryodhana, counting on money. So therefore they are avaricious. But in spite of their being avaricious, they are my respectful." This is respect. This is respect, that the respectful person who is my respectful, even there are some characteristics who does not command respect, still respect should be offered. This is a respectful offering.

You have to show respect to the demigods. They are officers of the Supreme Lord. An analogy is that showing respect to the constable in the street means showing respect to the government, not to that particular person.

Lecture on BG 7.18 -- New York, October 12, 1966:

So kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). So worshiping of the demigods means that gradually, when they... They will gradually develop into Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you... If one is completely disobedient, then there is no chance. So obedience is taught there. Just like a police officer, he's standing on the crossroad. As soon as he shows his hand, oh, you have to stop. You may be a millionaire; that doesn't matter. But you have to show the respect to the policeman because he's a government officer. If you don't, then you'll be fined. He's a petty officer. Your position may be very high. That doesn't matter. You have to show respect. Similarly, these demigods, they are officers of the Supreme Lord.

So showing respect to the constable in the street means showing respect to the government, not to that particular person. So these things are there in the Vedic literatures. But if you want some favors from the police officer, then you are also entangled, and that police officer is also entangled. You have to go by the rules. But one who is directly in touch of the Supreme Lord, they do not require to worship any other

We can show respect even to the insignificant ant. But we cannot accept anyone as God. Bhagavān means Kṛṣṇa, nobody else.

Lecture on BG 16.1-3 -- Hawaii, January 29, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Just become My devotee. Always think of Me." We are teaching the same thing. We have no difficulty. What we are requesting you? "You think of Kṛṣṇa. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." That's all. Where is the difficulty? We don't say, "You think of that, this of that, to this demigod, that demigod." No. We don't say. What is the use of other demigod? We show all respect to everyone, even to the ant, but that does mean that any demigod, any damn, any rascal, should be worshiped as God? No. That is not possible. We can show respect even to the insignificant ant. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. That may be another thing. But we cannot accept anyone as God. That is not possible. That is knowledge. That is knowledge. Be convinced firmly, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam: (SB 1.3.28) "Bhagavān means Kṛṣṇa, nobody else." Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). Anya-devatāḥ, accept as God, they are accepted by the rascals, hṛta-jñānāḥ, those who have lost their knowledge. They have lost their... Hṛta-jñānāḥ and naṣṭa-buddhayaḥ, those who have lost their knowledge. So don't be lost of your knowledge. Stick to Kṛṣṇa and accept His words as it is.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Bhīṣmadeva was lying on deathbed with all the Pāṇḍavas. But why Kṛṣṇa should go there? In spite of His being the Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of God, he was also going to show respect.

Lecture on SB 1.9.3 -- Los Angeles, May 17, 1973:

Just try to understand Bhagavān. Bhagavān is not so cheap that any rascal comes and he says that "I am Bhagavān. You worship me," and another rascal comes and... Not like that. Don't take it cheaply. Bhagavān is not ordinary thing. He must be complete in everything. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is mentioned here, bhagavān api. Api. Why api? In Sanskrit composition each word has meaning. Api means "Although He is Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, still, He was going to see Bhīṣmadeva." So just consider the position of Bhīṣmadeva. He was lying on deathbed with all these... Of course, the Pāṇḍavas, they were their grandson. It is their duty. But why Kṛṣṇa should go there? Therefore it is said bhagavān api: "In spite of His being the Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of God..." He was also going to show respect. How much great He was, just imagine. And all the brāhmaṇas, all the sages. That will be mentioned. There will be list of great personalities who were present.

So Bhīṣma was such a great personality. He is not ordinary man. Just like when a big person dies, all the selected person of the city, they come to offer their homage... So here he is not dead, but he is going to die. Because Bhīṣma would not die unless he desires, "Now let me die." Then he would die; otherwise not. So he was lying down on the deathbed, but was expecting to see Kṛṣṇa at the last stage. So therefore he was so great. And Kṛṣṇa was also going.

If you offer respect, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa's representative, then you'll be respectful. If you don't want to show respect to Kṛṣṇa and His representative, then you'll be derided.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Mayapur, February 18, 1976:

So if we actually want to serve according to our means, Kṛṣṇa is ready to accept our service. But you cannot think that "Without my service, Kṛṣṇa is starving." No, that is not. Nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. He's always complete in Himself. He doesn't require our help. But if we serve Kṛṣṇa, then we become benefited. That is... Yad yaj jano bhagavate vidadhīta mānam. If you offer respect, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa's representative, then you'll be respectful. If you don't want to show respect to Kṛṣṇa and His representative, then you'll be derided. Therefore prati-mukhasya yathā mukha-śrīḥ. Prati-mukhasya, original face, original person, is Kṛṣṇa. If you decorate Kṛṣṇa very nicely, then you will be also seen very much decorated. If you... Practically we see. There is no fable. We are offering Kṛṣṇa nice foodstuff, so we are eating this nice prasādam which we never conceived or dreamed, dreamt in our life. Because we are offering to Kṛṣṇa, we become so fortunate to taste this nice prasādam. Kṛṣṇa, nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. It is not that if you give a nice plate of foodstuff, Kṛṣṇa eats everything, and you simply see the empty dish. No. Kṛṣṇa eats and again keeps it as it is for... That is Kṛṣṇa. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). The atheist class of men, they think, "We offered so many things. Kṛṣṇa did not eat." No. He has eaten, but He is nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ. He is not hungry, but whatever you have offered, He has eaten.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

In the Vaiṣṇava philosophy, you should not worship any other demigods. It does not mean that you should show disrespect to demigods. But because a person is in the lower stage, if he is allowed to worship or to show respect to the demigods, he will think that he is also like Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:

Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī means neophytes, neophytes who are not conversant with the conclusion of the Vedas. They have got some, I mean to say, faith. That's all. But faith can be changed. Any... If a person, strong in arguments and strong in presenting things in jugglery of words, oh, the neophyte, his idea can be changed. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu warns, therefore, in the Vaiṣṇava philosophy that "You should not worship any other demigods." It does not mean that you should show disrespect to demigods. No. That is not. But because he is in the lower stage, if he is allowed to worship or to show respect to the demigods, he will think that he is also like Kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa is another demigod, and this Candra is another demigod, Śiva is another demigod." Just like some foolish persons, they propagate that "Whatever deity you worship, oh, that is God." Even, they say, if you worship a cat or a dog, that is also God. So therefore there is stricture. And in the Bhagavad-gītā also, mām ekam, "Simply unto Me, one," Kṛṣṇa says. Because one is a neophyte, he can be turned, his faith can be disturbed at any moment; therefore in the beginning one has to, I mean to say, pin his faith only in Kṛṣṇa, mām ekam. Otherwise, he cannot make progress. And when one understands Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9), in truth, then he can understand other things also.

We say God, "Father." If a son is sensible and grown-up, he knows that "I have got my duty: to love my father. I am just going to own the estate of father, and I am enjoying the earnings of my father. So is it not my duty to show respect to my father?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.124-125 -- New York, November 26, 1966:

So Lord Caitanya says the purpose of Veda is... Veda-śāstra kahe-'sambandha'. Sambandha. What is our relation? Our relation is, as Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So the relation with God is that we are... Everything is born out of the energy of God. So we are also born... Therefore we say God, "Father." This is accepted in every religion. There is no argument. Now, what is the relationship between father and son? Is it the relationship to exact only from father? There is no duty of the son, simply to take from father? No. There is duty. If a son is sensible and grown-up, he knows that "I have got my duty: to love my father." That is very simple thing, to love father. "Father has done so ma..., so much for me, I am just going to own the estate of father, and I am enjoying the earnings of my father. So is it not my duty to show respect to my father?"