The issue of ‘modesty is good or bad,' has got mixed responses from the youngsters interviewed by Bhavini Dubey for krrisha.com this week. But, somewhere they have questioned modesty as an absolute principle—it should always prevail. That brings us to the need to know what modesty is in true sense.
Let’s get deeper
The fire has heat and light around it. The ice has numbing coldness around it. The air has its own thunder wonder! Does any of the elements show modesty? No. They manifest their real traits as a principle in place, time and space dynamics—when they are used. The fire is not manifesting it always, everywhere and every time, the water is not manifesting it always, everywhere and every time. This inherent discipline of power not to upset is called modesty. Your body is made up of these five elements and the three super elements, as described by Krishna in Discourse Seven—Bhoomi apah analah.…ahamkar… Isn’t it? Therefore, till ego you have eight elements which include your mind and intellect too. Isn’t it? Your mind manifests what it should. Your intellect does what it should and your ego too manifests itself in everything you do and think. Isn’t it? Modesty is called lajja in Sanskrit. But what keeps the fire from burning always, water from flooding the earth always, the air from thunder storming always and the space from dissolving everything always? It is called lajja—it is the natural power of discipline. But it applies only for natural preservation and when natural preservation and safety are at stake, the veil of lajja is taken off. What happens then? Every element manifests itself fully and everything else is dissolved in the wake. This is the real meaning of lajja. It is the power of discipline. Those who have read the Bhagwad Gita or are attending the introductory sessions at the Krrisha Centre are aware of the deadly form of Krishna as defined in discourse eleven. What Arjuna pleads for then? “Lord! Resume Your natural form, I am fearful.” That naked dimension of reality is covered back into the discipline of power called lajja. The Reality is there. But, it will consume all if shown to all that is why The Reality keeps Itself hidden in the power of discipline called lajja. Well, that is the absolute dimension of it.
The relative dimension
Lajja is good as long as it preserves natural balance for good. But, when the balance is upset then lajja should be dropped to reset the balance. If you don’t do it then your lajja is nothing but a cover of weakness. Imagine a girl being kidnapped by criminals and she remains modest, what will happen? You all know. What to do then? Drop the veil of lajja and fight for survival and rescue full force—it doesn’t matter whether you do or you don’t succeed. But, if you remain modest at that time, you will lose life for sure anyways. However, when you fight, you have a fair chance of rescue. I know many of you do Shakti poojas. You see Mother Goddess as a sari wearing, jewellery clad modest, charming and beautiful woman in red sari. But, when negativities assail her children, she becomes durga, she climbs up Her lion. But, when the negativities hit back, She reveals her naked form as Kali and consumes all. What does it all show? Modesty is a power of discipline, which has no meaning when naked realities challenge you. Break the discipline and prevail is the principle of lajja then. Because, the power of discipline then becomes the power of dissolution! Keep this in mind and you will never misuse or overuse modesty. Ramkrishna Paramhamsa used to say, “Lajja (Shyness) , bhay (fear) and ghrina (abhorrence) are the three obstacles to manifestation of love for God. As long as they remain, you cannot have love for God. What does it mean? It means absolute manifestation is possible only when the three go away. Here He reveals a scientific process of how misplaced lajja can degenerate your energy. Overused discipline is also degenerative. When you have misplaced lajja, your energies degenerate into fear and then into abhorrence. Abhorrence is the state of absolute non-appreciation and isolation. When you abhor everything, you cannot feel union even with your partner! Therefore, we should learn that the power of discipline is power, which converts fully into dissolving power at the right time. This is the principle. The principle should be followed in day-to-day life. Forget modesty and reveal your real self when your existence is threatened. Assert when it is required. Never ever allow yourself to be overpowered by somebody in the name of relations, sentiments and emotions. A true relationship is based on mutual appreciation of energies and not sentiments! Therefore, throw out modesty when it hampers your right responses to the situation.
Vivek Sharma
Editor-In-Chief
krrisha.com
In my view, the quality of remaining or pretending to remain moderate in situations (may be extreme also), can be called Modesty. Modesty is more of a social behavior, one can't always remain moderate especially when his/her loved ones, or in other words, near and dear get affected (effect may be positive or negative). Yes one can pretend to be modest in front of others but I believe it can't be inborn. Modesty doesn't affect anyone much, so yes it can be used to defend us;
It might though sometimes affect others but my view remains the same.
Inference: Modesty is to be moderate. It is not natural and can be used to defend ourselves.
Tanay Tripathi
What I have learned, modesty is equivalent to humility it is gained through life experiences.
It's a beautiful state of a person's elevations of his her mind so they treat everyone equal. Modesty is not an innate bhava, it is rather an attained quality. Modesty should not be thrown just to defend ourselves.
Inference: Modesty is humility. It is attained quality through life experience. It should not be thrown away to defend oneself.
Tejas Tripathi
Modesty is a virtue which facilitates the act of being and feeling grounded irrespective of one’s position in society or one’s success and failures.
Modesty is a natural trait which can be enhanced further by honest introspection and it can also be practiced after self realisation to lead a more enlightening life.
Yes we should be modest at all times. We should put our ego aside and practice modesty to be true to ourselves as well as the others around us. Modesty is a valuable trait.
Inference: Modesty is a natural trait which can be enhanced further through introspection. We should remain modest all the time.
Meghna Beri
Modesty is an act in futility. If I sell myself short because I don’t want to seem like I’m blowing my own horn or just pretending to be unassuming I’m being dishonest to my own strengths. It’s a social practice. I’d rather not be modest. I personally don’t value the virtue of modesty. Someone else might. Each is up to his own in deciding if being modest or not is worth the cause.
Inference: Modesty is a social practice. I don’t value modesty much as a virtue and chose not to remain modest to defend myself.
Namrata Chaterjee
Modesty in my opinion is synonymous with dignity. It's an innate feeling that comes with self respect and humility.
You can't throw modesty in front of people. If you are humble and command respect your modesty will show.
Inference: Modesty is an innate feeling which is synonymous to dignity. Being humble is precursor to modesty.
Shivangi Madan
Modesty is a part of mannerism, it reflects through humility and appropriate behavior. Modesty comes naturally in a person. Modesty should always be a part of one's behavior as immodest behavior is a turn off.
Inference: Modesty is a part of mannerism. A person should have modest behavior since the contrary is always a turn off.
Saransh Virendra
Modesty is a quality or behavior that may help a person to be good to him/her and to others. As it can give respect and it can earn respect as well, it's a policy to be honest. Basically I believe modesty is natural an innate gift but I also believe if someone doesn't have this naturally he/she may attain this by interacting with modest people, in that case, this may be a called a social practice!
If you are modest enough you needn't throw your modesty to defend yourself; modesty doesn't need your help, it suffices to defend you from all the obstacles.
Inference: Modesty is a social practice in the sense that it can be natural or acquired. Modesty helps you to defend yourself from all the obstacles.
Bidhan Mondal
Modesty is the quality or state of being unassuming in the estimation of one's abilities. Modesty is a social practice. One must not throw modesty in the face of a critical adviser, yes one can be tempted to do so but actively listening to her/him help's one learn a great deal about oneself.
Inference: Modesty should not be thrown away when facing a moment of criticism since the situation can help us to learn a lot.
Priyanshi Shukla
Modesty is absence of vanity on one's own ability; modesty is an expression of simplicity of a person. It is a natural quality.
If one throws modesty to defend oneself, then it is inappropriate because it is anything but modesty.
Inference: Modesty is an expression of simplicity. It should not be thrown away to defend oneself since that shows you not being naturally modest.
Atharv Patil
Compiled by Bhavini Dubey
I witness modesty as the face of a complex behavioral aspect that has a hint of deception involved in it. Modesty is an acquired trait and it is exhibited to masquerade the true face of a situation which makes modesty like a mask that tries to cover up one's real face/ intention. Modesty definitely is a social practice that doesn't want the person to realize what's behind its cover. Modesty usually surfaces up when a lie is caught or any of one's weak behavioral characteristic wants an expression because truth suffices perfectly and stands strong on its own in the simplest way. Modesty should be kept as distanced from one's thought as possible because it curbs one from connecting with the right person/ thought/ reason.
The Bhagwad Gita is the blazing book of brilliance that guides us through all circumstances and situations that we face in our life.