Ego gives us our identity: “I am an Indian. I am a businessman. I live in Delhi.” From ego stems pride and vanity: “I am learned in the shastras and so I am superior to others.” Such aperson is vain. A true spiritualist is humble.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said that a true spiritualist is as humble as a blade of grass—no matter how many people trample it, it remains unaffected. Cultivating humility is to see the Supreme residing in each and every living entity and to treat everyone equally.
Adi Shankara, the proponent of advait Vedanta, showed his greatness when he not only admitted his mistake in having chastised a sweeper but accepted him as his guru. One day, while making his way to the Sri Vishvanatha temple at Kashi, he saw a sweeper, broom under his arm, coming from the opposite direction along the same path. Succumbing to long-standing tradition, the Brahmin in Shankara spontaneously called out to the sweeper, “Move away. Move away.” The sweeper, however, stood his ground and gently asked Shankara, “Is there difference in the space in a golden pot and the space in a mud pot? Is there difference in the one Consciousness (God) that is in the hearts of each living entity?”
Shankara understood at once that the sweeper was reminding him that within the chaste Brahmin and the sweeper resides the same Brahmn and, therefore, Shankara was, in reality, the same as him, the difference being only in outer appearance.
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