Secret Key to Perfection

Verse 3 of Sri Siksastakam
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatar of Lord Sri Krishna, appeared on this earth just 520 years ago, and displayed his pastimes as a devotee, one madly searching after Himself.
He instructed his disciples and followers to write hundreds of volumes of books on philosophy. But He Himself left only Eight Beautiful
Verses of Instruction.
Here in the blog, i present one verse per day over the next eight days. Feel free to comment on these verses. They contain the complete theory and practice of pure love for God, from the lips of Sri Krishna Caitanya, God in the role of His own devotee.

trnad api sunicena
taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniya sada harih

Translation:
When will i feel more humble than the grass?
When will i learn to be tolerant, just like a tree?
When will i not seek respect from others?
When will i offer respect to everyone?
When I can act like this, i shall constantly chant the names of Lord Hari!

Commentary:
Grass bends when you step on it, but then returns to its standing position. Real humility means to take shelter of sad-guru and never again become proud of our false self. A tree tolerates excess heat and cold, abuse and even its own destruction, without reacting or defending itself.

We wish to receive honor from others because it feeds the conceit of our false self’s importance. We judge others according to our exploitive mind, giving some respect, some indifference, and some hatred. If we see all living beings as spirit souls we can respect everyone as equal in quality.

When we acquire these qualities of humility, tolerance, detachment and respect for others, then we are free to chant the holy names of the Lord constantly.

This verse of Sri Siksastakam is said to be the "siddhi pranali mantra" -- the key to attaining a perfect spiritual body.