Humility - Key Constituent in Devotional service

When Krishna mentions about Knowledge in BG 13.8 - 12 , the first thing he mentions is humility.

"Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; ...... — all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance"

So first comes humility , then nonviolence and tolerance. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu mentions about this in his sikshastakam too. 

was trying to figure out as to how this is the edifice on which all the other services are built. The key to becoming a good devotee is to be humble. Prabhupada brought the system of calling other gentleman as Prabhus and ladies as matajis. Prabhus literally means master . You can call someone as master only when you are humble. 

Here comes the question where should we be humble only with our Guru or with all devotees. was going through vedabase (Hari Sauri Prabhus diary) and came up with some interesting conversations highlighting this aspect

Sri Dhama Mayapur

 

January 28th, 1976

* * *

After lunch this afternoon Prabhupada sat at the end of the veranda, enjoying the view of the Ganga. Suddenly loud shouts and the slam of a door broke his tranquillity. He sent me to investigate.

I found Tamal Krishna Maharaja sitting in his room before a plate of prasadam, clearly upset. He had just had an argument with Harikesa over who should get the remnants of Srila Prabhupada's prasadam. As I stood, Harikesa came back in and began berating him again.

Several days ago Tamal Krishna had asked Prabhupada if he could eat the extra that was cooked for him because he found the kind of rice the devotees eat here in Mayapur too coarse for his digestion. Prabhupada had approved.

However, Harikesa had previously received instructions from Srila Prabhupada while we were in Vrndavana that all his remnants could not be monopolized by his immediate servants, but should be distributed to other devotees. As cook, Harikesa resented Tamal Krishna's acquisition of all the leftovers; while Tamal Krishna argued that he was only taking what was left in the pots and not what was left on Prabhupada's plate. Thus the dispute. Tamal Krishna also complained that he should not have been interrupted while he was honoring prasadam.

Prabhupada called them both onto the veranda. After hearing their arguments, he managed to resolve the issue to everyone's satisfaction. Prabhupada said that Harikesa should not have interrupted Tamal Krishna while he was eating. Respecting prasadam is a very important function, and there should be no disturbance. He said that otherwise one's appetite is lost and indigestion results.

He gave his permission for Tamal Krishna to eat what was left in the pots, but also confirmed his desire that his prasadam be distributed.

He told us there is absolutely no difference between what is on the plate and what is in the pot. Whether cooked for guru or Krsna it is all prasadam and all just as spiritually potent. When I mentioned that in the Caitanya-caritamrta there was a distinction made between maha-prasadam, the remnants of the Deity offering, and maha maha-prasadam, which is the spiritual master's remnants, Prabhupada said the distinction was made for reference only. It is all prasadam.

Then he went on to explain that the Vaisnava attitude in dealing with one another is one of humility. He gave the example of the pilgrims that come here to Mayapur. As one man comes along the road, another tries to touch his feet. The former shies away from being so honored because he is thinking, "I am not a Vaisnava, I am just an ordinary man. I am simply trying my best to become a Vaisnava." On the other hand the person who is touching his feet is thinking that unless he gets the dust of a Vaisnava on his head he will not be able to advance.

"Actually," Prabhupada said, "this is a fact. One has to be blessed by a devotee to become a devotee. And he who is the servant of the servant of the servant -- one hundred times removed -- is not worse than one who directly serves the guru. If one thinks, 'Because I am direct servant, I am better than others,' then he is not a Vaisnava. To offer one's respects to Guru and not to his disciples, this is wrong. This is not Vaisnava. One has to be humble and try to serve all Vaisnavas -- not some and not others."

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => TD 1-9: Sri Dhama Mayapur

One more part of  conversation highlighting this between Srila Prabhupada and Father Emmanuel  on June 26, 1974 

German devotee: He believes that to understand God is not a question of intelligence but it is a question of humility.
Prabhupada: Yes. "The humble and meek shall go to the kingdom of God." Is it not? It is Bible statement?
Hamsaduta: "The humble and meek shall inherit the earth."
Prabhupada: So nowadays the rascal philosophy has spread that everyone is God, and therefore nobody is humble and meek. If everyone thinks that he is God, then why he should be humble and meek? So they are being educated how to become humble and meek. In the temple, to God, or to the spiritual master, the God's representative, they offer always respect by offering obeisances. That is humble and meek. They are doing very easily progress, you see, only on account of this humbleness and meekness. Even on the road, if they see me, they immediately fall down flat. Never mind there is dust. This very qualification is pushing them towards spiritual realization. In the Vedic scripture it is said,
yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah
 [SU 6.23]
Yasya... "Anyone who has got unflinching faith in God and His representative, the spiritual master, to him only, the purport of the scriptures become revealed." (German)
Pater Emmanuel: (German)
German devotee: He is asking if he should not show this humility, attitude of humility, to all others.
Pater Emmanuel: Exercise upon others.
Prabhupada: But just like special respect and ordinary respect.
Pater Emmanuel: But I think it is a very necessary, this mutual respect.
Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. This is instructed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that you should offer respect even to a person who has no respect. Amanina manadena. You should not expect any respect for yourself, but you should give respect to others.
Pater Emmanuel: I agree with all my heart.


Need to continue further deliberations on this.