(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 April 2014, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.4.49-50)
In India, in village life, some people grow up very simple. When you ask them, “How old are you?” they do not know…
Some people do not know their birthday.
“How old are you?”
“25, 26.”
“Are you 25 or are you 26? What is it?”
“25, 26.”
“What do you mean? When is your birthday?”
Silent. No answer. “Date of birth please?”
They do not know. They do not know. They do not know the date, they do not know the year. Can you imagine when you were a child and there was never, “Happy birthday…” (singing)
No “happy birthday” for them. Only Janmastami! (laughing) They never miss Janmastami. We, how many Janmastami’s have we missed but we never miss our own birthday. But they miss their own birthday and not Janmastami. So, they grow up in a totally different way; not so self-centred and not so much ego.
A lot of ego in us and then everything really becomes more important. The more ego you have, the more when somebody sneezes next to you, you go, “Aah, gosh.” It is like this. So we have a lot of ego, especially from the so-called “first world”, then you know, you have a first world passport and it makes the head a little bigger.
