Acharya Prashant begins by asking, "What is respect?" To understand this, he says, one must first see who the giver of respect is. We are the ones who give respect. When we ask, "What is respect?" our intention is to know whom we should respect, who is honorable for us. We often stop at the question, "Who is honorable?" but we don't complete the question by asking, "Who is honorable for me?" This is an important point because the giver of respect is 'I'. He then delves into the nature of this 'I'. This 'I' is the same self that we know from morning to evening. We know ourselves in a limited way, surrounded by thoughts and bound by identities. This 'I' is a fearful, doubtful, and worried personality. It is small, trying to become big; limited, with no knowledge of the unlimited; and bound, dreaming of freedom. This is the 'I' that asks, "What is honorable for me?" Since this 'I' is small, the world it has created for itself is also smallтАФa mental world. Whatever is in the world of the small has been chosen by the small one. Therefore, the greatest thing in the world of the small is also small. Respect, then, means the small has bowed down before something much bigger than itself. And this 'very big' thing cannot be a part of the small one's world, because everything in the small one's world is also small, chosen by the small one itself. Respect is not about honoring those with whom our identity is already tied, like a Hindu respecting Ram. This is not respect for Ram, but a roundabout way of giving respect to oneself, which is a great ego. True respect is when you encounter something that is beyond your world. The only one worthy of respect is the one who is outside your world but gives foundation to your mind. It is that which you cannot think about, but without which nothing can be thought. The experience of this is respect. When you encounter that which is worthy of respect, you will be stunned. It will feel like it is not of this world, like you have never met it before. Its presence is fresh, with a new fragrance. You will not even think whether this person or event is worthy of respect. You will just be left speechless. This is the greatest respect. But if you have to think about whether to respect someone, it is not true respect. The one who is truly worthy of respect will not care for your traditional gestures like salutations because he knows that as small as you are, so small is your salutation. He is not interested in your salutations; he has come to take you. You, on the other hand, want to get away cheaply by just joining your hands and saying thank you. This is not how it works.
