I once heard Srila Prabhupada give a beautiful example from nature about humility and pride. He also wrote about this: “The example is given that a tree which is full of fruits and flowers does not stand erect in pride but instead bends downwards to show submissiveness. This is a sign of the wonderful character of great personalities.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.21.5 purport) In a lecture in San Francisco Srila Prabhupada sat upright and assumed a very stiff posture; he had one hand raised and pointing to the sky, indicating an erect tree not bearing any fruit.