The ego alone is the obstacle. Whenever we see or think about something, the ego immediately raises a wall and hinders the right vision of that thing. Ego is an impediment to God-realisation. The reason is not that God is far away, but, because of ego the eyes remain shut. The veil is not on God, it is over one’s eyes.
One becomes an obstacle to one’s own self!
Ego Decreases, Joy Increases
Because of the ego one becomes very sorrowful. If we are experiencing sorrow then it means that we are very egotistic. As the amount of ego decreases, joy increases in that measure. There is no other direct way to increase or decrease joy.
The extent by which ego decreases, joy increases by that amount, because the energy stuck and held back in the ego becomes available for joy. In the same way, the extent by which the ego increases, corresponding amount of joy decreases because the ego consumes the energy that gives joy. It is the play of one’s energy.
There is no sin, suffering or hell like the ego. No flower of joy blossoms in the ego. There are only thorns of sorrow.
Ego Interested Only in Exhibiting
We suffer because we live in a wrong manner. All our aspirations in life are only for the ego – ‘Everyone should see me, everyone should acknowledge my presence.’ The ‘I’ gets stronger. Because of ego there remains an urge to exhibit, ‘I am rich, knowledgeable, virtuous...’. The ego constantly wants to show up!
Saints say that the garbs of the ego are nothing but deception. No matter how much you decorate yourself with it, you are still naked. Others support this falsehood by appreciating you because they expect the same from you. It is just a mutual transaction, an agreement, a bargain! Because of ego, what is there isn’t seen and what is not there is seen.
Solution is, Surrender
In a rubber stamp all the letters are inverted, but when pressed on the ink-pad and then stamped on paper they turn out upright. Likewise, everything is upside down in the intellect. When one surrenders it at the Lotus feet of the Sadguru and follows His commands wholeheartedly, the wrong in it becomes right!
The ego creates disease, and surrender cures it. Seek a Sadguru, bow down at His Lotus feet leaving aside your self-will, opinions and false insistences, and solve the problem of the ego by following His commands.
Resolving by Oneself
But the ego is afraid of taking advice. It does not like to bend. It wants to solve its own problems. Those suffering from ego do not even want to admit that there is a problem.
Even if they accept it, if possible they want to resolve it themselves using their intelligence so that they do not have to ask or tell anyone. It is like a dog trying to catch its own tail with great power, passion and vigour. Saints say there is no difference between this dog and an egoic one. No matter how much you jump, your tail jumps along with you. Your problem is a part of you itself! How can you solve the dilemma yourself? Whatever efforts you put, the ego will be mixed in that. Even in your solution, your problem will stay together.
Resolving through Scripture or Idol
When the egoic one fails in self-endeavour, he understands he needs help. So, he turns to scriptures, idols etc. He is not ready to go to a living person because there his ego has to bend. So, he tries to resolve his dilemma by turning to scriptures that are written by someone or idols that are of someone.
However, reading and interpreting the scriptures with his own imagination, intelligence, beliefs and ego, how can he get a solution? Neither scriptures nor idols can point out his flaws. For that he has to think himself, which he is unable to do. So, the ego is not destroyed by turning to scriptures or idols.
Resolving through a Specialist
When self-efforts fail, turning to scriptures and idols doesn’t help, he gets ready to go to a specialist. Even there the ego plays games! He tries to seek help from someone he doesn’t have to surrender to, but only has to pay some fees. He consults either psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, or pundits and scholars.
A psychoanalyst will do an in-depth analysis of the problem and explain, but how can the problem be solved by just this? Since there is no need for surrender, the ego doesn’t have to bend and the problem is of ego itself! The psychoanalyst becomes your servant, not your master. Only you, your ego, remain the master. In such a situation, the problem cannot end.
The Specialist is Spiritually Blind
A psychoanalyst can analyse the mind but cannot solve the problem because he himself is blind. Just as five blind men touch the elephant to get an idea of it, but because they have touched only a part of the elephant, their perception of the elephant is different from reality and from each other. One who touches the foot feels the elephant is like a pillar, one who holds the ears feels it is like a winnowing basket, and so on. Because these specialists try to understand the truth in parts, they are like the blind men. Their knowledge is fragmented. The basis of their hypothesis is their study. They neither have the spiritual vision nor inner purification. So, they cannot resolve your ego problem.
Just as people in the West go to psychoanalysts and psychiatrists to find solution, in the East people go to pundits and scholars, who have mere word knowledge, who are dry intellectuals, to understand religion. They themselves are blinded by ignorance, bewildered by attachments then how can they find a solution for you? But there’s a satisfaction in going there that you’ve turned to someone living for advice! There is the comfort of not having to surrender. So, the ego remains intact, and the problem continues.
Solution is through the Sadguru
When all efforts fail, the defeated and exhausted seeker is ready to bow down at the Lotus feet of an enlightened Master, who has constant soul awareness, whose vision has opened, whose heart is pure and who has no ego problem. Seeing Him as the embodiment of the Divine, kindling the feeling of surrendership and confessing one’s disease of ego, he shows readiness to follow every command.
Know that one cannot defeat one’s self-will without the Sadguru. By all other means, it mostly gets doubled. With this understanding and belief, a genuine seeking for the Sadguru begins. After completing the search and reaching the Sadguru, one lives in obedience through mind, speech and body. In doing so, he does not allow self-will, insistences, ego and other such mental diseases to interfere. To see God in a living person means crushing the ego! Only when the ego loses its hold the mind, speech and body act according to the Guru’s will. The end of the problem is when the hold of the ego does not remain!
The root of all problems is the ego. ‘I don’t know anything at all, and so henceforth I want to do only as the Sadguru commands.’ In that acceptance, confusions begin to dissolve and problems start getting resolved, leading to peace and tranquillity.
Authored by: Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji
One becomes an obstacle to one’s own self!
Ego Decreases, Joy Increases
Because of the ego one becomes very sorrowful. If we are experiencing sorrow then it means that we are very egotistic. As the amount of ego decreases, joy increases in that measure. There is no other direct way to increase or decrease joy.
The extent by which ego decreases, joy increases by that amount, because the energy stuck and held back in the ego becomes available for joy. In the same way, the extent by which the ego increases, corresponding amount of joy decreases because the ego consumes the energy that gives joy. It is the play of one’s energy.
There is no sin, suffering or hell like the ego. No flower of joy blossoms in the ego. There are only thorns of sorrow.
Ego Interested Only in Exhibiting
We suffer because we live in a wrong manner. All our aspirations in life are only for the ego – ‘Everyone should see me, everyone should acknowledge my presence.’ The ‘I’ gets stronger. Because of ego there remains an urge to exhibit, ‘I am rich, knowledgeable, virtuous...’. The ego constantly wants to show up!
Saints say that the garbs of the ego are nothing but deception. No matter how much you decorate yourself with it, you are still naked. Others support this falsehood by appreciating you because they expect the same from you. It is just a mutual transaction, an agreement, a bargain! Because of ego, what is there isn’t seen and what is not there is seen.
Solution is, Surrender
In a rubber stamp all the letters are inverted, but when pressed on the ink-pad and then stamped on paper they turn out upright. Likewise, everything is upside down in the intellect. When one surrenders it at the Lotus feet of the Sadguru and follows His commands wholeheartedly, the wrong in it becomes right!
The ego creates disease, and surrender cures it. Seek a Sadguru, bow down at His Lotus feet leaving aside your self-will, opinions and false insistences, and solve the problem of the ego by following His commands.
Resolving by Oneself
But the ego is afraid of taking advice. It does not like to bend. It wants to solve its own problems. Those suffering from ego do not even want to admit that there is a problem.
Even if they accept it, if possible they want to resolve it themselves using their intelligence so that they do not have to ask or tell anyone. It is like a dog trying to catch its own tail with great power, passion and vigour. Saints say there is no difference between this dog and an egoic one. No matter how much you jump, your tail jumps along with you. Your problem is a part of you itself! How can you solve the dilemma yourself? Whatever efforts you put, the ego will be mixed in that. Even in your solution, your problem will stay together.
Resolving through Scripture or Idol
When the egoic one fails in self-endeavour, he understands he needs help. So, he turns to scriptures, idols etc. He is not ready to go to a living person because there his ego has to bend. So, he tries to resolve his dilemma by turning to scriptures that are written by someone or idols that are of someone.
However, reading and interpreting the scriptures with his own imagination, intelligence, beliefs and ego, how can he get a solution? Neither scriptures nor idols can point out his flaws. For that he has to think himself, which he is unable to do. So, the ego is not destroyed by turning to scriptures or idols.
Resolving through a Specialist
When self-efforts fail, turning to scriptures and idols doesn’t help, he gets ready to go to a specialist. Even there the ego plays games! He tries to seek help from someone he doesn’t have to surrender to, but only has to pay some fees. He consults either psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, or pundits and scholars.
A psychoanalyst will do an in-depth analysis of the problem and explain, but how can the problem be solved by just this? Since there is no need for surrender, the ego doesn’t have to bend and the problem is of ego itself! The psychoanalyst becomes your servant, not your master. Only you, your ego, remain the master. In such a situation, the problem cannot end.
The Specialist is Spiritually Blind
A psychoanalyst can analyse the mind but cannot solve the problem because he himself is blind. Just as five blind men touch the elephant to get an idea of it, but because they have touched only a part of the elephant, their perception of the elephant is different from reality and from each other. One who touches the foot feels the elephant is like a pillar, one who holds the ears feels it is like a winnowing basket, and so on. Because these specialists try to understand the truth in parts, they are like the blind men. Their knowledge is fragmented. The basis of their hypothesis is their study. They neither have the spiritual vision nor inner purification. So, they cannot resolve your ego problem.
Just as people in the West go to psychoanalysts and psychiatrists to find solution, in the East people go to pundits and scholars, who have mere word knowledge, who are dry intellectuals, to understand religion. They themselves are blinded by ignorance, bewildered by attachments then how can they find a solution for you? But there’s a satisfaction in going there that you’ve turned to someone living for advice! There is the comfort of not having to surrender. So, the ego remains intact, and the problem continues.
Solution is through the Sadguru
When all efforts fail, the defeated and exhausted seeker is ready to bow down at the Lotus feet of an enlightened Master, who has constant soul awareness, whose vision has opened, whose heart is pure and who has no ego problem. Seeing Him as the embodiment of the Divine, kindling the feeling of surrendership and confessing one’s disease of ego, he shows readiness to follow every command.
Know that one cannot defeat one’s self-will without the Sadguru. By all other means, it mostly gets doubled. With this understanding and belief, a genuine seeking for the Sadguru begins. After completing the search and reaching the Sadguru, one lives in obedience through mind, speech and body. In doing so, he does not allow self-will, insistences, ego and other such mental diseases to interfere. To see God in a living person means crushing the ego! Only when the ego loses its hold the mind, speech and body act according to the Guru’s will. The end of the problem is when the hold of the ego does not remain!
The root of all problems is the ego. ‘I don’t know anything at all, and so henceforth I want to do only as the Sadguru commands.’ In that acceptance, confusions begin to dissolve and problems start getting resolved, leading to peace and tranquillity.
Authored by: Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji
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