What This Ego Is All About?
Our egos are fed from childhood. You are a rich man's
son, you have your own ego; you are an educated man's son,
you have your own ego; you are educated yourself, some more
'E' is borne to this avaricious fire of the ego. We get a
job - in this land in which it is very difficult to get a
job, it is enough of an ego fulfillment - "I have a job!"
Should we remove the Ego from us? There is no question
of dissolving the ego or removing it, because it is part
of our existence. The ego is like the engine in a motorcar.
As Master once explained very beautifully, "If I say
I can lift this, it is my ego which is speaking." So,
if the ego did not exist we could not know what we can do
or what we cannot do. In fact, we cannot know that we exist
at all. It is one of my favourite statements that instead
of saying: cogito, ergo sum, we should say: I have an ego
- therefore I am. Because even the statement that I think
- therefore I am, comes from the ego. So the ego is a very
essential thing as long as we have to continue to exist
in this body. And like all the other faculties that we have
got from nature it has to have its place in our existence,
and not more than that.
There is another thing which Babuji once said when somebody
asked him about egoism. He said: if you have ever passed,
let us say, a medical examination and you say: I am a doctor
- it is not egoism. But if you have not passed the examination
and you say you have, then it is egoism. I asked this question
when he said, that he could spin the universe like a top.
So when you can do something and you say you can do it,
there is no ego involved.
Ego is said to have been abused by all the present and
past writers. The ego gives you strength for all the work.
It points out to you that you have got the power to do a
certain thing. But we identify ego with the body, instead
of with the soul. It is the production of God which you
cannot annihilate. You should modify it.
What are the problems of Egoism? It is the problem of the motorcar
again. You know, when it is enough to have a twenty horse power motorcar
and you have a two hundred horse power motorcar, there is danger every moment
on the road. So we come back to the same principle that when there is just
enough power, correct dosage, then there is no question of egoism, there
is no question of arrogance, but if it is excessive the manifestation is
egoism. In religion there have been many ways, they have tried many ways,
of controlling the ego, like practicing humility, charity, things like that.
But generally they have all failed except to produce superficial changes.
How to deal with the Ego? I think the only proper
way is to hand it over to the Master. In the Hindu Yogic
literature there is a statement that the eye cannot see
itself, though it can see the whole universe. Similarly
we cannot deal with the ego ourselves. At the same time
the ego is very necessary because it is the thing that takes
us across life itself. So we hand it over with affection
and devotion to the Master of the ego. It is not a joke.
It is like keeping our money in the bank - our ego should
be safe but should not run away with itself. So we hand
it over to the Master.
We are here, not for our personal aggrandizement. Our growth
is for His sake, our ennoblement is for His sake, our spiritual
elevation is for His sake, and if at all we are ever going
to be divinised, that too is for His sake. So those who
will remember this and who take it to their heart, will,
I am sure; by His grace, develop very fast. Because those
who do it out of personal ego, "I want to be rishi
or I want to be a saint" well, Master will help them
too! But the first help He has to do to them is to remove
their ignorance and their arrogance from their minds.
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