2  The Ego TC  "2  The Ego" \l 1

The ego started from that fine current at the superconscious level, and as it became more and more gross it became more and more individualized, and that is what we call the human responsibility—that is what we call the human ego. Man does not possess an ego, he is the ego.

When we get immersed in this ego, we become self-centered and start believing that the whole world revolves around us. We believe that we are the center of the universe and everyone must pay attention to us.

Stop being self-centered, rather be centered in the Self.

When a person says that he needs no outside assistance, it is not the true Self that says it, but the ego-self. The ego self assumes a self-importance that, “I am it all, and nothing is greater than me,” and when the ego self thinks that it is self-sufficient, then no progress is ever made.

The truth is this: what we assume to be real is false. Now, with the acceptance of this factor, that “my conditioned mind is small and insignificant,” immediately, as that realization dawns, we develop humility, and surrender to a greater power takes place. We stop boasting that “I” can do everything and start questioning, “Who really is the doer?” This is where the inquiry starts, and where the question, “Who am I?” really begins to have some significance.

Ego is a very tricky thing!

A self-centered ego, or the ego that turns inward to itself yet not beyond itself, is caught up in the web of its own undoing. It is like the silkworm, who spins until it gets caught up in its own silk and cannot escape. What is the solution? All the impressions gained, in what is termed the ego, are binding. They are binding one to a certain pattern of action. The mind is ego and ego is patterned. We have to unpattern the mind or unpattern the ego, not destroy it. If the ego is annihilated, then you cannot exist.

What we require is the expansion of the ego. When expanded in the proper way, the ego becomes entirely transparent and the full force of reality, the full force of the light, shines through.

There is a quality within us which is changeless and eternal. In the preservation of our small ego, we are annihilating Divinity. That is what we do! We become oblivious of Divinity; yet without that Divinity, we cannot even lift a finger.

The ego is nothing but a totality of impressions that have come together, not only in this lifetime, but through many lifetimes.

Remember that the ego, in itself, is not bad. The ego is the grosser aspect; yet it also has a finer aspect. So, coming to terms with the ego, by itself, for itself, with itself, means that you use the subtler aspect to overcome the grosser aspects of the ego. Now, the subtler aspect of the ego can be equated with smooth silk, and the grosser aspects with very coarse cloth.

The ego cannot exist by itself. The ego is not self-luminous. The ego borrows light. It lives on borrowed glory, and therefore deludes itself into thinking that it can find permanency in time and space. Now, what do we do about the ego? I am going to put forth to you a totally new proposition. Philosophies tell you, annihilate the ego, and when it is destroyed then your real Self will shine out. Destroy the small “I” and the big “I” is there. That is a fallacy. I say, do not destroy the ego, preserve the ego and yet find that which is ego-less.

We cannot annihilate the ego; it is indestructible. However, we can expand it, like a piece of rubber that can be stretched until it becomes transparent. If it is unstretched it is opaque and light cannot shine through. But when sufficiently stretched, it assumes a clarity whereby the full light of the kingdom of heaven within shines through the individual self. The window is spotless and the light shines through in full force. The light is so powerful that the glass is not even noticed, and yet it still exists. Living as an individual being, one can find within himself the real “I,” the real kingdom of heaven, and although having individual limitations, can live in that silence, peace, and joy of the universe.

We are all little egos. We are all bundles of impressions created over so many lifetimes. These impressions are there and they cannot be annihilated. They are eternal, they have to exist. Every thought is eternal, and cannot be destroyed. The vibrations set up by that thought go on and on through eternity. So what one must do is expand the ego.

Our actions are contracting the ego. We are taking all these experiences of millions of years and contracting them, compacting them. By the act of compacting them we are combining one impression with another. A great amount of permutations take place, through which new impressions are created. And that is how the ego assumes greater and greater importance.

It is the preservation of the ego-self that brings about all unhappiness.

The basic element of conscience is goodness; but that goodness has the overriding factor of man’s ego. When man’s ego steps in, conscience becomes covered with dust. Spiritual practices remove that dust.

Are we prepared to risk our little ego, that wants us to cling to life? There is nothing wrong with clinging to life, because everything is life. But what is our understanding of life? That is the question. Does life mean the conditionings of which our mind is a product? Does life mean the mundane things to which we attach so much importance? Is this really life? Is that really living?

That which binds us is nothing but our own egos. It is the ego that has the perception of time and space. It is the ego that has the perception of all sufferings. All our actions are nothing but feeding the ego for its self-preservation. The ego wants to cling to life because it things that this time and space is permanent. There is the illusion: thinking that by preserving the ego one has found the secret of preserving time and space according to one’s selfish need.

When one decides to himself, I do not need to preserve the idea of myself, then he finds freedom.

This universe cannot exist without ego, for the universe itself is an ego. As you progress, that ego becomes just an idea, a thought form in its finest state. Then one transcends that thought form and one realizes in the impersonal state that, “Oh, dear me, it was only a thought!” All disappears, for then you, the individual, have merged into the impersonal and there is no ego left. For in the first place, the ego was only a thought, only a dream. But we who are in the relative have a battle with the ego and cannot deny it. Therefore we accept it, and it is the very acceptance of the ego that can lead us further on in the expansion of the ego.

The word idea contains “I,” that small, insignificant, dream-like “I” which thinks everything is real. If the human being could only realize that the thoughts of his mind are just conditionings of his mind!

To recognize the ego, one has to go beyond the ego to be able to observe it.

The ego is the sum total of an individual’s personality as it is expressed here and now.

In self-forgetfulness, we do not forget the ego. We know that as long as a person is embodied, there will always remain a trace of ego. But we realize that, “Although I have this ego, I am busy refining it.”

You do not need to recognize the ego to go beyond it. That would be a mental process, and the mind itself is ego; here is the ego trying to find the ego. It is like saying you will see your own eyes. You cannot. You need a mirror.

Through many ways, depending on our own temperaments, we try to subdue the small “I.” With the mind we use devotion and good living, and this will help to a certain extent, but it backed up by spiritual practices and meditation, the thinking will become more powerful and devotion will become more powerful and sincere.

Meditation teaches us to be apart from the ego, and to view the ego objectively. The flux of the world is also something objective. It depends upon us—our perspective and how we view it. When we have the inner strength created by meditational practices, then we see the true value of the ego first. And then we go beyond praise and blame, pleasure and pain.