When the feeling of doership vanishes, ego fleds.  Ego is synonymous with ahankar.  Shankacharya says, “So long as there is any connection of oneself with the wicked Ahamkara (ego-sense), there cannot be any talk, even in the least, of liberation which is unique.” We always feel that either we are the doer or the receiver i.e. karta or bhokta.   But through meditation, self-study and sitting in the company of the learned, we realize that we are but agents of the greater self. When we do not see the world through the ‘I’ and all beings become just manifestations of the divine self, the ego vanishes and realization sets in.

Attachment is one of the reasons for ego. I and mine are the most dangerous things and should be shunned like poison. Even a spiritually advanced man such as Raja Bharat got attached to a deer and had to be born as a deer and could continue his spiritual practices only after this life as a deer was over and he got human life again. Because we identify with our bodies, we run after sense pleasures and  are forever gratifying our mind and body. We want to keep our body and the things possessed by it secure and we care a hoot about others. The ego makes us totally selfish.

The saints keep advising us to kill the mind, which is the source of the ego. But the mind refuses to get killed. It stops us from meditating and always pushes us towards sloth and comfort. Its tamasic nature does not allow us to move to towards satogun. This ego keeps us in a false world of our own, which encourages us to enjoy life. But as soon as misfortune strikes, our façade is broken and we realize how vulnerable we are! Then we realize that this ego has literally taken us on a ride and we are ultimately the losers.

The key to annihilating the ego is to control the mind. That is the most difficult thing for man. Once the mind is controlled, we move away from the senses and get established in the real self. We do not hanker after food and other bodily pleasures. As long as there is ignorance, ego will remain. The day wisdom dawns, ego cannot stay in one’s mind.

The ego diverts us from our own self. Once we start observing our ego, we realize how foolishly we behave. Then we start cautioning our mind and ego and teach them to practice restraint while dealing with others. Once you start observing your thoughts and actions, you start thinking positively and weed out negativities. This makes you more creative and you start moving towards perfection.

Eckhart Tolle speaks of the woman who blamed her nurse for stealing her ring and fires her in the book,’The Good Earth’. Later, she realizes that she actually has not lost much since she was already sick and dying and would not be needing her possessions much longer. This thought made her start giving away her other possessions. One version also says that she called the nurse and apologized to her and gave her some gifts as well. In this case, the woman shed off her ego when she realized that it made no difference to her real self whether she had ornaments or not. It was only the mind which wanted her to adorn her body with ornaments due to her ego. After her death, the ring was found in her medicine cabinet.

The ego always tries to find proof of its own superiority. But once you realize who the real ‘I’ is, you are not limited to your individual body and mind but become a part of the whole universe and you find the ‘I’ encompassing all humanity and all beings and you can, at the same time, find the entire universe merged within your self.

“In the stillness of the night, the Goddess whispers. In the brightness of the day, dear God roars. Life pulses, mind imagines, emotions wave, thoughts wander. What are all these but the endless movements of One Taste, forever at play with its own gestures, whispering quietly to all who would listen: is this not you yourself? When the thunder roars, do you not hear your Self? When the lightning cracks, do you not see your Self? When clouds float quietly across the sky, is this not your very own limitless Being, waving back at you?” - Ken Wilber.

Once realization comes that you are but a part of the whole Consciousness, albeit a small part, but that  when the time comes, you will also merge with the Absolute, there is no chance of the ego remaining with you.

Seema Mishra