Miscellaneous - Religion   

Uproot the ego

CHENNAI: Man’s bondage and its resultant miseries like old age, disease and death, and rebirth are due to his identification with the body and the mind, which are subject to change. If one constantly remembers that one is the Self (Atman), which is of the nature of consciousness and bliss, all these qualms will go away. This is possible by rooting out the ego, which gives rise to mistaken identification.

In his discourse, Sri Goda Venketeswara Sastri said Sri Ramana Maharshi used to say that when the ego was negated the bliss of the Self (Atman) would spring from within the depths of the “I” consciousness. All the other aspects of the human personality with which one had previously identified will get negated by the process of elimination when one embarks on the path of Self-enquiry to discover the true “I”. As the Self is eternal, it will remain the same always. The example of electricity can be applied to understand the nature of the Self. Electricity is the same though it manifests differently through various gadgets: as light in a bulb and as breeze in a fan. Similarly, it is the one and the same consciousness (Atman) that makes each faculty function differently: as the sense of sight in the eye and as hearing in the ear. So one must grasp the underlying “I” in all its manifestations.

One can understand that the Self is blissful from the state of sleep one experiences every day. On waking up one says that one slept peacefully and hence it is the “I”, which is the source of bliss and not any outside agency. By eliminating the ego with discrimination it is possible to experience the blissful Self. The Vivekachudamani says, “But for your identification with that egoism there can never be any transmigration for you who are immutable and eternally the same, the knowledge Absolute, omnipresent, the bliss Absolute, and of untarnished glory.”

It is metaphorically stated that the ego has to be cut with the sword of discrimination to experience the bliss of the Self. The feeling of “I” should not be consciously allowed to prevail in all thoughts and actions for it constantly asserts itself and troubles man like a thorn stuck in the throat. Total surrender to God will enable the seeker to overcome the ego.

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