(Guru Ramana Memories & Notes) Part-2 6. EGO Mrs.D.Jinarajadasa, wife of the late President of the Theosophical Society and resident of Adayar, Madras, wanted to go to the root of the human ego, which is the cause of so much discord between nations, families and individuals. Mrs.J : What is the difference between the ego and the Self? Bhagavan : That which comes and goes, rises and sets, is born and dies is the ego. That which always abides, never changes and is devoid of qualities is the Self. Mrs.J : Can I say that God is the Flame and we are the sparks. Bhagavan : Although the spark rise from the flame, they fall away from it into space, whereas we are never outside God. Mrs.J : But is there God apart from ourselves? Naturally there must be a creator to this universe. Bhagavan : If by ourselves you mean your body, then there is a creator, but if you mean the pure Self, then there is nothing but It. If you objectify and see a universe, then you are bound to see many things beside yourself and postulate a God, the creator. Body, God and world rise and set together from, and into, the Self. If God is apart from the Self, then He would be Self-less, that is, outside existence, that is, non-existent. Mrs.J : I suppose one has to sublimate the ego-self into the true Self. Bhagavan : The ego-self does not exist at all. Mrs.J : Then why does it give so much trouble? Look at the havoc it has created among nations and people. It is dreadful even to oneself. Bhagavan : To whom is the trouble? The trouble also is imagined. Pain and pleasure are to the ego, which is itself imagined. When the ego disappears through constant enquiry into its nature, the illusion of pleasure and pain also disappears, and the Self, their source, alone remains. There is neither ego nor ignorance in Reality. Mrs.J : But how did the ego arise? Bhagavan : Ego is non-existent, otherwise you would be two instead of one- you the ego and you the Self. You are a single, indivisible whole. Enquire into yourself, and the apparent ego and ignorance will disappear. Mrs.J : Why then we need to concentrate? Bhagavan : Concentration, meditation and all spiritual practices are not performed with the object of realising the Self, because the Self is ever-present, but of realising the non-existence of ignorance. Every man admits his own existence and does not need a mirror to prove it to him. Existence is awareness, which is the negation of ignorance. Then why does a man suffer? Because he imagines himself other than what he in reality is, e.g. , The body, this, that, and the other- I am Gopal, son of Parasuram, father of Natesan, etc. In reality he is the intelligent I-am alone, stripped of qualities and superimpositions, of names and forms. Does he see his body and all these qualities, shapes and colours in dreamless sleep? Yet he does not deny that he is then himself existing even without a body. He must hold on to that existence, that lone being-kaivalya-even when he is in the waking state. The man of wisdom simply is. I-Am-That-I-Am sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up by Be still and know that I am God. What does stillness mean? Cessation of thinking, which is the universe of forms, colours, qualities, time, space, all concepts and precepts whatever. S.S.COHEN
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 02:04:09 +0000
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