We are born in this world with a
physical body and mental habits and impressions of past. We consider ourselves
unique- physically, mentally and emotionally. We identify ourselves with our
body and hence limit ourselves to our five senses, mind and intellect. We have knowledge
that we possess a soul and that soul is a part of God and that principle of God
exists in all creation around us. It is rare that we live with this
consciousness. We are encouraged from beginning to have a separate identity and
be distinct from others. So we live our
lives in a state of separation and without the perspective of unity of all
creation
A baby has no sense of self. It
responds to needs of body and actions of those near it. When we are very young,
we have a level of unity with all that
is around us. As we grow older, we become conscious of physical and mental
differences. We learn by looking at our elders and we emulate their behaviour
and pride in the self. We learn to think with pride of my body, my mind, my intellect, my education, my accomplishments, my
family, my status, my position, my power and I earn it all. Such thoughts
give rise to ego- which is sense of separate self and pride in self. As long as
we are covered with the darkness of ego, the bright light of the soul is not
visible in us. We will always be alone and unable to tap into the divine love,
wisdom, peace, bliss and balance which are the characteristics of the soul.
Living life in such darkness leads to the pain and misery that we experience
and see around us in this world.
The beauty and wisdom of God is present
in every atom of creation and the Universe. When ridden by ego, we are unable
to perceive the beauty of creation and life and grope in darkness. Full of ego
and vanity, we live our lives without any purpose except earning more wealth
and power which we leave behind ultimately. Our existence is ruled by anger, lust,
envy, violence and attachment to sense of self. Perceiving ourselves as
separate, we see all others as a threat to our existence and attack them. When
we see someone weeping, we rejoice at his misery as we are better off at that
point of time. Seeing a weak person, we hit out at him and we whimper and bend
before those who are more powerful. We are miserable at the happiness of others
and rejoice at the downfall of a mate. No pain moves us except our own. We are
exuberant at our victories over others even if it costs us dearly. It is
acceptable that we lose one eye as long as the other person loses both of his
eyes. The humane aspect of our existence dies out and only a shell of man is
left behind.
Man who has been created in the image
of God is no longer Godlike when he is ruled by ego. There is a severe danger
to human virtue, growth, progress and evolution due to ego and pride. When we
are ruled by ego, we indulge in pleasure without conscience. We could hardly be
bothered that others around us want for the basics in life – of food, clothes
and shelter. Our focus is only on ourselves and our pomp and we live without
conscience. We conduct our work and business without ethics and the growth in
science and technology is without humanity. The society regresses and the
government rules without principle and the strong seize wealth from the poor. The
priests in the temple conduct religion as sale of salvation. Self
transformation and sacrifice which are extremely essential for our journey back
to Godhead are not taught or emphasised on.
It is very difficult to get rid of ego
as we are taught to be egoistic from young age by our elders, the media and the
society. One of the easiest ways of overcoming the ego is by walking the path
of Bhakti. When we develop intense love for God and follow spiritual practices
of japa and meditation, the bhakti or love that we have for God slowly
dissolves our ego. We learn to attribute all the happenings in our lives – the
good and bad to God and not to our self or our ego. There is an intense
yearning within self to please God. So we seek out ways to do so and one of the
main ways is to weed out the negativities within us and see the Grace of God
around us at all times. When we grow to
be wholly dependent on God, our ego dissolves and we see Him within us and all
around us. Then life becomes wondrous and worth living!