The ego is a subtle poison which fills our system without our knowledge. Only extreme devotion and the resulting grace ensure the dissolution of ego. Unless the ego is dissolved fully, it is not possible for the light of God within us to shine in its fully majesty and power. A devotee must guard himself against flattery as he can be misguided and allow his ego to grow to gigantic proportions which distances him from God. God is kind and allows us to experience this situation on a regular basis so that someday we learn how to recognize the trap of ego and overcome it once and for all.
The delusive power of God – maya- is responsible for ignorance in man. Ignorance of the reality or truth is ego. Maya can be overcome only through grace. When we work hard through our spiritual practices and extreme devotion and make ourselves receptive to the Divine Grace, we can overcome maya and the ego dissolves. The Ramacharitmanasa of Saint Tulsidas gives an incident in the life of the divine Sage Narad to show that even a great devotee like him can slip and be caught in illusion and ego and how Lord Vishnu redeemed him from this situation:
Once Sage Narad meditated on the divine form of Lord Vishnu and his tapas was very long and severe. Lord Indra, the King of Gods feared that Sage Narad would take over his seat with the accumulated merit of his tapas. So he sent Kamadev – the God of Love and Lust to disturb Sage Narad. But Sage Narad sat undisturbed in tapas as his mind was wholly focussed on the radiant form of Lord Vishnu. Lord Indra and Kamadev sought forgiveness for the disturbance and praised Sage Narad as having overcome lust. Lust is a very difficult vice to overcome as it in an inherent part of our physical body. Sage Narad became bloated with pride and his ego swelled. He felt that he was equal to Lord Shiva who had burnt Kamadev with the flames of His Third Eye. Sage Narad went to Lord Shiva and boasted about his victory. Lord Shiva smiled and advised him against boasting. That did not stop Sage Narad from going to Lord Brahma and boasting. Lord Brahma heard him out and advised him not to brag about it to Lord Vishnu . So Sage Narad went to Lord Vishnu and sang his own praises. The Lord saw that his devotee’s ego and pride were inflated and he needed to be corrected and brought back to devotion again. So the Lord made a master plan for it.
As Narad left Vaikunta and was heading for his home, he came across a kingdom where the king was planning the swayamwar or the marriage of his daughter. The princess was so beautiful that Narad instantly fell in love with her. Narad rushed back to Lord Vishnu and asked him to make him beautiful and very charming so that the princess would chose him as her husband. The Lord named many forms which were charming and Narad asked him to select any form which was pleasing to the Lord. The Lord thought of Hanuman who was a dear devotee and gave Narad a monkey face. Narad entered the hall of marriage with supreme confidence in his beauty. As he walked past, everyone laughed and sniggered at him. He thought that all were jealous of him. The princess came in and walked past Narad and went ahead to garland Lord Vishnu who had also come for the swayamwar. As Narad got up and walked to the Lord, he saw his face reflected as a monkey in the mirror! Narad was furious with the Lord and cursed the Lord that he too would suffer the pangs of pain of separation from the love of his life and in the future, he would be helped only by monkeys.
Lord Vishnu removed the illusion and Narad was shocked to see that he had actually cursed the Lord and the princess was Goddess Laxmi Herself. Narad realised that it was a master plan of the Lord to kill his ego and teach him that he was not supreme. He understood that he should not be egoistic about his achievement as all success comes from God’s Grace. He had not listened to the advice of Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma and boasted about himself. Only a person who is concerned about the welfare of another will take the trouble of giving advice. The advice may or may not be palatable but it takes a person of wisdom to pay heed to the advice and profit by it. The Lord teaches us a very important lesson – know that all achievements come from grace and we need to work hard to receive grace. Grace also blesses and protects us from ego. Let us be regular in the SitaRam Mantra japa and meditation and following the teachings of the Guru and overcome ego.
