UNDERSTANDING THE EGO

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UNDERSTANDING THE EGO

 

The body by nature is inert. It has no pain or pleasure. It feels

them only in conjunction with the Self or the Atman, which by its

very nature is free from of all changes. The Atman basically has all

the virtues of Brahman, the Supreme. However, between the two rises

the ego, which derives support from the both. It assumes the `shape'

of the body – when it says `I am beautiful', `I am worried' and so

on and on. The ego borrows its existence from the Self. So, neither

the body nor the Self has any sorrow or pain – but the one which

arises in between, namely the Ego, ahamkara or granthi, has all

the problems.

 

The ego is the thought `I am the body', `I am the mind' etc. And

what happens to the body is taken on `I'. On enquiry, the ego `I'

disappears because an illusion cannot stand enquiry. The I-ness of

the ego is only borrowed. The I-ness belongs to the truth, which we

are. When we enquire as to whom does the sorrow belongs, we find

that it belongs to the `ego-I'. And when we enquire `Who is this I?'

the `ego I' is found to be false and then one recognizes oneself to

be the Truth! Thus we see that extrovertedness is the cause of the

problem and introvertedness is the solution.

 

Dwell on `I am'— the essential truth. When the mind stays in the `I

am', we enter into a state which cannot be verbalized but can only

be realized.(Source: Books on Sri Ramana )

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.