Path of Knowledge and ego
‘Intellect which becomes extrovert, no longer has awareness of the soul;
rather it becomes restricted to awareness of the body. One forgets that the nature
of the soul is spiritual knowledge and goes in search of external knowledge [objects
from the Great Illusion (Maya)], deluded by awareness of the body.’
‘Theoretical knowledge is useful if one changes one’s actions in
accordance with it and behaves lovingly with everyone. If this is not done then
that knowledge turns into ego, and troubles oneself and leads the intellect astray.
Water can be filled in a pot only when the air in it escapes. Similarly, one
can attain spiritual knowledge only when ego is eliminated. One can obtain the
spiritual experience of Brahman (God principle) which is devoid of words only
when ego about words dissolves.’
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Not
obtaining true knowledge |
| 1. |
Insignificant nature and
Self-realization: ‘Who am I?’ The peculiarity of
this question is that its answer lies within itself. The purpose
is served once one wholeheartedly and firmly answers that ‘I
am no one’. However, since the embodied soul (jîva)
is extremely materialistic and filled with ego, it does not
accept that ‘I am no one’. Till the time that the
embodied soul feels that ‘I am someone’, it possesses
at least something which belongs to itself. So long as ‘I’ and ‘mine’ remain,
one cannot attain the supreme state in Spirituality. When one
accepts that ‘I am no one’, the state of awareness
of the embodied soul is destroyed. In reality, an embodied
soul is small. However, since it does not discard this insignificant
nature, it does not attain Self-realization [the spiritual
knowledge that ‘I am Brahman (God principle)’].
Transforming the insignificant nature into Self-realization
is the mission of the Guru
principle. |
| 2. |
Elimination of ego and acquisition
of knowledge occur simultaneously: Without elimination of ‘I’ness,
one cannot obtain knowledge and after obtaining knowledge, ‘I’ ness
no longer exists. Here, what precedes the other? Both occur
simultaneously. |
| 3. |
Lord
Krushna advised His disciple,
Arjun, while teaching about the Guru principle thus, “O
Arjun, if you cannot comprehend something on earth with knowledge,
then according to the quote, ‘Forsake the codes of Righteousness
of all your senses and surrender unto Me.’ By doing so
you shall realize what is true knowledge and it will render
your path (of attaining the Final
Liberation) easy.” |
In the next Issue
we will discuss some more points regarding losses due to ego and
importance of dissolving ego to a seeker on the Path of Knowledge.
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