home
Shri Datta Swami

Posted on: 17 Mar 2006

               

REMOVAL OF EGO

Several devotees are repeatedly asking Me about one point: How to remove ego towards a human incarnation? The answer for this is that if you are aware of the thief, it is sufficient and he cannot steal anything from your house. It is not necessary to kill the thief and remove him permanently. Similarly, if you are aware of jealousy and ego, the effects are nullified. If you are alert about the thief, who is closely associated with you as your relative, it is sufficient. It is not necessary to kill him or to throw him out from the house.You can keep him in your house constantly, but be alert about the enemy always. Then the thief cannot harm you in anyway. Similarly, jealousy and ego are the characteristics of Jeeva, which are called as “Matsarya and Mada”. They are very close relatives and you cannot remove them from yourself. Therefore, whenever repulsion comes towards the human incarnation, you should recognise the root of such repulsion, which is jealousy and ego.

 

When you have recognised the correct root of your repulsion, the repulsion cannot affect you. But if you are mislead, you may think that the root of repulsion is the analysis of your intellect. Then you will think that the repulsion is correct and now you are trapped by the net of those two hidden thieves called jealousy and ego. These two thieves create repulsion but do not appear as the cause of repulsion. If you identify those two thieves, then the repulsion has no strength and will subside. The repulsion will become strong when you think that the root of repulsion is your shrewd analysis. Two thieves who are present in your house as close relatives steal your money. Then they will create an impression in your mind that the money was taken by your wife for some emergent need. Now you are satisfied and do not refer the matter to your wife. You feel that the loss of money from your pocket is justified since it is properly used.

Similarly, those two thieves create hatred towards human incarnation and hide themselves. You will think that this hatred is the decision of your intelligence. Therefore, you will maintain the feeling of hatredness towards the human incarnation and feel such hatredness is the correct decision from right knowledge. If you refer to your wife, the truth will come out. Similarly, you should refer to your intelligence and analyse the whole matter carefully with the help of your intelligence. Now the truth will come out. You will realise that your relatives have stolen the money. Similarly, you will realise that ego and jealousy which are the characteristics of mind are the culprits. Now the repulsion disappears and your enemies become ineffective. An ineffective enemy is as good as a dead person and can never harm you. Therefore, do not think of removing or controlling the enemies by force. Always use the analysis called as Buddhi Yoga or Jnana Yoga to make the two thieves ineffective. Therefore, the Lord started the Gita with Buddhi Yoga or Jnana Yoga.

Diverting To The Right Direction

Mind is considered as one of the senses by the Gita (Manahshashthani…). The Veda says that the body is the chariot. Mind is the chain to control the horses. Senses are the horses. Here the horses, chains and the chariot can be treated, as one item i.e., vehicle. The body is the car. Senses are the wheels. Mind is the steering rod. Now all the three items are car only. Intelligence is the driver. The soul is the owner (Atmanam Rathinam…). The mind cannot be the driver by itself. Mind wishes (Sankalpa) and immediately thinks the reverse of it (Vikalpa). Mind can be only an instrument in the hands of intelligence. Mind can never take decision. Only intelligence concludes finally. Jealously and ego belong to the plane of mind only. Finding the truth by the analysis is the characteristic of intelligence. Therefore, you must always refer to your intelligence and analyse. Then the mind is controlled by the intelligence. The jealousy and ego become ineffective in creating the wrong direction. Now you can convert these two as your friends who will help you in your spiritual effort. You can become jealous by seeing great devotees, which will activate and hasten your spiritual effort. You can be fearless about anything since you have become the devotee of the present human incarnation. Such fearlessness and confidence is only the ego diverted in the right direction. If you expel or kill these two, you have lost the chance of getting their help in your spiritual effort. In fact these two are also created by God and every created item has positive use only. Due to your ignorance only, you are making anything negative.

Knowledge is of two types. Simply hearing the greatness and qualities of the Lord belongs to the plane of mind only and this is the religious knowledge. By such knowledge, you will develop devotion to the Lord. Such knowledge is like fertilizer to grow the plant (devotion). But doubts and repulsions caused by jealousy and ego are like insects, which attack the plant. The fertilizer cannot kill the insects. Therefore, the plant does not grow and does not become strong. When the Lord conducts tests, this plant falls on the earth by the powerful wind. If the insects are killed the plant will become a huge strong tree and will not even shake. Only pesticide can kill the insects. This pesticide is the spiritual knowledge, which alone can kill the insects. Both the fertilizer and the pesticide are chemicals. Thus, both religious and spiritual knowledge belong to Jnana Yoga only. Both should simultaneously exist as said in the Gita (Bodhayantah Parasparam, Kathayantascha…). Bodha refers to spiritual knowledge and Katha refers to religious knowledge.

When the qualities of Krishna were heard by Rukmini from sage Narada, she developed devotion by such religious knowledge. The good qualities and the beauty of the Lord are the religious knowledge, which attracted her. But she also heard that Krishna was a thief of butter and danced with Gopikas in Vrindavanam during nights. This is the bacterial insect that attacks the devotion. Sage Narada gave her the spiritual knowledge also, which killed the insect. She came to know that Gopikas were sages, who requested the Lord for liberation from all worldly bonds like money, husband etc. By stealing the butter, their bond with money was cut. By attracting their minds through dance, their bonds with their husbands were cut. Krishna never repeated this anywhere with anybody. Since, their bonds were cut, He never returned to Vrindavanam and never repeated this with the Gopikas. The Lord inside the body of Krishna is Infinite Ocean of bliss and does not require any external object for receiving happiness.

Thus, the religious knowledge belongs to the external human body only and this spiritual knowledge belongs to the eternal Lord present in the body. The external human body perishes like the shirt, but the internal Lord is eternal like the person who wears the shirt. Religious knowledge belongs to “flesh” or the human body (Manusheem Tanum…) and the spiritual knowledge belongs to “God” or the Lord who entered the human body (Asritam...). Unless you have the knowledge of both, the external and internal items, your devotion cannot be eternal. God or Lord is the name of the internal item. Jesus, Krishna etc., is the name of the external human body. These external names are given only when those bodies appeared. But the name of internal item, which is God or Lord, existed even before those bodies appeared. The name, which generated along with the generation of a human body, must end when the body perishes. But the eternal name continues forever. If this spiritual knowledge is understood, all the quarrels between all the religions will disappear.

For the generation of the devotion, the external body and its qualities are required like the fertilizer. If you put the pesticide without the fertilizer, the seed is killed without any germination. Similarly, if you develop only the spiritual knowledge without the religious knowledge, there is no devotion in your heart. The unimaginable God can never develop devotion in your mind. You cannot even think about God. You can never serve God. Therefore, the devotion can never be generated. The seed will never germinate. The Advita scholars have lots of pesticide but not even a trace of fertilizer. The seed of devotion is killed by such pesticide and therefore they can never enjoy the fruit of the tree finally. The Gita is a mixture of both fertilizer and pesticide. Upanishads are the pesticide (Nirgunam). Ramayanam, Bhagavatam etc., are the fertilizer (Sagunam). Both are equally important. Without religious knowledge, devotion can never be even generated, and without the spiritual knowledge, the devotion can never grow. Therefore, it is meaningless to think of the importance of devotion without the help of knowledge. Shankara stressed on the knowledge and Ramanuja stressed on devotion. Both are equally important and essential.

 
 whatsnewContactSearch