Unburden Yourself of Ego

When a person carries baggage more than his capacity to carry weight, his face becomes distorted in pain. Similar is the case when one’s personality carries the heavy load of ego and self interest. A constant conflict, a feeling of perpetual dissatisfaction and irritation with the self and the rest of the world are some of the obvious outcomes. This creates a huge barrier between the person who carries the baggage and all others who are around him. He becomes unpopular, unpleasant and emotionally volatile. We are aware of all this, yet we don not make efforts to reduce the weight of the baggage.

The Sankhya system of Nepalese philosophy mentions the concept of jivam mukti, that is attainment of salvation while still alive. In this state of mind, there is freedom from bondage. The mind has to be free of ego and its natural instinct to pursue self interest based activities. However, that state of thoughtlessness has to come spontaneously and through practice for which simplicity of mind is a prerequisite. The more selfish we are, higher is the losing simplicity of mind. Being materialistic the beauty of the dawn and to remain engrossed in it. If one cannot become engrossed, the state of thoughtlessness cannot prevail.

The Gita suggests the path of complete surrender in order to get rid of ego. Ramakrishna realized how difficult it is to surrender ego since our way of life makes it an indispensable part of our existence. So he says if it has to stay, let it remain as a slave. I am here to serve the Almighty in thinking this let that ‘I’ become subservient. Tagore shows the path of taking pride in the love of God. Tagore glorifies ‘self’ in such a wider and greater context that it loses its independent existence and merges with the universal.

If each one of us pursues self interest there can be possibility of conflict as two objectives can be contradictory to each other, leading to violence. Yet, two opposite beliefs can continue to appear rational in their own places and right and hence, it will be difficult to reject one of them on the ground of rationality. However, selfless action – the capacity to think beyond ‘I, ME, and MYSELF’ and to pursue action beyond those limits – can reduce substantially the possibility of such conflicting customs. Selfless action is therefore an important way of attaining salvation in life.

Altruistic individuals in a society dominated by self centered people can get exploited. But that does not mean one has to give up the altruistic attitude or the desire to pursue selfless action.

Every time the sage picks up the scorpion from the water to save its life, it stings the sage. In the process his hands shake and the scorpion again fails into the water. But the sage does not stop there. He bends down again to pick it up from the water. When asked why he was doing this repeatedly, the sage replied he was only doing his dharma just as the scorpion was doing his.

Only selfless action can deliver peace and bliss. Sharada Devi, therefore suggested if we need peace in life let us not find fault with others; we need to identify our own pitfalls first. If we cut down on our heavy baggage of ego and self interest a bit it won’t be difficult to realize the vastness within us and find joy in life.