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| Thus awakens the awakened one |
by Swami Krishnananda
The Divine Life Society - Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India |
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| 5. SHUN THE EGO |
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- When we get irritated or annoyed in the
midst of work, for any reason, it is to be taken as a caution that our
personality has entered into it, and the ‘unselfishness’ of the work has
been adulterated with that undesirable and vitiating factor, the ego. When
the work is ‘not mine’, there is no reason for internal disturbance.
- If the hydrogen and oxygen that are in
the entire atmosphere get mixed up in the proportion of H20, what will
happen to us? And why should it not happen? Who controls the atmosphere
and prevents such a combination? What is this mystery and this
precariousness of life? Where then is the need for man to be proud of his
powers?
- It is futile on the part of a sadhaka to attempt at sense-control when he or she is in the vicinity of objects
of enjoyment. It is necessary that one should be wary of this truth of sadhana,
a truth which most people do not recognise due to vanity and foolishness.
- There are ups and downs in spiritual
life, even if one might have reached a high stage of development. The
prominent hurdles are lust and ego. There has not been one who could
overcome both these forces completely. Whatever caution we may exercise in
this regard, we will find, when the time comes, that it is insufficient.
- “Man proposes; God disposes,” says an old
adage. It does not mean that God is perpetually opposing whatever man
does. What really happens is that when man exerts through his egoism in a
manner which violates the eternal law of God, he naturally feels
frustrated, being beaten back by the law of Truth.
- It is difficult to live in society with
mental peace, because it is difficult to be charitable in nature. Charity
of things is of less consequence than possession of charitable feelings,
and resorting to charitable speech, charitable demeanour, and charitable
actions through a general charitable temperament. This is, in short, what
is called self-sacrifice, for it involves parting with some part of the
delights of the ego.
- The notion of oneself being identical
with the body is the cause of egoism. It is this egoism that entangles all
judgments of value in the preconception that knowledge is acquired through
the senses and the mind or the intellect. This prejudice of egoism is
Samsara, the persistent idea that all knowledge is in terms of space, time
and externality.
- What ‘happens’ is done by God. What is ‘initiated’
is done by the jiva. We should be able to distinguish between what
happens without our interference and what is done with it.
- One’s life-span, actions, wealth,
education and death are all determined even while in the womb of the
mother. The Omniscience of God is proof enough of the predetermination of
everything. Human effort is a part of the way in which the universal plan
works. Any egoism of man is thus sheer vanity.
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