Dual stages of Ego - Part 10 of 10

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It is true that even in the beginning, everything happens by God’s Grace. But during those times the JivAtmA was engaged in self-purification and for that to happen well God’s Grace helped.

But now the purification task has reasonably progressed. Now the purified antaH-karaNa (inner organ) has to reach step by step the state of experience.

‘Reach’ is really not the right thing; unusually instead of ‘reaching’, now it is ‘giving’.

As Manickavachagar said, it is a smart trading. One gives up the JIva-bhAva and receives the ‘shiva-sthiti’ (the state of being the Absolute).

But even this is only true in a poetic sense or in the sense of bhakti.

In reality, there is no JIva who receives the ‘Shiva’. JIva is gone but Shiva remains!

Bhakti has been prescribed for reaching this maturity of the vanishing of the ego.

The Acharya says, as it were, “I have prescribed SAdhanA so that you may acquire the wealth of the sextad (ShamAdi sampat) starting with Shama, the wealth of Dispassion, the wealth of Discrimination, etc. You have acquired them all. Hereafter you must learn to empty yourself. That is why Bhakti has been prescribed.”

Dual stages of Ego - Part 9 of 10

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Hereafter whatever is achieved is not to be ‘earned’ as the result of effort by the SAdhanA of the JIva, but they are the solvents of the self awarded by the Grace of God.

That is why the SAdhanA-set-of-four ends with ‘mumukShutvaM’ according to the Acharya.

So what happens thereafter is not by the sAdhaka’s effort; He has nothing to earn.

They are what he has to do to sacrifice himself. They are shravaNa (listening), manana (thinking) and nidhidhyAsana (contemplation).

When we manufacture a cracker we pack tightly a lot of explosive material inside, wrap it up by decorative paper, and make it attractive from outside.

All this is done for the final purpose of lighting up the wick and explode it so that nothing remains of that cracker.

Here also the ego inside has to be exploded so that nothing remains.

In Tamil one word for cracker is ‘vANam’. The vANaM’ (that is the ego) is elaborately prepared through a SAdhanA for the final purpose of exploding it and making it ‘NirvANa!

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 8 of 10

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The very fact of SAdhanA is for the egoistic individual self.

It is not for the Atman.

Does the Atman have to do SAdhanA to realise itself?

The Atman is actionless and it remains as it is always as Atman.

Therefore it is the individual JIva, that has to do the SAdhanA basing its actions on the ego which is the cause for its individuality.

However, after one obtains a certain success in controlling one’s senses, mind and intellect, having discarded much of those that need to be discarded, having obtained the formal teaching about the Atman to be realised, one reaches the stage of readiness for being in the only thought of

That and that is the stage when the ego joins the set of those that are to be discarded.

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 7 of 10

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All the time the efforts as well as the results are all based on the individual self.

This is an ego-based feeling, no doubt, but it is necessary to enthuse ourselves in these earlier stages.

Nothing wrong.

Not only for encouraging ourselves in the progress but also for a proper regret and due correction at times of slipping down.

Only when the individual feeling of ‘I’ is there, the thought will arise: “Oh, I have slipped down. I should correct myself and practise more carefully”.

On the other hand if we rationalize it by an incorrect use of Vedanta by saying “After all everything is false; there is no individual jIva. So where is the slip? Where is the correction?” then there will be no upward progress of spirituality.

The apex attitude of “There is no individual ‘I’ at all” is not to be imagined on the way.

If in that imagination one ignores the necessary self-effort, then there is nothing to hold you back and all the SAdhanA will go waste.

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 6 of 10

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Only when all old vAsanAs are extinguished it will go.

The extinction has to be done by means of the JIva-hood itself.

The SAdhanA-set- of- four is for that very purpose.

First the effort goes with the thought “I shall try to cultivate Discrimination”;

after some time one gets the satisfaction “I have got some Discrimination now” and then the effort continues with the thought “Now I shall try to cultivate Dispassion” and this, afterwards becomes “I have cultivated some Dispassion now”.

This goes on.

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 5 of 10

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Desirous of being totally consumed and dissolved by it, one sacrifices himself to it.

That is what is termed here as ‘higher-grade’ bhakti.

When one begins SAdhanA we keep on using the word ‘I’ in our thoughts: “I should get Release. I should reach Brahman. I should become Brahman”.

It is impossible to sacrifice that ‘I’ at that stage itself.

Even the thought of it might be scaring.

Many westerners who are strong in their intellect and courage are fearful of the thought of sacrificing the JIvahood – the feeling of an individual self – and they say: “What? Am I to sacrifice my individuality?”.

Even when one is not afraid from the very beginning itself, the JIva-hood does not disappear then and there.

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 4 of 10

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Only when the ‘I’-hood ends there is Realisation (*sAkShAt-kAraM*).

Even the word ‘Realisation’ is only a formality (*aupachArikaM*).

It is actually wrong to say ‘One realises Brahman’.

No one can do anything to Brahman.

There is no ‘sAkShAt’, no ‘karaNaM’.

Nothing can be done with Brahman.

Really what happens is, in that final state this very person (sAdhaka) vanishes.

Whoever did the SAdhanA he himself is not there at the end of the SAdhanA; only the goal remains!

It is this very phenomenon that the great Ramakrishna described as “the story of the doll of salt examining the depth of the ocean”.

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 3 of 10

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For what purpose does one begin a SAdhanA?

His goal is the thought “I should reach Brahman. I must become Brahman”.

And he continues the SAdhanA to reach that goal.

But when he reaches the goal, does the ‘I’ who started it all become the Brahman?

No. Not at all.

There is no one to claim that ‘I’ now.

There is only Brahman.

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 2 of 10

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The relationship that arises from that is not any more dualistic.

One knows that it is to become a relationship whereby the one who relates gives oneself up to the object that is admired and dissolves to the extent that there are not two now, but only one.

And then one gets the maturity to practice what one has known.

That is where Love has been termed as Bhakti by the Acharya.

If one continues in that practice, the maturity ripens further and thereafter there is only the non-dual dissolution!

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Dual stages of Ego - Part 1 of 10

“When We say ‘Love’ or ‘Relationship’ it needs two people.

Consequently it is dvaitaM.

It should not come anywhere near advaita-SAdhanA” – this might be the general understanding.

Yes, for a long time during the course of the SAdhanA it remains that way.

In other words, understanding love to be limited to just kindliness one is not supposed to bring it anywhere near actions.

But in due course of time, by the very fact that a refinement takes place by SAdhanA, one gets to know what true love is.

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Removing the conceit of Ego - Part 5 of 5

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Not only in the case of that phenomenon at the apex level.

The submissive bhakti should extend to the belief:

“Whatever I have achieved so far in SAdhanA is all the Grace of God!

What I did was effort only.

The very thought of making that effort and the continuance of that effort were all again the gift of God!”

Only by this the renunciation of egotism (conceit and pride), a property most important of all the properties to be renounced, at the time of taking SannyAsa, can materialise.

Removing the conceit of Ego - Part 4 of 5

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JnAna path has been recommended only for the top-level aspirants.

In order for him not to lose his balance by that very qualification of topness, and for his SAdhanA not to be broken by the weight of such extraneous thoughts, the submissive attitude of bhakti becomes necessary.

However much we may woo Brahman with love, unless brahman itself does the ‘revealing’ (known as ‘vivaraNaM’), there is no scope for salvation.

It is with this thought that one has to submit humbly before the ideal goal.

To obtain this submissive attitude it is only Bhakti that helps.

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Removing the conceit of Ego - Part 3 of 5

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The head swells because of the thought: “I have advanced far above the base-level and intermediate-level sAdhakas, far above the ordinary karma-bhakti path and am now advancing on the jnAna path” and this thought is the end of it all!

The Acharya has kept Bhakti in order to promote the modesty and humility that is most needed now.

The ‘I’ itself has to melt in Love to become a zero; when that is so, what to speak of any ‘weight’ of the head!

Bhakti will make him really light-headed.

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Removing the conceit of Ego - Part 2 of 5

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Right now we are talking about the commonly understood ‘egotism’ (‘aham-bhAvaM’, in Tamil).

Usually the technical shAstra literature does not make a distinction between ahamkAraM and this aham-bhAvaM’.

I am making the distinction for clarity.

Egoism is the name given to the ego’s thought of ‘I’ and egotism is the name given to the conceit and vanity of a swelled head.

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Removing the conceit of Ego - Part 1 of 5

There are two things to be avoided by a sAdhaka.

He should not turn out to be dry and lifeless.

Secondly he should not fall a prey to conceit or pride.

The ego as part of his inner organ (antaH-karaNa) has to go finally.

But that is a big task that will be achieved almost at the end.

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