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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Life-giving Love - Part 10 of 10

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The outside world thinks it is a ‘dry’ world which discards the ‘outside’.

But in reality that is the world that is full of the coolness of nectar of love.

Outside there is only bark and shell, but inside there is the sweetness of coconut-water.

That is the nectar of love which has to be milked from the Thing that is inside everything.

This is the stage of SannyAsa that the Acharya has shown to us with great compassion.