Friday, September 27, 2013

Ego is worse than rust

The other day we spoke about attitude and just on that topic we can write volumes, a library full of books. I just want to say what I said on Swami's samadhi day. Life is a journey worth living. This journey is made up of people, and people are made up of attitude. Therefore life is an attitude-filled journey worth living only if it is in the absence of ego. And I think the cause of any kind of attitude points directly to the ego.

We live in this ego-state where we think that we are the only one in this universe, that everybody around us is non-existent, that this world belongs to 'me' and 'me alone'. Everybody in front of us is so small that we cannot see them. And that is a very dangerous attitude. That is the highest in the ranking of ego-attitude. Out of attitude you can make a beautiful world, out of attitude you can make a disastrous world, you can make a destructive world or a happy world. It is all based on attitude. The only reason two countries, or two people, fight is because they have the wrong attitude. And by having the wrong attitude we are full of ego.

Ego is worse than rust. It dissolves your character and creates its own character. Ego can make you somebody you are not. And by living in that ego you start to destroy, besides yourself, everybody in your path. And on this journey that I spoke about, we should be egoless. On this spiritual journey, this journey that we all so much desire to be on, we need to be egoless. We need to not worry about what other people think about us. You should worry about you and the self. Once you realise the self, you automatically become egoless, but to maintain that state of egolessness, we need to continuously know the self. And this can only be done by continuous practice. By continuous practise, instilling in the mind the will to know the self, you become egoless.

Every journey in this universe is difficult. None of you become millionaires or poor people the easy way. Even that was difficult. Becoming rich is difficult and becoming poor is also difficult. This journey is not made of easy methods. It is made of difficult methods. And our most difficult method on this journey is to neglect the physical self, and pay attention to the eternal inner self which we call atma, soul, consciousness, whatever you desire to call this state of beauty. But don't give it any name that will start up your ego. That you need to know. You should be egoless beings. That doesn't mean that tomorrow you should take your clothes off and run down the main street without ego. Ego is your character – destroy that. 'I am a principal', 'I am a guru', 'I am a spiritual master', 'I am a spiritual head', 'I am a president', 'I am a secretary' –  destroy that and just silently do the job you're supposed to do. And in doing that job silently you'll attain that beautiful state of samadhi. It is the most beautiful state on this plane. If you have experienced it, you have experienced beatitude and love. There's nothing more that you need to attain on this journey if you have attained the state of samadhi.

Many people, devotees, disciples, and people of discipline, have lost everything because of ego. Ego destroys you. Ego kills you. Ego eventually dissolves you and creates its own character which is generally hated by everyone around you. But do not portray a false senses of character. This journey is with spine – it's not a spineless journey. Many people I have known hold positions but they are spineless. You need to stand firmly in what you do and what you believe on this journey. But stand firmly without ego. Do not be friends with everybody and in that process lose the self and get caught up in this friendship or this union, togetherness, or whatever you call it. Do not get caught up in that. Just live a righteous journey, a righteous life, and  become a righteous being.

Prepare your inner, outer, entire self to attain the state of samadhi. That is a very important aspect of this journey – to attain the state of eternal bliss. I'm going to conclude by saying that life is a journey worth living. On the journey are people. Because there are people, there are attitudes. Life is an attitude-filled journey worth living egoless.

Hari Om.