Q: You say that your use of the term 'ego' is synonymous to Freud's usage but not the same. Please explain.
I am no expert on Freud. He studied many mentally ill people and formed conclusions that he then applied to everyone. His theories have misled a lot of people. I wish he had studied sane and enlightened people to arrive at a balance instead of basing conclusions upon disturbed individuals. It is now known that psychiatrists are probably among the most mentally disturbed people. Psychiatrists need psychiatrists to help them.
Freud and his contemporary, Carl Jung, talk about id, ego and superego. Originally these were referred to as 'It,' 'I' and the 'Over-I' in German. These words 'id' and 'ego' are not Freud's words. They are the words of translators.
According to Freud, 'id' or 'It' was about instinct-based pleasures. 'It' was about primal emotions of fear and greed. 'It' is mostly the unconscious. Superego or 'Over-I' is the conscience based upon societal, religious and political injunctions and conditioning, a sort of controlling father figure. It is the societal morality that governs us. Ego or 'I' is the self, the identity that mediates between the id and superego. Ego according to Freud is partly conscious and partly unconscious. This is a simple explanation.
In my view, the expression of ego may be conscious, but what drives this expression is the unconscious. You can use any word you want, but Master uses ego to represent not merely the 'I' but also the 'mine.' Together they form what you think you are. Many of us think that the concept of 'mine' arises from the realization of 'I.' Not so. Your first needs are the survival and pleasure needs that define your 'mine.' These arise from muladhara chakra.
Based on what you see as your possessions, you define your identity. You decide what you wish to be. The expression of 'I' starts from your swadishthana chakra. 'Mine' is about greed, arising from muladhara. 'I' is about fear and insecurity, arising from swadishthana.
A Master refers to 'ego' as a combination of 'mine' and 'I'. Ego has two faces, the outer face and innner face; ahankara and mamakara. What you project to others as to who you are is who you wish to be. This is ahankara. This is more than what you are. It is even a greater pack of lies than what you really are. You are yourself an illusion. Ahankara is a greater illusion.
Mamakara is who you inwardly think you are. You always underestimate yourself. 'No, no' you may say, 'I have high self-esteem.' That self-esteem, at least in this country (USA), is born out of insecurity. It is a defensive wall against society. You become a prisoner behind that wall. It just breeds violence.
If you truly had high self-esteem, would you accept that you are God? Why not? I say that you are Divine.
My mission is to prove to you that you are God, not to establish that I am God.
Instead you believe your religion that calls you a sinner. Do you understand what sin is? Sin is ignorance. It is ignorance of the truth that you are Divine, that you are God. Why doesn't society and religion allow you to think that? If they do, what control will they have over you?
Religions wish to rule you through fear and greed. Fear of hell and greed of heaven are the tools of stick and carrot that they use to manipulate you. Society likes that because without such controls, you will be unmanageable. You will be free.
So they condition you from birth. They are the superego, the Over-I, the Big Brother watching over you so that you are under their control. The conditioning that they impose on you through parents, elders and environment create samskaras in you. You are kept in bondage by these samskaras.
In this chapter Krishna explains the nature of this bondage and how you can break away and become liberated.
Cleansing Techniques
15.5 Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who are done with lust, who are free from dualities of joy and sorrow, not confused, and those who know how to surrender to the Supreme Person, attain the eternal Consciousness.
15. 6 That supreme space of eternal Consciousness, My Consciousness, is not illuminated by the Sun or the Moon, or by fire.