EGO
- There is nothing else in this world more filled with cunningness than EGO.
- Going around saving 'I am big, this man, that man' ... alone is not ego.
- Even saying, 'I am small, humble, sinner, incapable' ...is also ego.
- Ego will do anything and everything to survive. It will somehow hide itself and try to grow and flourish.
- Living joyfully and striving to live joyfully continuously; both will destroy ego.
- A man with ego will not be joyful; a man who is joyful will not possess ego.
Once there was a Buddhist monk in China. One day, as he was traveling, he was caught in a heavy rain.
After walking a long distance, fully drenched, he saw a Buddhist temple and attached monasteries.
He met the head of the monastery there and humbly requested him. 'Please give me some place for tonight only, ' but the head of the monastery said, 'There is no place here. Go out and find your own way.'
After persistently begging him, the monastery head said, 'Stay in the temple for tonight only.' And he went away to his place to sleep. At midnight, cold winds started blowing.
The head of the monastery, who was sound asleep, woke up suddenly with a doubt, 'I have permitted a stranger to sleep in the temple. What if he steals something and runs awav?'
Immediately he came to the temple and saw that there was a fire inside. He wondered as to how there could be fire. The monk who was staying there for the night was burning a wooden statue of Buddha and was warming himself up in the heat of the fire.
The head of the monastery became wild with anger. He drove the monk out of the temple.
The next morning, he explained the incident that happened the previous night in a letter to the head Lama, asking him to take a suitable action against the monk who burned the Buddha statue.
The next week, the monastery head received a letter from the head Lama. The very first sentence of the letter ran like this: 'You have been removed from the temple committee.'
Perplexed and shocked, he read through the rest of the letter.
The letter read: 'If the wooden statue of the Lord Buddha, who was himself a personification of love, is not going to help in relieving the sufferings of a monk due to cold, then there is no meaning to either that statue or to Buddha's love.
Further the letter said: 'We sent that monk only to test you. Now we have seen your true colors.' On seeing this he became speechless and shocked.
We observe here what paved the way for the head of the monastery. We will immediately say that it was nothing but the ego of that person.
To do a self-analysis on this subject (ego) and to know which type of a person you are, take this small test. Take two sheets of paper. On one of them, list all the things you know. In the end you would have finished writing that you know much more than the others.
The reason for making this mistake is nothing but the ego lying buried deeply in us. In order to eliminate this ego. I will teach you another exercise. Now take only one paper. After listing the things you know. list also the things that you do not know.
For example, we know how to eat but may not know how to cook. Your wife might not read like you. But if your wife possesses the ability to cook tasty food, you should respect her for that knowledge.
It is one thing that your wife knows a particular thing. But the fact that your wife knows one thing that is not known to you is a different thing. Start finding out things not known to you but known to others and begin appreciating them. Then the ego will begin to get destroyed by itself.
Continuously appreciating others for the right and deserved things, giving up our rightful things gracefully to others just for the pleasure of it, being continuously joyful, striving always to be joyful, and doing things which give joy to others through all possible ways by us; all these will begin to root our our ego.
Doing these things rarely once in a while, will only pave the way for our ego to grow and flourish further.
The reason is, if you are doing these only rarely, it will be 99% for selfish gains only. The feelings of 'I, mine and for my sake,' will begin to grow deep-rooted.
If we continue to practice all the items stated earlier above, ego will begin to be eradicated. Ego will not allow us to do any work without a reason or a benefit. Even if we continue so doing, feelings like 'it is not necessary, it is impossible,' etc. will arise. These are indications of the presence of ego.
Whatever actions we do to improve the well-being and happiness of others, will destroy the ego within us and lead us to happiness and joy.
Jump into BLISS by yourself being happy and joyful and making others also joyful.