Anusandhaan 3: Asmita the Ego
Power position (chair) and the
authority in power position (chairman) are separate. Chairman may mistakenly
think that he is all powerful. Asmita is this mistaken identity. Asmi in
Sanskrit means ‘I am’. Asmita hence is ‘I am-ness’or I-ness or ego.
For us everything is mine. My
body, my feelings, my possessions, my family, my work, my commitments, my
spouse, my life… It is real, articulate, can be seen touched…we can not imagine
a proposition, that it is Not Me.
We are essentially a spiritual
being living in the material world. We are a spirit…a consciousness…, that is
our true nature. But like the mistaken chairman we think wrongly. It is said
surpassing the Ego is the final battle to reach spirituality. It takes lifetimes
to realize it.
There is a nice story of 4
sisters who aren’t getting married because they all stammer. A would be groom
comes to meet them and praises the home made sweet that was offered to him. The
instruction by the elders of the family is ‘Do Not Speak’. Upon receiving the appreciation for the
recipe one gets flattered. She stammers and says, “I made it”, second says,
“Why did you speak?”, third says, “She spoke but why you had to speak?” And the fourth says, “I didn’t speak.”
Eventually all display that they stammer. And the groom goes away… This
‘I-ness’ is really tricky.
So, let’s catch the enemy. How do
we find? The first characteristic of ego is ‘it’ believes that ‘it’ is perfect.
(eg. story of two goats crossing the narrow bridge) Ego finds it extremely
difficult to accept any weakness. So for us it is always a difficult and a
skillful job to suggest correction to someone or accept correction from
someone. The other trait of ego is fear. Ego feels safe in its safe zone. (eg.
Story of the frog in a well). It is difficult to accept first of all, and then
to change it is another tough task. That’s the role of Asmita in human life.
Ponder over Asmita the Ego in aunsadhaan 3.
- I… complete the sentence in as many ways you can. eg. I have/ believe/ am/ do/ do not…
- Identify one weakness, and improvise on it.
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