What is the place of ego in human life?
Can God-knowledge be a reason to be proud of?
What kind of life should a devotee have?
Often we hear that it is for man himself whether he swims of he drowns. If
he wants to swim, if he wants his emancipation, he can himself bring it about. Similarly,
he himself can become the cause of his own death. When he leans towards the material
world, he moves towards death and if he concentrates on God-Nirankar, he is definitely
going to swim. In this connection, it is said:
KABIR BERA JARJARA, JIS MEIN CHHED HAZAR,
HALKE HALKE TAR GAYE, DUBE JIN SIR BHAR.
O Man! Your body is just like this boat, having thousands of holes. Nobody knows when it
may sink. Those who are light, carry no load, will swim across, while those who are
carrying the load of ego, are bound to sink.
Saints have mentioned another type of death in this world:
MARTA MARTA JAG MUA, MARBHI NA JANE KOYE,
AISI MARNI JO MARE, BAHUR NA MARNA HOYE.
After coming to this world, if man can put an end to his ego, his pride, he attains
salvation in the real sense. Death is certain to come to each and every body. Which body
has escaped the death? Some go early, others later. Lord Rama's body is no more. Even
Ravana, who was so proud, lost his body. Physical death is there for every person. One may
like it or not, death has to come. It is bound with every living being. Then, what is the
type of death which has significance, which has been praised? The significance lies in the
death of one's ego, the end of "I", one's complete surrender (to the will of
God). This "I" or the ego is the load which does not allow one to swim :
So long as man continues to say "I" - "I" or is proud of oneself,
there are bound to be problems, troubles and the fear of getting sunk. In case one gets
rid of this "I" and surrenders to God - Nirankar, one swims across, stands
liberated and escapes the problems. Divine masters have always advised man to avoid all
kinds of ego and pride.
Fire is fire. If it can burn a small cottage, it can reduce to ashes a costly bungalow
also. Similarly, the fire of ego may ruin anybody irrespective of the fact whether he is
spiritually enlightened or ignorant, whether he is a scholar of illiterate. It is said:
MAAN MUNI MUNIWAR GALE,
MAAN SABHI KO KHAYE.
Wherever there is ego, it causes hostility, which does not spare even saints and sages.
To-day, man is found to be proud of his body. Sometimes, he is proud of his wealth.
Sometimes he is proud of his intellect. But all his ego remains there so long as he thinks
that he himself is doing everything; so long as he thinks that his success is there
because of his own strong body or his education. He forgets that this body is not
dependable. Just now it is strong, but the very next moment one may fall sick and the
strength of the body may disappear. One may not be able to pick up even a glass of water.
Similarly, you have money, you have wealth. You can buy anything on the earth. But
suppose, the money is stolen, the wealth is robbed. You have nothing left with you. You
may have to spread hands before others. There are moments in life, when even wealth is of
no use. Lakhs and crores of rupees may fail to defer the one moment of death. Then, why be
proud of it?
Life reaches the heights of greatness, when man gives up his ego, his pride and gets rid
of this : "I" . He moves towards downfall, so long as he does not leave the
"I" . When he gives up "I" , he rises in life in the real sense. You
might have noticed that when a person climbs a hill, he is bent forward and when he comes
down, he keeps his body as straight as possible. It means that bending down (humility) is
a sign of going up, while the tightness (pride) is a clear indication of downfall.
Ego, whether it exists in an enlightened person or in an ignorant, it remains a cause of
distress. In a way, the enlightened person owes an explanation more than the ignorant
does. Whosoever was proud, had to meet the downfall. The spiritually enlightened person
become all the more responsible (to explain), because the stumbling of a person who has
climbed only a few steps is quite understandable, while a man who has already reached the
top has no excuse. While the former may receive one or two injuries, you can imagine the
condition of the latter who falls from the top. His survival is difficult. That is why the
spiritually enlightened saints, the devotees are required to be more cautious in the
matter of ego. A person who claims to be enlightened on the one hand and suffers from ego
on the other, is like a kite flying up in the sky but all the time looking on the ground
for a piece of flesh. As soon as it sees a piece of flesh, it forgets about the flight and
swoops down, lands on the earth and stays there.
One should never be proud of God-knowledge, because pride is after all pride. Only such a
person is known to be a saint, a devotee as may have the desire to learn and keep learning
throughout his life. Whosoever considers himself complete and is proud of himself, cannot
march forward. In a way, he hinders his own progress. Why does a saint moves forward? Why
is he remembered and praised for ages? This is because he spent his entire life as a
humble person and kept learning good things, acquiring virtues. These very virtues made
him great, established his name for ages to come.
In the world to-day, even castes and sub-castes have become a source of pride. They
consider their family to be superior than others. The saints, however, do not think like
this. They consider a family superior only if it has produced a devotee to God:
KABIR SOI KUL BHALI,
JA KUL HARI KA DASS.
A person having sense of humility is held in high esteem in the field of religion. Nobody
becomes superior just by going through scriptures or taking pride in the caste etc. In
fact, the pride based on caste has no meaning. All human beings have the same five
elements. Can somebody produce a man who may be having only four elements or may have
seven? This is not so. All human beings are made from the same mass of eath. The bodies
belonging to all of them consist of the same elements. Whatever functions the hand has in
one body, the same functions it performs in another. Similarly, if eyes in one body are
used to see things, they have the same function in another; they are not used for hearing.
Ears are for hearing, whichever the body. Nobody uses them for the purpose of looking.
Then, why be proud of one's caste?
All human beings are the creation, the children of God. A person who is guided by ego
thinks that the other person is inferior, while he himself is superior. Once he takes
someone as inferior, he starts having hatred against him, he may feel jealous of him. He
will make all possible efforts to humiliate him. And a man whose life is governed by
enmity and jealousy can never remain happy. There is no rest for him. This ego does not
take into its fold only a person or a family, it has affected almost all localities,
societies and countries. Big countries or nations suffer from ego because they are proud
of their strength, their power. They are stopping so low that they may even think of the
annihilation of humanity as such; they are producing things that may ruin humanity, finish
the mankind.
Often we find that whosoever had ego, it became the reason of his end, his downfall. A
deer used to go to a tank to drink water. He saw his reflection in the water. Whenever he
saw his horns, he felt happy. They looked quite attractive to him. But when he saw his
legs, he would find them quite thin. He felt that all his grace has been spoiled by the
legs. He always criticised his legs, while he took pleasure to think about his horns. One
day, a lion also came to the tank. After drinking water, the lion saw the deer also taking
water on the other bank. He ran after the deer. The deer ran, while the lion chased him.
The legs that he always condemned saved him from the lion for miles together. Then came
dense bushes. The horns he was so proud of, got stuck up into the bushes. Consequently the
deer could not go forward and the lion caught him. The horns of which he was so proud,
became the cause of his death.
Wherever there is ego, or there is pride, it pinches like a piece of stone in the shoe,
gives pain at every step. Similarly, whenever a person developes ego or pride, it gives
pain. Those who give up ego, forego their self and surrender to God, are always happy.
Those who are under the influence of ego, they are entrapped by it like a cob-web.
When the ego of a person is hurt, when somebody challenges him, he feels angry. He just
cannot see or listen. He falls into the trap of his own ego. We have a story of wolf. He
was living in a cave. Whenever he saw some animal coming towards the cave, he would start
shouting as if he was calling his cubs. He would say, "Will you alone eat the lion?
Why don't you divide it amongst yourselves?" The wolf would do this only to impress
the coming animals that he was so strong that he could kill a lion, which was being eaten
by his cubs. He wanted to scare the other animals. Hearing this, the other animals would
go away. Somehow, a lion also heard about it. He became upset and went back. On the way a
fox met him. The lion told the story to the fox and said, "No doubt, I am king of the
forest, but there is someone mightier even than myself. He has killed several lions like
me. His cubs are eating them." The fox said, "Don't worry. Let us see who is
this animal who has come to the forest." She went to the cave and stood outside. She
shouted. "Whosoever is there in the cave, has become king of the forest. He is
mightier than all others. All the animals of the forest have assembled here to welcome
him. Please come out and accept the greetings." The wolf inside was mad to hear his
praise and came out. At once, he was exposed. The lion roared and the lion ran away,
puzzled and humiliated. All this happened because of the greed for false praise. This
greed is another form of ego. Instead of harming others, such people ruin themselves only.
It is they who suffer. If a person goes on putting stones into his boat, he is bound to
sink. Similarly nobody can save us if we go on loading the boat of our life with the
stones of ego.
The Puranas have a story about the churning of the ocean by the gods and devils. They used
the mountain as churn and Sheshnaag, the serpent as the chord to move it. The gods were on
the one side, while the devils were on the other. The gods were a little fast and went to
the side of the hood of the serpent. Its tail was on the other side of the mountain. The
devils could not tolerate this. They felt that the gods caught the hood of the serpent
rather cleverly. They challenged them and asked them, "Why have you caught the hood
of the serpent? What do you think of yourselves?" The gods replied, "Since we
are gods, we will not catch the tail of the serpent. We will catch his hood only."
Hearing this, the devils became all the more furious. They saw in this an insult for
themselves. They retorted proudly, "We are stronger than you. We have already
defeated you many times. You do not our strength." They went on saying such things
angrily. Someone from the gods said, "Why are you getting angry? We reached here
first and caught the hood of the serpent." But the devils did not agree and insisted
on standing on the side of the hood of the serpent. One of the gods said, "All right,
there is nothing to mind. Why make mountain of a mole-hill? You come to the side of the
hood of the serpent, we will go to the tail." Then started the churning of the ocean.
Both the groups pulled the serpent turn by turn. The serpent felt pained by the friction
with the montain. He started being violent. He began to emit poison and sting those who
were standing on the side of its mouth i.e. the devils. The result was that there was
humiliation because there was ego, because the devils wanted to prove to be superior (than
gods). Those who suffer from ego, are always after "I", are proud and consider
they have excelled and achieved a lot. In fact they lose in the end.
O Man! You are proud. Do remember that this itself will become the cause of your end, your
ruin. Humility, which you consider useless and meaningless, alone will make you live for
ever. Modesty alone will bring you honour and make people remember you for all times to
come. Human body is a mass of earth. It is known that it is not permanent or ever lasting.
It may break any moment. Inspite of this, man is overwhelmed with the feeling of pride.
God only knows what man would have bone if this body were immortal!
A man who suffers from ego does not only agonise others, but invites distress for himself
also. Suppose a person is thinking that he has to humiliate another, he would like to
teach him a lesson, and goes to sleep while thinking so, he may see the same in the dream.
Even after he gets up, he is obsessed with the thought that he is to teach the other
person a lesson, he is to talk to him in plain words. In fact he does not give up the idea
until he meets the other man and most probably the other person is not even aware of it.
When we are angry, we suffer the agony within ourselves even before agonising others. The
same is the state of a person suffering from ego. What we mean to say is that a person who
is proud and jealous and goes on thinking how to harm others, suffers himself far more
than others. He agonises himself, he causes distress to himself.
A person who does not take a lesson from the life and teachings of the divine masters and
lives in the state of narrow mindedness, narrow vision and continues to have ego and
pride, commands no faith or respect in our minds. It is often said that every day of ours
should pass as Holi and the night as Dewali. What is its significance? The Holi has the
name of Bhakt Prahlad connected with it. His own father was insisting that he should give
up his faith in God. He made several attempts to shake him from the path of Truth, the
path of spirituality. The father was proud. He wanted that people should worship him. That
is why he tortured Prahlad. His sister Holika, who was proud that fire could not harm her,
offered to sit in the fire with the child Prahlad in her lap. She thought that the fire
would burn the boy, while she would remain safe. But it happened the other way round.
Bhakt Prahlad survived, while Holika was burnt. It was the defeat of pride and a victory
for the humble Bhakt Prahlad. Dewali too is celebrated to mark the end of pride in the
form of Ravana. There too, it is a defeat of pride. Thus we can have our days like Holi
and nights like Dewali, when our pride is defeated, humiliated. In fact what is there for
a man to be proud of? After all what does he have to be proud of?
A gentleman went to a rich person, who was owner of a palatial building, a large business,
big factories and vast properties. He started talking of spirituality. But the rich man
began to point out his property, his factories, his respect in the town, his popularity,
his acquaintance in various departments, etc. He mentioned that nobody else had as much
property as he did. He claimed that he had worked hard, he had used his intellect and
created vast properties with tact. Thus he went on speaking about his wealth and his
achievements. The gentleman kept on listening. Saints generally have patience and act
sensibly. They do not use rigidity for the breaking of ego of a proud person. They use
tact. The gentleman, the saint, decided to bring home the reality to the rich man in such
a manner that the latter was able to understand it, digest it. He saw a child of the rich
man studing something by their side. He asked the child. "My son, what are you
studing?" The child replied, "I am reading Geography." The saintly person
again asked, "What is lying in front of you?" The child replied, "It is
atlas. It has a map of the world." The gentleman picked up the atlas and asked the
child to point out India in the map of the world. The child indicated the same. In the big
map, India looked like a small guava. The gentleman further asked the child to point out
Maharashtra in the map of India. The child pointed out a still smaller patch. It was just
equal to a plum. Then the gentleman asked the child to point out Bombay. The child showed
a small dot and said, "Here is Bombay." Now the gentleman asked the child to
point out Bombay. The child showed a small dot and said, "Here is Bombay." Now
the gentleman asked the child, "My son, can you now point out the factories and other
properties, palaces, owned by your father in Bombay?" The child retaliated,
"What a strange thing you are asking for? You are searching for our factories and
palaces in a map where a big city like Bombay is shown as a small dot. It is quite strange
on your part." At this, the gentleman started laughing. The rich man was also
listening to the conversation of the gentleman and the child. He understood that his
claiming all the time that he was the proprietor and owner of so many properties was
meaningless. He replied, "I am too small a person in this vast world. What is my
position ? I have seen only the map of the world. The whole Bombay city is like a small
dot. This universe is comprised of many other planets. As compared to them, where do I
stand?" As soon as the rich man realised the truth and the greatness of the Almighty,
his pride melted. He understood that whatever he possessed, carried no significance. There
was no reason for him to be proud. He was less than even a straw in the universe created
by God.
Saints! Ignorance is the root cause of pride. Ignorance gives rise to ego to disputes.
This is the reason why people quarrel in the world to-day. The day man gives place to God
in his heart, the day he realises the Truth, all the disputes will end automatically.
There are no disputes for you, as your mind is enlightened and your heart free from ego,
free from hatred. You realise God all around and, therefore, love the entire mankind. To
love the creation is the real way to love the Creator. After coming to the world man has
forgotten the Creator. He goes on working, ignoring the creator. From morning to evening,
from childhood to old age, whatever he does, shows that he is entangled and occupied by
the lust for worldly materials. Houses were made for man, but to-day it appears that man
has been created for houses. Man after going astray from the path of truth, does not even
think as to what afterall he is
KABIR YEH TAN JAYEGA SAKE TO LEH BAHOR,
NANGE PAON TE GAYE, JINKE LAKH KAROR;
KABIR EH TAN JAYEGA KAWNE MARG LAYE,
KAY SANGAT KAR SADH KI, KAY HAR KE GUN GAYE.
Here, the great spiritual master (Kabir) warns man and asks him to know himself. The body
does not ultimately belong to you. Then why should you be proud of it? Even those who were
rich, could not save their bodies. In any case, this body has to go. So long as you
possess it, you may sit in the company of saints and praise the Almighty.
It is in the nature of man that he thinks himself to be correct and considers others to be
wrong. Man has always considered himself superior, nobler and intellectually more advanced
than others. On the other hand, the enlightened saints, the divine masters, have always
thought the contrary and considered themselves most modest and the humblest. An ordinary
person considers others to be bad but what do the saints pronounce?
KABIR SAB SE HUM BURE, HUM TAJ BHALO SAB KOYE,
JIN AISA KAR BUJHYA, MEET HAMARA SOYE.
The spiritual masters have always explained that only a man who considers himself to be
inferior, is the real man. Such a person who looks at his own shortcomings instead of the
weakness of others, is really great. He is our friend. If Kabir Ji says that he is
inferior to all, one should not conclude that he was really a bad person. No, our mind,
our heart, is not prepared to accept it. We think just the other way round. Our heart says
the contrary. Kabir Ji was condemned person, the humblest of all, having no intellectual
ability, it is the proof that he has no ego. A person with ego will not look at his own
shortcomings or accept his mistakes. He just cannot admit that he is a bad person. And not
to be aware of one's own shortcomings, is the greatest human shortcoming. To see one's own
fault, is the sign of modesty.
History tells us about Alexander. He had huge wealth. He had armies. He captured a large
portion of the world. Then, do we have very high regards for Alexander in our minds? Do we
respect him? Do we have faith in him? No. Inspite of the fact that the name of Alexander
does appear on the pages of history, we probably do not carry any respect for him in our
minds. Similarly, we have the example of Ravana. There are many other such names as are
part of the history, but who has been recognised to be great? The spiritual masters alone
have been accepted as superior to others. Whether they appeared in this world in the form
of Kabir or Ravidas or any other saint, they command our respect, they have their name in
the world. They are accepted to be great, to be noble. Does their greatness lie in the
wealth, or the power they commanded? No. They became noble because they aligned themselves
with the Almighty, because they were humble, because they had devotion for God. Kabir Ji
says that we should have no ego, no pride; we should not laugh at the poor:
KABIR GARB NA KEEJIYE, NA HASIYE KOYE;
ABHI TO NAW SAMUDR MEIN, KYA JAANE KYA HOYE.
In this world we find that if someone acquires a small asset, it may be in the form of
wealth, physical strength, intellectual ability, degrees of education or high level
posting, he becomes proud of the same. As a result of this pride, he does not attach any
importance to others. On the other hand the spiritually enlightened saints will always
consider themselves humble and modest, the servants of all, in spite of possessing all
kinds of good qualities. They are humble because they know that after realising God, there
is no asset or achievement, which man can be proud of.
A rich man was proudly sitting in front of his bungalow. A saint who wanted him to realise
the truth, asked him, "Who does stay in this inn?" On this, the rich man felt
angry with the saint. He said, " Does your sense not work? Does this appear to be an
inn? It is a palace having huge value. Materials worth crores of rupees have been used to
build it. It is all made of marble. It has been furnished with costly articles. Inspite of
that you call it an inn. This is my palace and not an inn." The saint said, "I
am sorry, you minded what I said. Kindly let me know who stays in it at present." The
rich man replied, "I stay here." The saint asked, "Who did live here before
you?" The rich man replied, "My father lived here." "And before
him?" the saint asked. The rich man continued to tell the names of his forefathers.
At the end the saint said, "Then, why did you feel agitated, when I described it as
an inn? Your father stayed here before you. Prior to that, your grandfather lived here.
Who did stay forever? If not an inn what else is a place where people come, stay and go?
And can one take pride in the inn?" In case man understands this truth, there remains
no reason to be proud. Man, then, understands that the big bungalows that he is proud of,
which he thinks to be the source of pleasures, are only given by God to him to spend
sometime. We invite agonies for ourselves, when we think that these objects are everything
for us. We are so fascinated by them, we are so engrossed in them that even the slightest
change in them becomes intolerable. We feel unhappy. A real saint or spiritually
enlightened person understands that this world is only a temporary halting place where
after taking birth, our real purpose is to know God as the Super Soul, of which human soul
is only a part. If we remember the real purpose of life, achieve it while living in this
world, we live an ideal life.
The spiritually awakened saint lives in this world as does the non-awakened. The
spiritually enlightened saint, however, does not allow this world to overwhelm his mind.
He gives the place to the Almighty. What do we do to take the boat forward? We push the
water backward, the boat moves forward. If we push the water forward, the boat is bound to
move backward. Similarly, if all that we see in this world, all that we use, is pushed
backward, we will move forward. There is no contradiction in staying in the water and
pushing the water backward. When I say that the water should be pushed backward, I do not
mean the entire ocean or the entire tank. The water is very much there. When it is pushed
back, the boat moves forward and when the water is pushed forward, the boat goes backward.
Similarly, if we are caught in what we see and consider the worldly materials as every
thing, it will mean that we are pushing them forward while we ourselves are moving
backward. In this way, we will be moving away from our near and dear ones. In case we
cheat others, misbehave with them, we treat the worldly materials as everything and are
proud, it will mean that we are pushing the water forward whereas our boat is moving in
the reverse direction instead of going towards the destination. That is why, the great
spiritual masters have always advised man to push the worldly materials backward. We must
not get lost into them. We should not be proud of our worldly assets. The very first
principle followed by our Mission says that our body, intellect and our wealth, all belong
to God and we should not be proud of them at all. After all, what are you being proud of?
The body? If this was under your control, man would have never become old or died. If you
are proud of your wealth, if you are using it for oppressing others, if you think you can
purchase or win over anybody else with it, if you consider others inferior, all your pride
is meaningless, has no meaning. A small incident may snatch away the wealth and cause
pain. The same is true of our mind or the intellectual ability. There too, it is not
possible that the same should remain under our control forever. That is why saints
consider the body, the wealth and the intellectual qualities as mere gifts of God,
ultimately belonging to the Almighty. A saintly person is never proud of them. He pushes
such a pride backward so that the boat of his devotion to God moves forward and reaches
the destination. A saint would push back the ego or pride of all kinds - the pride based
on physical, intellectual and material assets, caste, creed of colour, diet and dress,
abdication or self sacrifice or even spiritual enlightenment and so on, and thus move
forward. He does not go after honour or praise for himself. He is free from ego; he is a
humble person.
Kabir Ji at one place mentioned about the life of a saint. According to him, a saint
endeavors to be as humble as a piece of stone in the path of people. Then he says, it may
not be a service to the people, because a piece of stone may hurt anybody's feet. He,
therefore, prefers to become the dust. But here also is a problem. The dust may go with
the wind and spoil the clothes. In that case, a saint would like to live like water. The
problem with water, however, is that sometimes it is hot and sometimes cold. No doubt one
gets relief when the water is cold, but it may cause boils on the body when it is hot.
Finally, it is decided that a saint, a devotee of God, should be like God itself. A person
who makes his heart the dwelling place for God, acquires communion with it, becomes like
it free from any fault, free from pride. There are no feelings of pride or jealousy in his
mind, they all disappear. He will endeavor to serve all, respect all and bring happiness
to all.