Self-Realization – In Gita Verse 3.27 The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.
Krishna says to Arjuna that how our Ego makes us unconscious. A conscious person like you also can become unconscious within no time.
Everyone needs to be self-alert, self-conscious even in their sleep also. In my Bhagavad Gita Verse 2.69, I have written regarding Yoga Nidra.
This question arises in our mind – What can we do from our side to surrender the ego, when this wanting to surrender it is, in itself, an intrinsic part?
This question arises because we think that we are doer, karta.
The ego is a puzzle. It is something like darkness – which you can see, which you can feel, which can obstruct your way but which does not exist. It has no positivity. It is simply an absence, an absence of light. The ego does not exist – how can you surrender it? The ego is only an absence of awareness.
The room is full of darkness; you want the darkness to leave the room. You can do everything in your power – push it out, beat it out – but you are not going to succeed. Strangely enough, you will be defeated by something which does not exist. Exhausted, your mind will say the darkness is so powerful that it is not within your capacity to dispel it, to expel it. But that conclusion is not right.
Just a small candle has to be brought in. You don’t have to expel the darkness. You don’t have to fight with it – that is sheer stupidity. Just bring in a small candle, and the darkness is not found anymore. Not that it goes out – it cannot go out, because in the first place it does not exist. Neither was it in, nor did it go out.
To bring the candle we need our intelligence, we have to drop all our ideology, interpretations, judgements, then only we can become aware to bring the candle. Otherwise with our intellect and logical mind we will just go on fighting with darkness.
The light comes in, the light goes out; it has a positive existence. You can light a candle and there is no darkness; you can blow out the candle and there is darkness. To do anything with darkness, you will have to do something with light – very strange, very illogical, but what can you do? Such is the nature of things.
You cannot surrender ego, because it does not exist. You can bring a little awareness, a little consciousness, a little light. Forget completely about the ego; concentrate totally on bringing alertness into your being. And the moment your consciousness has become a flame, concentrated, you will not be able to find the ego.
So you cannot surrender when you are unaware and you cannot surrender when you are aware. The ignorant cannot surrender. And the wise man cannot even think of surrendering it, because it does not exist.
Ego is a mirage – it only appears to be. And when you are fast asleep spiritually, it is tremendously strong; naturally it creates problems for you. Your whole misery is created by it, your tensions, your anxieties. Your ego brings the whole hell into your life. Naturally you want to surrender it. And there are religious priests, teachers all over the world telling you how to surrender it.
Anybody who tells you how to surrender the ego is an idiot. He does not know anything about the nature of the ego, but he will look rational to you; he will be convincing. He will be appealing because he is speaking your own thoughts aloud. He is your spokesman – this is what your mind says. He is more articulate than you are, and he brings all kinds of supportive arguments and proofs and quotations from scriptures, and they all say, “Unless you drop the ego you cannot attain self-realization.” Naturally, nobody objects to such people.
But the reality is just vice versa: it is not that you surrender the ego and self-realization happens, no. The self-realization happens first, and then you cannot find the ego. That is its surrender.
Krishna says it is very easy to fall, and prey to ego, as many people will give you approval but to be self-alert you will be alone. Nobody can approve it. Only from your trust in yourself can you act through self-consciousness. Once from your realization if you act you will realize that you are not Karta but part of the whole. In your aloneness, and trust in yourself you will realize as you are, past of you. As soon as this realization comes, all the misery which is the result of unconsciousness will disappear.
Tags: Self-Realization
