Your Real Face – In Gita Verse 9.24 I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognise My true transcendental nature fall down.
Krishna says that when we took birth at that time we were not aware of our true self. So ego is needed. Unless you grow in consciousness and sacrifice your ego you will not be able to experience me, you will not know My true transcendental nature.
The ego is needed because the true self is not known. The ego is a substitute, it is a pseudo entity. Because you don’t know yourself you have to create an artificial center; otherwise functioning in life will be impossible. Because you don’t know your real face, you have to wear a mask. Not knowing the essential, you have to trust in the shadow.
In my Bhagavad Gita Verse 3.11, blog I wrote – There are only two ways of living in life. One is to live it from the very core of your being – that has been the way of the mystics.
The other way to live from your shadow – The ego is man-made, manufactured by us. And because it is manufactured by society, society has power over it. Because it is manufactured by the state and the church, and those who are in power, they can destroy it any moment; it depends on them. You have to be constantly in fear, and you have to be constantly obeying them, conforming to them, so that your ego remains intact. Society gives you respect if you are not an individual. Society honors you if you are not a Jesus, not a Socrates, not a Buddha. It respects you only if you are a sheep, not a man.
The West has completely forgotten how to meditate – and Christianity has been the reason. Christianity has created a very false religion, which knows nothing of meditation. Christianity is very formal; it is a ritual. It is part of the society and the political structure of the society. Karl Marx is perfectly right about it, that it is the opium of the people. Because of Christianity, the West has lost track of its own being. And one cannot live without SOME idea of one’s self – and if you cannot discover, then create something. It will be false, but something is better than nothing.
What you have been told is utter nonsense. It doesn’t matter who has been telling it – the universities, the politicians, the priests. Certainly, you will be feeling confused, because Krishna is telling you just the opposite: Krishna is telling you to get rid of the ego, because if you get rid of the ego, you get rid of the rock that is preventing the flow of your consciousness.
Your consciousness is there, just behind the rock; it has not to be brought from somewhere else. Remove the rock – real religion consists only of removing that which is unnecessary, and then the necessary starts flowing. That which is unessential has to be removed. And the essential is already there, is already the case! You remove the rock and you will be surprised: you need not create the real self – it reveals itself to you.
And the real has beauty, and the real is deathless. Because it is deathless it has no fear. The unreal is constantly trembling. The ego is always in danger – anybody can destroy it. Because it has been given to you by others, they can take it back. Today they respect you, tomorrow they may not respect you. If you don’t follow their idea of life, if you don’t confirm their style of being, they will withdraw their respect. And you will be flat on the ground…and you will not know who you are.
Krishna says – The greatest unknown exists within you. The most uncharted sea is your consciousness, and the most dangerous too, because when you start moving inwards, you start falling into an emptiness, and great fear arises, the fear of going mad, the fear of losing your identity. …Because you have known yourself as a name, you have known yourself as a particular person – you have known yourself as a doctor, as an engineer, as a businessman; you have known yourself as an Indian, a German, a Chinese; you have known yourself as black or white; you have known yourself as man or woman; you have known yourself as educated or uneducated – all these categories start disappearing.
As you move inwards, you are neither man nor woman: neti, neti – neither this nor that, neither white nor black, neither Hindu nor Mohammedan, neither Indian nor Pakistani. As you move inwards, all these categories start slipping out of your hands. Then who are you? You start losing track of your ego, and a great fear arises – the fear of nothingness. You are falling into infinity. Who knows whether you will be able to come back or not? And who knows what is going to be the outcome of this exploration? The coward clings to the shore and forgets all about the sea. That’s what is happening all over the world. People cling to the ego because ego gives you a certain idea of who you are, gives you a certain clarity. But the ego is false, and the clarity is false.
It is better to be confused with reality than to be clear with unreality.
Tags: Your Real Face
