Will the ego let go of the ego? || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2014)
Speaker: Have you tried seeing whether the different activities are in agreement with each other? Have you tried seeing whether the video that you watch are in the agreement with the activities? Is everything gelling together or are things contradictory to each other? You must find contradictions because there are contradictions.
Listener 1: Sir, is it always necessary to let go of your ego?
Speaker: Necessary for whom?
Listeners(everyone): For us.
Speaker: ‘Us’ is whom? ‘Us’ is intelligence or ‘Us’ is ego? You are saying ‘is it really necessary for ‘me’ to let go of the ego?’. I am asking, who is this ‘me’ that is talking?
Listener 2: In a situation…
Speaker: In any situation, who is talking? You are not one. You are two.
(Everyone laughs)
Speaker: Who is talking?
Listener 2: Ego!
Speaker: A beautiful, nice, green, supple, shining leaf is covered with a lot of dust. Lot of dust, as happens during summer month. Have you seen that? In summer month the trees get covered with dust and then comes the rain. Right? Monsoon showers, drops of water fall upon the leaf and the leaf is not one, the leaf is two. The leaf plus the dust.
The moment the water falls upon the leaf, it is death for the dust. The dust is washed away, washed down and the leaf starts shinning again. Have you seen how the trees appear so green after the rains? Because the dust has been washed away. Now the rains are death for the dust but life for the…? Leaf.
So when a voice comes from a leaf and that leaf is covered with dust, when a voice comes from a leaf, is it necessary to get rid of dust? What would I need to ask? ‘Who is taking, the dust or the leaf?’ If the dust is asking the question then I will say ‘No, no, no. Avoid rains. If the rain comes, you will die.’ If the dust is asking that question then my answer will be, avoid rains because water will dissolve you, water will kill you. But when the leaf is asking the question, then what will I say? Rain is beautiful, water is life. So who is asking this question?
Listener 2: Ego.
Speaker: And what should I say? No hold on to your ego. How can I tell the ego that the ego is bad. The ego will pounce upon me. The ego will say ‘This is my enemy.’ Will the ego agree to its own dissolution?
So whenever you ask the ego ‘Is the ego important?’, what will the ego say ‘Yes of course, very important. Nothing is more important than the ego.’ So always ask yourself that who is taking. Who is taking? ‘With whom am I identified?’. Is the ego talking or are you talking? And remember the interests of the ego are very, very different from your interest. They are not coincidental.
The Ego will want you to remain a slave. Intelligence will demand that you live in freedom. So one must take side very, very carefully. These are two opponent forces. Ego and the Self, Ego and intelligence. These are opposing forces and both are within you.
That’s why somebody has said that you are your own best friend and you are your worst enemy. Both are present within you. You are not one; you are two. And these two are always at war. You need to decide very carefully that whom are you supporting? Where are you situated? (Sarcastically) If you support your ego, wonderful go ahead.
Alright!
Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.
