Nirvana and ego - Sri Aurobindo

Nirvana and ego

What then is Nirvana? 

In orthodox Buddhism it does mean a disintegration, not of the soul – for that does not exist – but of a mental compound or stream of associations or saṃskāras which we mistake for ourself. 

In illusionist Vedanta it means, not a disintegration but a disappearance of a false and unreal individual self into the one real Self or Brahman; it is the idea and experience of individuality that so disappears and ceases, – we may say a false light that is extinguished (nirvāṇa) in the true Light. In spiritual experience it is sometimes the loss of all sense of individuality in a boundless cosmic consciousness; what was the individual remains only as a centre or a channel for the flow of a cosmic consciousness and a cosmic force and action. Or it may be the experience of the loss of individuality in a transcendent being and consciousness in which the sense of cosmos as well as the individual disappears. Or again, it may be in a transcendence which is aware of and supports the cosmic action. 

But what do we mean by the individual? What we usually call by that name is a natural ego, a device of Nature which holds together her action in the mind and body. This ego has to be extinguished, otherwise there is no complete liberation possible; but the individual self or soul is not this ego. 

The individual soul is the spiritual being which is sometimes described as an eternal portion of the Divine, but can also be described as the Divine himself supporting his manifestation as the Many. This is the true spiritual individual which appears in its complete truth when we get rid of the ego and our false separative sense of individuality, realise our oneness with the transcendent and cosmic Divine and with all beings. It is this which makes possible the Divine Life. 

Nirvana is a step towards it; the disappearance of the false separative individuality is a necessary condition for our realising and living in our true eternal being, living divinely in the Divine. But this we can do in the world and in life.

How To Eradicate the Ego and get Self-realization. ~ Swami Sivananda

How To Eradicate the Ego and get Self-realization

by Swami Sivananda

The deep roots of Ego (Ahankara) should be burnt by the fire of knowledge (Jnana Agni). Then you will quite easily get the wealth of Liberation ( Moksha). All tribulations, sorrows, miseries and afflictions will terminate now. 

Control of the senses (indriyas) and Pranayama help to develop the intellect -Buddhi (Vikasa of Buddhi).

You cannot, all at once, eradicate ego (Ahankara) altogether. You can easily give up wife, children, money, anger. But it is extremely difficult to give up Ahankara. Try to minimise it little by little.

 Remove one cent (Anna) of Ahankara within three months. Within four years,you will be able to root it out completely.

 You will have to remove Ego (Ahankara) either by self-sacrifice through Karma Yoga or self-surrender through Bhakti or self-denial through Vedantic Atma-Vichara.

Through the Sankalpas of mind (Manas), Ego is generated. If the modification of the mind which leans to sensual pleasures is destroyed, the Atman, divested of its Ego (Ahankara), becomes the unnameable Brahmic Reality.

Ahankara is like a thread. It connects or links all the senses ( indriyas) on itself. When the thread is broken, all the pearls fall down. Even so, when the thread of Ahankara is broken by ‘Aham Brahma Asmi‘ Bhavana or witness attitude ( Sakshi Bhava) or self-surrender method by taking the instrument-in-the-hands-of-the-Lord attitude. (Nimitta Bhava), all the senses ( Indriyas) will be broken down or destroyed. The connection with senses (indriyas) will be severed.

Even if you identify yourself with a subtle body inside, it will help you in your Self-realisation. It is only the identification with the fleshy physical body that brings all sorts of troubles through gross Ego (Ahankara) and ‘mineness’. The physical ‘I’ is a very great menace.

Whenever Ego asserts itself, raise a question within thyself, “What is the source of this little ‘I’?” Again and again, moot this question and enquire. When you remove layer after layer, the onion dwindles to nothing. When you analyse the little ‘I’,it becomes a non-entity; it will gradually vanish. It will dwindle into an airy nothing.Body is not ‘I’. ‘I’ remains even after the leg is amputated. Give up Jivasrishti.

Sattvic Ego (Ahankara)

When you assert ‘Aham Brahma Asmi’ (I am Brahman), it is Sattvic Ahankara. It is Ego tht makes for liberation (Moksha Ahankara. It will not bind you in any way. It will help you realise Brahman. The fire in a picture will not burn anything. A light in the presence of midday sun will not shine andshed its light. Even so, the Ego (Ahankara) of a Sattvic person cannot do any harm to any person.

Extract from the book MIND, ITS MYSTERIES AND CONTROL

https://www.dlshq.org/download/mind-its-mysteries-and-control/#_VPID_20

HOW EGO & DESIRE CAUSE SUFFERING ~ Atman Nityananda

HOW EGO & DESIRE CAUSE SUFFERING

 The ego and desires crause suffering by three ways:

1. By the transformation of desire itself into pain-body; viz. anger, fear, depression, greed, jealousy, sadness and all other well known psychological disorders. These psychological disorders when are activated make us experience enormous suffering.
 
2. By committing sinful actions in order to fulfill our desires. These actions create painful situations and conditions in the future (karma). We can reincarante for example in a sick body or in a problematic family or country.

3. By overusing and misusing the senses, body, mind and prana. This cause physical, vital and mental diseases. 

Desire and lust are the beginning, the middle and the end of human suffering.

The three stages of desire mechanism

First desire creates in us a sense of incompleteness, that something is missing, a sense of discontentment, uneasiness and boredom which is the beginning of suffering.

Subsequently the suffering of desire takes the form of expectations, imaginations, impatience, anxiety and agitation of mind (compulsive thinking). That happens when the impulse of desire arises in our mind and outer heart.

Finally the suffering of desire takes the form of fear, anger and depression.

Fear

Fear arises when there is possibility not to get the desired object or to lose it when we have succeeded in getting it. In addition desire transforms itself into anger when something or someone obscures the fulfillment of desire.

Anger & depression

If we lose or not get the desired object, desire itself is modified into anger, hatred, aggressiveness, violence followed by disappointment, depression, sadness etc.

Usually when the desire is fulfilled there is for a while a sense of euphoria, satisfaction, contentment and happiness* which are followed again by the feelings of emptiness, lack, discontentment, uneasiness and the fear of losing the desired object.

Thus a vicious cycle is created by desire which starts and ends with suffering. There are only some intervals in which we feel content, happy or peaceful and which last very little.

This vicious cycle of the suffering created by desire is going on without a break until we are aware of it and by diligent practice we get free of it.

It is very important to mention here that desire keeps us in its clutches by making us believe that happiness and pleasure are inherent in the sense objects and the external situations.

This is the greatest illusion because there is not even an iota of pleasure and happiness in the objects. The ego-desire creates this illusion by projection, association, superimposition, identification and imagination.

Lack of discernment and inattention keep this play of ego and desire out of our conscious observation; thus the desire mechanism functions unobstructed. 

The familiar sense ‘I am the body’ or ‘the body is me’, known as ‘ego’ or ‘Iness’ is created by the mechanism of pleasure. This pleasure-energy in the form of ‘Iness’ or ego identifies us with the physical body and make us believe that we are the physical body while in reality is the self-existence consciousness which animates the body and gives to it aliveness.

Like-dislike, attraction-aversion and attachment are also attendants and modifications of the mechanism of pleasure-lust-desire-passion.

There is only one way to escape of this miserable way of living; to purify our mind and heart of all egoic qualities, to realize our true nature which is consciousness and identical with the Divine consciousness and live with love, peace and harmony within and without.

 May God bless you realize the truth in this very life!

NOTE:

contentment and happiness* : Happiness always comes from within our heart, is an innate attribute of our true nature or consciousness, but we do not experience it because our mind is always outgoing, agitated and we are always in a state of emotional turmoil.

 The happiness and the contentment we experience when a desire is fulfilled, derives also from within ourselves, the Soul, and has nothing to do with the object of desire.

When a desire is fulfilled and we enjoy the desired object there is no separation between us and the object and thus all mental and emotional agitation (fantasies, imaginations, projections, expectations, anxiety, agony, fear, impatience etc.) subside. Thus the mind for a while becomes calm, concentrated and introverted. In this mental state the mind naturally reflects the happiness of our inner Self or Consciousness. But we do not recognize it because the ego (with the aid of tamas guna) puts a veil on this process and thus we unconsciously associate the happiness with the object. We think that happiness comes from the object itself or at least that depends on the object. This has as a result we to condition our subconscious to seek happiness through similar experiences and in general through objective experiences.

Extract from How-we-are-caught-in-samsara

Expressions of Ego! ~ Swami Sivananda

Expressions of Ego!

by Swami Sivananda

Wherever there is ego, there are mine-ness, selfishness, likes and dislikes, lust, anger, greed, hypocrisy, pride, jealousy, delusion, arrogance, conceit, impertinence, Vasanas (desires, tendencies), cravings (Trishna) and Vrittis (thought-wave; mental modification) or Sankalpa (resolve to do something), clinging to this earth-life (Abhinivesha), agency, doer (Kartha) and enjoyer (Bhokta).

This ego wants to exercise power and influence over others. He wants titles, prestige, status, respect, prosperity, house, wife, children. He wants self-aggrandisement. He wishes to domineer and rule over others. 

If anybody points out his defects, his vanity feels offended. If anyone praises him is elated. 

This ego says, ‘I know everything’. He does not know anything. ‘What I say is quite correct’. What He says is quite incorrect. ‘He is inferior to me’. ‘I am superior to him’. He forces others to follow his ways and views.

The ego does not exist. It is nothing but a mere idea! - Atman Nityananda

 

The ego does not exist. It is nothing but a mere idea!

The ego is unreal or illusory, whereas the concepts that the ego is a thought or an idea and does not exist are false. However, the ego is unreal, to the same extent that the body, thoughts, emotions, all animals, plants and in general everything in the universe, as well as the universe itself, are unreal.

As the word or thought 'sea' is an idea but not the sea itself, so the word 'ego' is an idea but not the ego itself. The ego exists just as the sea, the earth, the mountains and also more subtle things like electromagnetic fields, thoughts and emotions exist.

The entire universe and everything that exists in it (including everything invisible to the senses and, of course, the ego) is constructed by the three gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas), which are the fumdemtal powers that create everything. The human being and everything that constitutes the human being (body, mind, intellect and ego) is created by the three gunas. So if we accept that the ego does not exist, then we would have to accept that all beings, planets, stars, animals, plants and the whole universe do not exist. 

The ego is psychic energy and, therefore, is not perceptible by the five senses, but we can perceive it (feel, be aware of it) directly through self-observation, just as we can perceive (feel, be aware of) anger, envy, gluttony, etc.

The essential nature of the ego is desiring and creating the feeling of identity by identifying with the body. That is, the feeling "the body is me" is generated by the ego. The ego is also the factor that creates all kinds of identifications. It makes us identify ourselves, with the characteristics and functions of the body, the mind and the intellect (thoughts, imaginations, fantasies, ideas, concepts, beliefs, emotions, feelings, etc.), with objects, people, situations, organizations, religions, political parties, sports teams, dogmas, etc.

It is true that there is no effect without cause. Just as there is no light or heat without the sun, so there is no desire, identification, attachment, pride, anger, rage, fear, greed, jealousy, etc. without ego. Therefore, if there were no ego, there would be neither identifications nor egoistic tendencies.

The tendencies that we call defects are all forms of expression of the ego. The ego is that which expresses itself as anger, lust, lasciviousness, liking, disliking, greed, pride, and so on. There cannot be pride, for example, without ego, and conversely, ego without pride, because they are the same thing. Just as water under certain conditions assumes the form of ice, clouds, steam, hail or snow, so the ego according to the circumstances expresses itself as pride, desire, lasciviousness, jealousy, anger, fear, etc. Ego and egoistic tendencies or defects are the same thing. Therefore, if we accept, for example, that anger exists, we cannot deny the existence of the ego. 

That is why in Greek mythology they symbolize the plural nature of the ego as a monster (called the Hydra of Lerna) that had many heads. Each head is one of the tendencies or defects of the ego.

The beginning and the goal of spiritual life - Swami Sivananda

The beginning and the goal of spiritual life 

To realize the Eternal Truth and to express it through the perfect instruments, the mind and the body, is the beginning and the total goal of the spiritual life, and that is the only ideal that can give permanent satisfaction and peace to thinking humanity.

Swami Sivananda

Om! Anger as a tool for self-awareness and self-knowledge. ~ Atman Nityananda

Anger as a tool for self-awareness and self-knowledge

Anger is an indication that some desire, attachment or need of yours is being prevented from being fulfilled or unfulfilled.

Therefore, whenever anger manifests within us, we understand that some desire, need, attachment is being hindered, that someone, some situation or event is preventing our desire, need or attachment from being fulfilled.

So, you can use your anger to investigate and discover what desires, attachments or needs are limiting your mind and causing you to suffer and not experience freedom, happiness, love and peace.

The inner work does not stop at discovery, of course, but continues with investigating, understanding and eliminating anger as well as attachment, desire or need.

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