Is ego the ’I’ thought’ or the identification with thoughts? Atman Nityananda

Is ego the ’I’ thought’?

Some spiritual instructors refer to ego as the 'I thought. The say that ego is the 'I thought and the mind made story of 'me` is based or linked to this 'I thought. Is this true?

The made mind story of `me` is linked to the ego or `Iness` but ego is not the 'I thought. If ego was only a thought, the 'I thought, we were very fortunate because we could dissolve it, very easily, but this is not the case.

It is obvious that thoughts are symbols or mental representations of objects, situations, perceptions, sensations, emotions etc. For example the thought sea is only the symbol of what we call sea. The thought fear is the symbol of what we feel in our body as fear. It is obvious that the mental represantation (thought) is not the sea or the fear itself.

Similarly the ‘I’ thought is not the ego but only the mental representation of the ego. The ‘I’ thought is only the expression of the ego in the thinking mind, it is not the ego itself.

We use the word `I in order to communicate with others or to think about something, but this doesn`t mean that the ego is expressed because we use the word or the thought `I. In other lunguages like for example Spanish and Greek the word `I (which is `Yo in spanish and `Εγώ in Greek), it is not used or very rarely is used either for communication either for thinking. That means that the ego is expressed in them less? Of course not. The ego is not the `I thought. The ego functions in us almost always whether we use the word or thought `I or not. 

If the ‘I’ thought is not the ego, then what ego is? 

The ego is a mass or a field of energy which is crystallized in our psychic prana and in our mind. The sense, ‘I am the body’, or ‘I am a separate person’ is the strongest expression of this ego-energy together with lust and desire.

Desire, ‘Iness’ and pain-body are one and the same thing (the same energy field) - the so called ‘ego’- which apparently appears as three different things; the core of them is lust.

The egoism or ‘Iness” is experienced :

• at the heart level, the chest and face as a strong sense,
• in the thinking mind (Manas) as the ‘I’ thought and
• in the intellect (buddhi) as the conviction or belief that ' I am the body', or ‘the body is me'.

The Ego takes many forms or expressions such as:

I am the doer, 

I am the enjoyer, 

I am the perceiver, 

I am the thinker, 

I am the feeler, 

as well as takes the form of desire, like-dislike, anxiety, fear, stress, attraction-repulsion, anger, irritability, impatient, discontentment, aggressiveness, self assertiveness etc. which are only modifications or forms of the ego-energy and Eckhart Tolle named all these wonderfully as pain-body. ( See image).

"Wherever there is ego, there are mineness, selfishness, likes and dislikes, lust, anger, greed, hypocrisy, pride, jealousy, delusion, arrogance, conceit, impertinence, Vasanas, Trishna or cravings and Vrittis or Sankalpa, clinging to this earth-life (Abhinivesha), agency, doer (Kartha) and enjoyer (Bhokta)."

~ Swami Sivananda

Is the ego the identification with thoughts?

When there is identification there must be two factors involved, the subject and the object of identification. When we say that ego is the identification with thoughts we are not mention what identifies with thoughts.

So the idea that identification with thoughts is the ego cannot be accepted as true because does not make reference to the very thing that identifies with thoughts.

Then what identifies with thoughts?
It is the ego what identifies with thoughts, body, sensations, objects etc. The very nature of ego is to identify with something.

"From ignorance) Avidya came ego or egoism (Ahamkara), the self-asserting principle. The function of ego or egoism is identification (Abhimana).  Dehabhimana (is identifrcation with body, -it is mistaking the body for the Self or pure Atman. It is identification and attachment to the body), Shastrabhimana (it is identification with scrtures),  Desabhimana (it is identification with country);  these are varieties of identifications of ego." 

"This ego identifies itself with the body, mind, Prana, the senses."

 ~ Swami Sivananda

Identification, projection, superimposition and imagination are the functions of ego and due to them hypnotizes us and uses our mind intellect, senses and body for its own sake.

~ Eckhart Tolle

"Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. It needs to be both defended and fed constantly. 

The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications.

 None of these is you." ~ Eckhart Tolle 

Conclusion: 

The ego is not the identification with thoughts but ego is what identifies with thoughts, body, object, persons, country, religions, etc.

Ego is the veil between God and the soul. When the ego vanishes, then is the realisation of universality or cosmic consciousness. Egoistic assertion is a terrible disease. It separates you from God and your fellowmen.  

- Swami Sivananda  

The main expressions of the egoic energy are: 

1. Identification with the body. The strong sense that ’I am the body’ or’ the body is me

2. Desire for sense pleasure (mainly for sex, food, drink, and sensual objects in general), possessions (money etc.), power, fame and name 

3. All pairs of opposites: Like-dislike, attraction-repulsion, fascination-disappointment  etc.

4. All psychological disorders or defects such as fear, anger, jealousy, envy, impatience, depression, hypocrisy, hatred, etc. The negative energy which is stored in our vital body Eckhart Tolle calls it Pain-body. 

Burn this ego, through discrimination,  Atmavichara (enquiry into the nature of Atman- the Supreme Self) and Samadhi.  

Slay egoism - your arch-enemy - through self-sacrifice, self- surrender, self-denial, service, humility, prayer, worship and identification with Atman. 

You will enjoy the immortal bliss of the Eternal !

 - Swami Sivananda