THE EGO DOES NOT EXIST?
The idea
that the ego does not exist has no basis. If only the Self (Atman or Consciousness) whose nature is bliss, exists, then why do we
experience misery and suffering most of the time instead of bliss? Because of
the ego.
Ego in its lower aspect causes misery and
suffering. Separation, incompleteness, uneasiness, anxiety, anger, fear, all
these are caused by the ego and in my experience and understanding, all the
above egoic aspects are the lower ego itself. Τhe ego assumes various forms likewise
the H2O that assumes
the form of water, ice, steam, snow, etc. Although all the above
psychological aspects have an illusory nature does not mean that they are
non-existent. And since the cause of these psychological aspects is the ego, we
cannot negate the existence of ego.
Certainly, what really exists is Consciousness because self-created, self-existent, self-contained and self-luminous ανδ is eternal. Although
Consciousness is the absolute reality or the Truth, we cannot, however, negate
the existence of ego even though it is relative and impermanent. Ego cannot
exist by itself, it is not self-luminous, it is an object of perception and it is dependent
on Consciousness.
Consciousness is the only self-conscious
reality, but the ego creates the illusion in us that Consciousness belongs to
it. Thus, we erroneously perceive (due to lack of discrimination and clarity of
the Buddhi-intellect) that Consciousness
belongs to us (to the body-mind entity) and to the ego itself.
Great teachers, like Ramana Maharshi, have
talked a lot about the illusory nature of ego. Even though they admit that ego
is an illusion or a fandom, do not negate its relative existence. Illusion does
not mean that something does not exist at all, but rather that it is not what
appears to be.
All great gurus, like Shankaracharya, Ramana, Shivananda,
Aurobindo, Amma etc, and sacred texts like Bhagavad Gita, have declared with
emphasis that the death of the ego is liberation. How can a non–existent ego
die?
Self-enquiry is also related to the ego.
We trace back the ego-sense (the sense of Iness) in order to become aware of its
source, i.e. the Consciousness, and realize that we are the Consciousnesses itself. This
effort to return to the heart is done by the ego (its subtle or sattvic aspect of ego)
and ends up in the dissolution of ego.