The ego and its dissolution ~ Atman Nityananda

Medusa symbolizes the multiple ego

The ego and its dissolution

The separate I or ego is a kind of energy (not a thought) that creates the sense that we are the body; in other words that ''the body is me'' or ''the body is what I am''. Identifying with the body we feel and think that as a ''body-me'' we have a heart to feel and a mind to think, imagine, reason, etc.

We identify with the feelings, emotions, sensations, impulses and thoughts in the same way we identify with the body.

The ego is the factor of all identifications. The ego makes us identify with the body, with the psychological functioning and conditioning and the external objects, persons and situations as well.

The central way to dissolve the ego is to disidentify from feelings, emotions, sensations, impulses, thoughts and the ego itself (the sense I'') and identify with the silent space of awareness which is the ever present background of everything that it is manifested in us and all external (sensory) experiences.

The repetition of God's name or a mantra (Japa nama and japa mantra) is perhaps the most effective way (at least for the majority) to maintain the the mind focused and in conscious contact with the silence within, as well as to purify the mind and the heart and dissolve the egoic tendencies which are expressions of the ego itself, (that means that anger, pride or greed are not something differfent from the ego but is the ego itself appearing or assuning the form of pride, greed, lust, etc.).