ego ↘↖
What is ego and why are we wearing an ego mask?
Much of the problems in today’s world is somewhat directly or indirectly related to the ego within our self. Mr. Ego has grown in us since childhood, well nurtured and often not easily deflatable. Ego is not our real self and sits over our heart, clouds our thinking that comes out of the brain. Many of us wear an ego mask giving a false persona (persona derives from the Latin for “mask”), and seldom do we realize that we wearing one or just don’t want to think so. A egoistic person is driven by the perceptions in their head, and not the feelings in their heart. But ego makes our lives miserable, and has many health problems that can be attributed to this. Our individual egos manifest on a grander scale as a group, which only compounds the problem. How can we deflate this ego, they say enlightenment equals ego-death.
Much research regarding ego has been done on the scientific realm, but the following series of talks given by Sahaja Yoga Meditation guru Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi way back in 1978 in London, UK gives a more pragmatic, folksy, and down-to-earth appeal to this important subject.
- The problem of ego
- Ego makes you stupid
- Ego is not your self
- You have to laugh at your ego not fight it
- When the ego covers the Sahasrara it stops the Kundalini
Never forget that while we all have different inflated sizes of ego, always remember that we are not our ego, and that an ultimate truth is within us which lies in stillness, which gives peace, love, compassion and pure bliss. So, when an unkind thought or word pops up, or we look around us in judgmental condemnation, just acknowledge you egos handy work and re-centre your self and once again attempt to cast off the labels and stories of this false ruler of our mind. Be a watchful observer of Mr. Ego and don’t allow him to take you on a ego trip again.
The greatest battle ever?
Man and mankind have fought many battles from time immemorial, wars will not cease now nor in the distant future, until every individual, society, community, race, nation, world, and this entire universe, become aware of one simple truth of the nature of our very existance. The only progress humans have achieved so far in the fighting and the art of war, is that in the stone age people threw stones at each other, in the bronze age people shot arrows at each other, and now in the nuclear age one man can wipe all living beings from the face of the earth with a press of a button. The simple truth that one needs to gain awareness is that the greatest battle being fought is not on some distant battlefield somewhere else, but the mother of all battlefields is within each one of us. These individual battles are magnified collectively on a grander scale and manifests in all the wars that are taking place now, or will take place in the future. Our blind mind will never be able introspect and comprehend this simple truth until we all individually (and collectively) begin the journey to attain consciousness starting with the surrender of the ego within oneself (not killing of the ego as Bhishma was alive even when he had fallen on a bed of thousand arrows in The Bhagavad Gita). Call this awakening as Krishna consciousness, or Buddhist consciousness, or Christ consciousness, or Islamic consciousness, these higher consciousness are all the same finally, and transcends 
theory of matter and energy.
Understand the simple truth in the message of The Bhagavad Gita, and live in peace, love & light.
Self-worth in a ego-driven and judgemental world?
Looking outside of ourselves for self-definition and self-worth means that we have to judge people in order to feel good about ourselves. In this ego-driven and judgemental world, we were taught to have ego-strength through judgment of others; such as better than, prettier than, smarter than, richer than, stronger than, etc. In a co-dependent society everyone has to have someone to look down on in order to feel positive about himself or herself. This is the root of all bigotry, racism, sexism, and prejudice in the world. Real self-worth does not come from looking down on anyone or even anything. True self-worth comes from awakening to our connection to everyone and everything that we are surrounded by.
To better understand self-worth, we need to know the difference between ego and self-esteem. Egotists are essentially insecure people who are attempting to cover up their own suspicion that they are not quite as good as other people by pretending that they are more important. People with very high levels of self-esteem do not need to determine their self-worth by comparing themselves, either publicly or in their own minds, with others.
An egotistical person’s sense of self-worth is mostly determined by external conditions, circumstances or events. They promote themselves so that they can be convinced of their own value by the feedback they receive from peers, fans, voters, employees or even their own children. They often strive to be high achievers because they can then get the acclaim of others, in the hope that this acclaim will somehow prove their worth; though it seldom erases the suspicion that they are unworthy.
A self-esteemed person’s sense of self-worth is mostly determined by internal conditions like attitude, compassion, belief, passion and personal vision. They also tend to have a direct sense of their relationship with divinity, that teaches that all things, including you, are sacred and worthy of being honored as such.
Moral: Increase your self-worth by awakening yourself and building on your inner self-esteem, and not by just accumalating more external wealth which only serves to fortify your already bloated ego.
