There is a fine balance between the two forces called centripetal and centrifugal forces that act on any object revolving around another object. For example, the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Moon revolves around the Earth, or the Sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way. It appears that Centripetal force is the force of attraction toward the center while centrifugal force is the force that tries to take the revolving object away from the center.
It appears that human life is also an interplay of these two forces. Maya is the centrifugal force while spirituality is the centripetal force. Maya creates desires and in order to achieve the objects of desire, we get the momentum and keep running after such objects. This acts as a centrifugal force, while the centripetal force of spirituality keeps us glued to our spirit. The relative strength of these two forces decides how we live our lives. When there is a right distance from the center, creation takes place, like on the Earth. When we are far away from the Sun, like Uranus, Neptune, or Saturn, there is no possibility of life because we are too far away from the Source of energy. When we come too close to the source, like Mercury, again there is no possibility of life. In that state, probably, there is so much vairagya, that a person does not want to stay back in this world and somehow just wants to merge into the Source.
Life on the Earth has its deepest roots in sunshine. Sunshine makes growth possible, the growth of the plants, which in turn results in the growth of animals and human beings who are dependent on these plants to survive. Probably we have some deep emotional connection with the Sun and it is a matter of fact that when we do not see the Sun for a few days, we start feeling depressed. Neurology and Biology of the day is still in the Nursery standard and there are so many things happening in the deep unconscious, that we are not aware of. We know so far that our skin interacts with the Sun to make Vitamin D, however, there is a possibility that we discover later that our skin interacts with Sun to give us life energy.
It appears to me that our soul is the source of a similar life force to us. It provides us the centripetal force that keeps us connected to the axis, the divine. It is the source of joy and happiness within. Whenever we connect to that inner soul, we feel happy. Love is probably the strongest expression of that connection. Whenever we love ourselves, or somebody, or something, we develop a strong feeling to drop our identity and merge with him. A kid loves his mother and remains happy just being with his mother. Love manifests in the form of different emotions such as compassion when we feel the pain of others; and empathy, whereby we can put ourselves in the shoes of another person; gratefulness, when we feel grateful for whatever we have got; mercy, when we feel like helping others; equality, when we feel that everyone is the manifestation of the same divine; justice, when we feel that everybody should get a fair and equal treatment; and truthfulness, when we have an authentic self with no conflicts between the inner and outer selves and we can see what truth is and state that fearlessly. All these manifestations of the soul give us joy and happiness.
On the other hand, the Ego, or our separate self, provides us the centrifugal force that tries to take us away from the center. It gives us many motives such as motive to earn money, have tasty food, pleasures in different forms, have fun, pleasure trips, expensive cars, beautiful homes, air conditioners, social validation, security, designer kids that are as per our wishlist, friends who are nice to talk to, information and knowledge that makes us special, name and fame, an image that makes us feel special, and so on. The greater the force of the Ego and father we set our orbit of revolution from the center. Sometimes the force of the Ego is so strong that we move so far from the center that we get almost cut off from the life force and start developing different psychosomatic diseases. We develop anxiety, stress, depression, and perpetual sadness, and all these psychological disorders are reflected in our bodies in the form of different diseases.
Ego has a role in our lives like the role of the centrifugal force in the revolution of the Earth. It makes us different. However, the centripetal life force is provided by the Soul. So long as the Ego stays connected to the Soul, it may develop different ways and means to manifest the soul in this world. It may decide to become a doctor, engineer, CA, bureaucrat, or a politician. However, it remembers that the source of the entire energy remains the Soul. Different ways are just the means to manifest the soul. The end of the goal remains the manifestation of the soul. However, the moment the Ego gets disconnected from the soul, the means become the ends and the end turns into means. Passing Civil Services, a fat pay package, wealth, powers, self-image, social validation, name, and fame, all become goals and Ego just uses the soul to achieve all these things. Since the connection between the Ego and Soul is lost, we lose the crucial life force and develop stress and anxiety. It's just the right understanding of life that may help us maintain that fine balance between the soul and Ego. The ego is just like an agent of the soul. However, Maya develops an illusion of being the boss. Rather than living like Hanumana, it starts fighting its own source like Ravana fighting Rama.
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