All of us would have read hundreds of spiritual quotations on the ego and visited the cremation ground many times. Each time we visit the cremation ground and read the spiritual quote, we feel strongly to get out of the grip of the ego. However, the moment we come out of the cremation ground, we get back to the world of ego again. We start to feel jealous when we see a colleague's luxurious flat or a shiny car on the road. We worry about whether our child will be able to get into the college we want him to attend. The worry about money, promotion, relationships, and so on fills our minds the whole day long. Why are we unable to handle these desires despite being fully determined while being at the cremation ground or while listening to a couplet of Kabir?
It's because all these worries and desires lie deep in our psyche. We may give thousands of reasons when we look at the shiny car on the road, trying to convince ourselves that it is not meant for us. We have tried to take our attention away from that luxurious flat of a friend. We may try to take the mind off worrying about the child's future. It is not going to work. Why? Since our childhood, and even to date, we have constantly fed ourselves the same thoughts. Every time there is a discussion in society, there is a discussion about the flats, cars, and children. People take pride in buying expensive flats, and when these discussions take place, even if we stay there as passive listeners, since we do not challenge these discussions for the sake of not being the odd man out, somehow our unconscious mind stores the memory that we need to buy an expensive flat for the sake of getting that social validation. Similarly, there are discussions about the expensive car and the world-famous universities.
We keep comparing ourselves consciously and unconsciously, and our minds keep evaluating whether the flat or the car we possess and the university our child has been admitted to, is accepted by society as something out of the world. If not, we want to have a better version of the same. The "ego" is always in a comparison mode. It is because the whole existence of the ego depends upon ignorance. Since we have forgotten that inner self, the ego feels quite unsafe and desperately wants to get rid of this fear and insecurity by holding on to something that society accepts and acknowledges. However, the problem is that the more expensive things we buy, the more often we get to visit those exclusive clubs where entry is reserved for the rich. That's why we get more and more opportunities to compare. The moment somebody visits Dubai, they see that even the delivery boy drives a Mercedes or BMW, and they want to prove their exclusivity by using another symbol.
This comparison may go on and on all through our lives till the time we land in the ICU room of a hospital, counting our last breaths. because we have never examined the root cause of this comparison. the deep-rooted fear and insecurity that lies deep within us. The deep-rooted fear stems from a lack of awareness of the true self. Quite often, we never get to see the dark reality of our ego because it operates in the unconscious world that our logic and reason cannot reach. We have a very beautiful simile of Lanka in the Ramayana. Lanka is like the unconscious mind within all of us, and we are largely unaware of it. Quite often, our creative energy is arrested by this ego, and we hardly have any awareness. Many of our actions and decisions are driven by deep-rooted fears and insecurities, with the fear of social disapproval among the most prominent.
Once our creative energy is arrested by fears lying deep within our unconscious mind, we hardly know how to handle them. Once Sita was kidnapped by Ravan, Rama did not know how to get her back. It was Hanumana who could go to Lanka to search for Sita. Similarly, when we sit in Dhyana and watch sensations in different parts of the body, we realise that these sensations drive our decisions and actions. We understand that whenever people around us appreciate us, we feel pleasant sensations in our bodies, and it is our craving for these feelings that drives us to do the same things again and again. We also see that we experience the same sensations every time our flat or car is appreciated by society, or when we boast of our powers and positions in a social gathering, and people look at us with jealousy, and we feel elated. We feel as if we have entered an exclusive club.
However, even if Hanuman discovered Lanka, finally a bridge had to be built between the mainland and Lanka so that the army of Ram could reach there. This bridge was built with stones thrown into the sea by the monkey army, taking the name Rama. Similarly, we also have to construct a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious mind by "staying aware" in social discussions and while living our daily lives. Each moment of awareness, in which our consciousness is not arrested by the old memories of desire and fear, acts like that little stone that floats on the sea's water. All these stones together form the bridge between the conscious and the unconscious worlds, and once this bridge is constructed, we can examine our unconscious mind more clearly.
However, the unconscious world continues to be ruled by the ego. Ram will have to fight Meghnatha first. Meghnatha represents the fierce desires. We want to rule the world, and for that purpose, we often control our senses as well. That's what Meghnatha did. He won his Indriyas to rule the three Lokas. The first thing we encounter in our unconscious mind is our desire to win the world. We are very convinced about our targets. We try to get over anything that comes in the way. This has been our conditioning since childhood. That's the first obstacle we have to get over. It carries the powers to hypnotise. Even the wisest, like Lakshmana, may be captivated by the Nagpasha. We may continue to justify our actions driven by ego in the name of socially approved outcomes. It's not easy to get over Meghnatha, and Hanuman had to finally bring Sanjivani Booti for Lakshmana. We, too, need the "finest understanding of truth" to overcome these desires, because they seem very valid and justified.
The second enemy is Kumbhakarna, who sleeps for almost the whole year, except for a short time. It is our laziness that is the second enemy in the world of the unconscious. When we give up on achieving a particular outcome, we often become lazy and waste significant time. We have to be fully aware of this enemy. The third is the most powerful: Ravan itself. Ravan is very powerful. He has studied all the Vedas and Vedanta and has carried out very rigorous penance. It has 10 heads, and that's why it is not easy to kill Ravan. We have also studied hundreds of books and strengthened our reasoning for why we want to live life a particular way. That's why it is very difficult to get over our past conditioning. Ram cuts one head of Ravan, and the other becomes alive. Similarly, we address one logic we have built over the years based on our social interactions, and the other comes up. We are unable to get past the conditioning unless we hit at the navel, as Ram did at Ravan's navel. This navel is the very core of our existence. The purpose of life. When we contemplate on the question "Who am I?", we hit at the navel of our inner Ravan and the unconscious mind becomes free of the demon.
The journey into the inner world is not easy, and that's why we mostly see people playing into the hands of their unconscious mind, even while being very aware. That's why spirituality is mostly a journey to get some "out of the world" experiences. Most people use it as an escape because they are unable to get the best of the material world due to a lack of competence or hard work. That's why they want to prove their superiority by following some cult. This desire is well-understood and encashed by the fake babas. They sell these fake experiences as a placebo to people who are greedy for them. However, the real spiritual journey is about understanding the ego, its genesis, and dropping it. Once we understand the source of greed and fear and realise the ignorance behind the same, it can't stand. Darkness, however deep, can't stand when light enters the room. However, the brain habitually reacts from the ego, and it becomes very difficult for us to "stay aware", especially when the whole world is madly wanting to win the race. The whole of the stadium is full of spectators, and each time we lag behind in the race, our "well-wishers" make us feel small. Only a very solid foundation of "aware-parenting" can help a child stay aware in this mad stadium full of crazy spectators.
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