Ego

Now, we should inquire into the existence of the ego, the finest material substance. What is ego? I am pure soul, but with my intelligence and mind I am in contact with matter, and I have identified myself with matter-and this is false ego. I am pure soul, but I am identifying falsely. For example, I am identifying with the land, thinking that I am Indian, or that I am American. This is called "Ahamkar." Ahamkar means the point where the pure soul touches matter. That junction is called Ahamkar. Ahamkar is still finer than intelligence.

Krishna says that these are the eight material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. False ego means false identification. Our nescient life has begun from this false identification-thinking that I am this matter, although I am seeing every day, at every moment, that I am not this matter. Study your own child, and you will see that the soul is not matter. Soul is permanently existing, while matter is changing. This misconception, this illusion, is called Ahamkar, false ego. And your liberation means when you are out of this false ego. What is that status? "Aham Brahmasmi." I am Brahman, I am spirit. That is the beginning of liberation.

Of course, one may be suffering from disease, from fever, and the temperature may come down to normal, 98.6 degrees. So he is now normal, but that is not the cure. Suppose for two days he has a 98.6 degree temperature, but with a slight change of diet, a slight change of behavior, the temperature rises immediately to 100. Relapse. Similarly, simply understanding, simply purifying the mind, rejecting this false Ahamkar identification-I am not this body, I am not this matter; I am soul-this is not liberation. It is only the beginning of liberation. If you stick to this point, and continue-just as you might continue your activities and keep your temperature at 98.6 degrees-then you are a healthy man.

For example, in the West now there is some propaganda for taking intoxication. The people want to forget the bodily existence. But how long will you forget? There will be a relapse. You can forget for one hour or two, by intoxication, and think that I am not this body. But unless you are actually on the platform of understanding yourself by knowledge, it is not possible to continue. Still, everyone is trying to think, "I am not this body." Because they have experience that, by bodily identification, they are suffering so much, and so, "If only I could forget my bodily identification!"

This is only a negative conception. When you actually realize yourself, that "I am Brahman," simply understanding Brahman will not do. You have to engage yourself in the activities of Brahman. Otherwise you will fall down. Simply flying very high is no solution to the problem of going to the Moon. Even if you go 25 million miles, still you are limited. So this will not do. If you at all want to go high, you must have shelter. If you can take rest there, then you cannot fall down. But if you have no rest, then you will have to fall down. The airplane goes so high, seven miles, eight miles up from the Earth, but it comes down immediately.

So, simply understanding Ahamkar means no more than understanding the false identification. Simply understanding that I am not matter, I am soul, is not perfection. The impersonalist, the Void philosopher, simply thinks of the negative, that I am not this matter, I am not this body. This will not stay. You have to not only realize that you are not matter, but you have to engage yourself in the spiritual world. And that spiritual world means to be working in Krishna Consciousness. That spiritual world, that functioning of our real life, is Krishna Consciousness.

False ego I have already explained. It is neither matter nor spirit, but the junction-where the spirit soul comes into contact with matter, and forgets himself. It is just as, in delirium, a man is diseased and his brain becomes puzzled, and gradually he forgets himself and becomes a madman. He is gradually forgetting. So there is the beginning of loss, and there is one point where he forgets. That beginning point is called Ahamkar, or false ego.

Transcendental meditation, chanting the Maha Mantra-Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare-is the process not merely of putting an end to this false conception of the self, but goes beyond that, to the point where the pure spirit soul engages in his eternal, blissful, all-knowing activities in the loving service of God. This is the height of conscious development, the ultimate goal of all living entities now evolving through the cycles and species of material Nature.