(20th Dec 2002)
Sages and scriptures tell us frequently to surrender our ego, which separates us from God. They also tell us that the surrender of ego is one of the preliminary requirements of a spiritual pilgrimage. But a shadow falls between what they say and what ordinary people understand. Ego is an abstract term, which apart from meaning what it generally means in general parlance,stands for the I-ness or the empirical awareness of the individual in the philosophical sense. In the psychological sense, ego is the individual’sperception of himself in relation to other people andthe outside world; it is that part of mind, which can think, feel and act. For Sigmund Freud, the ego is the conscious mind—the civilized, rational layer, which is the only part of which we normally have much knowledge. The ego constitutes the individuality of the individual. If that is so, how can a person just beginning his spiritual quest totally surrender his ego? The Sanskrit term ahankara actually means an exaggerated notion about one’s own self, selfishness and even arrogance. In a good sense it may mean self-esteem. It creates a crisis of communication when that term is translated as ego, because ego has already been hijacked from its literal denotative context and has been invested with a set of complex connotations by the psychologists and philosophers. To avoid confusion, this Sanskrit term ahankara should be rendered as arrogance, pride, selfishness and self-esteem depending on the contexts.On close reading, it is easy to find out that this surrendering of the ego actually means an acknowledgement/ realisation of the superiority of an alien/divine force and a sincere willingness to be guided by that force, believing that it will certainly guide us in the right direction. It becomes eminently understandable, because we encounter such occasions in our daily life when we allow another person to drive us in most dangerous terrains. Bends may be trecherous, but the expert driver will certainly negotiate them and help us reach our destination. This expert driver is the divine force. We can very well call it Providence or God or the Vedantic Brahman or Heractitean Logos.What is required to realise the superiority and the competence of that force is an intellect unclouded by prejudices, pride and hesitation. What is required to feel the superiority of that force is a heart that is not colonized by passions and emotions. And what is required of us to allow that force to occupy thedriver’s seat is humility, which comes from the realisation of the limitedness of our all too human perception. It is not the surrender of the ego, but the ability to accord superiority to God’s will or the scheme of the Providence and to be humble enough to be guided by it. In the Bhagabad-Gita the warrior prince, Arjuna is enlightened about the nature of things and overwhelmed by the cosmic manifestation of the Lord. Then he achieves the required humility and allows the divine charioteer to drive the chariot into the battlefield of life. He says finally: “Krishna, by your grace my delusion has fled and I have gained wisdom. I stands horn of all doubts. I will do your bidding.” He does not surrender his conscious mind, his individuality,and his ability as a great fighter. He becomes wise enough to obey. In his case, the ego, in the philosophical and psychological senses, is not surrendered to achieve humility. He realises that as it is not possible to change the scheme of things, it is wiser to fit into that great scheme and fight.Hamlet the Prince of Denmark achieves this humility at the end. After a long struggle with himself and the world, he comes to the acute realisation that ‘Thereis a divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough-hew them how we will.’ He explains this idea by saying that if something is going to happen today, it will happen today, because there is Providence in the death of as ordinary a creature as a sparrow. Here Hamlet does not surrender his ego in the psychological or philosophical sense of the term. He agrees to fight a duel even if he is physically exhausted and mentally drawn. He allows the divine scheme of things to lead him wherever it lists.A similar state of voluntary submission obtains in the poignant words of Dante Alighieri when he, after traversing the Inferno, the Purgatorio and Paradise, observes: “His will is our peace.”
Sages and scriptures tell us frequently to surrender our ego, which separates us from God. They also tell us that the surrender of ego is one of the preliminary requirements of a spiritual pilgrimage. But a shadow falls between what they say and what ordinary people understand. Ego is an abstract term, which apart from meaning what it generally means in general parlance,stands for the I-ness or the empirical awareness of the individual in the philosophical sense. In the psychological sense, ego is the individual’sperception of himself in relation to other people andthe outside world; it is that part of mind, which can think, feel and act. For Sigmund Freud, the ego is the conscious mind—the civilized, rational layer, which is the only part of which we normally have much knowledge. The ego constitutes the individuality of the individual. If that is so, how can a person just beginning his spiritual quest totally surrender his ego? The Sanskrit term ahankara actually means an exaggerated notion about one’s own self, selfishness and even arrogance. In a good sense it may mean self-esteem. It creates a crisis of communication when that term is translated as ego, because ego has already been hijacked from its literal denotative context and has been invested with a set of complex connotations by the psychologists and philosophers. To avoid confusion, this Sanskrit term ahankara should be rendered as arrogance, pride, selfishness and self-esteem depending on the contexts.On close reading, it is easy to find out that this surrendering of the ego actually means an acknowledgement/ realisation of the superiority of an alien/divine force and a sincere willingness to be guided by that force, believing that it will certainly guide us in the right direction. It becomes eminently understandable, because we encounter such occasions in our daily life when we allow another person to drive us in most dangerous terrains. Bends may be trecherous, but the expert driver will certainly negotiate them and help us reach our destination. This expert driver is the divine force. We can very well call it Providence or God or the Vedantic Brahman or Heractitean Logos.What is required to realise the superiority and the competence of that force is an intellect unclouded by prejudices, pride and hesitation. What is required to feel the superiority of that force is a heart that is not colonized by passions and emotions. And what is required of us to allow that force to occupy thedriver’s seat is humility, which comes from the realisation of the limitedness of our all too human perception. It is not the surrender of the ego, but the ability to accord superiority to God’s will or the scheme of the Providence and to be humble enough to be guided by it. In the Bhagabad-Gita the warrior prince, Arjuna is enlightened about the nature of things and overwhelmed by the cosmic manifestation of the Lord. Then he achieves the required humility and allows the divine charioteer to drive the chariot into the battlefield of life. He says finally: “Krishna, by your grace my delusion has fled and I have gained wisdom. I stands horn of all doubts. I will do your bidding.” He does not surrender his conscious mind, his individuality,and his ability as a great fighter. He becomes wise enough to obey. In his case, the ego, in the philosophical and psychological senses, is not surrendered to achieve humility. He realises that as it is not possible to change the scheme of things, it is wiser to fit into that great scheme and fight.Hamlet the Prince of Denmark achieves this humility at the end. After a long struggle with himself and the world, he comes to the acute realisation that ‘Thereis a divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough-hew them how we will.’ He explains this idea by saying that if something is going to happen today, it will happen today, because there is Providence in the death of as ordinary a creature as a sparrow. Here Hamlet does not surrender his ego in the psychological or philosophical sense of the term. He agrees to fight a duel even if he is physically exhausted and mentally drawn. He allows the divine scheme of things to lead him wherever it lists.A similar state of voluntary submission obtains in the poignant words of Dante Alighieri when he, after traversing the Inferno, the Purgatorio and Paradise, observes: “His will is our peace.”
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