The EGO

Ego is the deeply ingrained, compulsive need to remain separate and superior at all times, in all places, under all circumstances. It is the part of you that has no interest whatsoever in freedom, feels victimized by life, avoids anything that contradicts its self-image, is thoroughly invested in its personal fears and desires, and lives only for itself.

Ego becomes bigger if you are successful in life. Money, education and fame create more and more ego and arrogance. The best attitude towards success is to be grateful and not be egocentric about it.

As ego grows, undesirable qualities arise: argumentative, inconsiderate, and stubborn. Learn to recognize when you are in the grip of ego. You should realize that you are limited in your perception and ego does not allow you to see what others are thinking. You need to be always looking for how ego can destroy you then you will be more balanced.

Ego kills friendship and love. Ego is being very self conscious; you are always thinking about yourself, you are not letting yourself go. When you don't let go of your ego then it becomes difficult for you to dance, to sing, in fact you will lose your life. Life is losing your ego and participating in the dance of interaction with others of participating in love. You can not love when the ego is up and this even applies to friends. An egocentric person will not have too many friends. So if you don't have friends this means there is an ego problem that you need to address.

Ego is denial. Denial is not admitting that you are wrong. Deep down in your heart you know that you goofed and you are not willing to accept within your own self and this is denial. You are in denial because it hurts the ego. If you are in denial then you will never learn because it is more important for you to protect the ego. Denial is a very self-destructive behavior, you are not going to go anywhere with denial. So you must face reality and you must suppress your ego. Then you will be learning more, then you will be authentic, then people will want to be around you.

Usually we identify ego with high self esteem; people who have money, notoriety or well educated. This ego is well understood. But ego can also produce low self esteem. We all know people who don't want to be in the public eye, they don't invite friends in their home, they don't hang out with people, and they don't want to socialize. They are hiding and why are they hiding? It is an issue of low self esteem, they don't want to be seen, and they just want to become invisible.

If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your EGO

- Dattatreya Siva Baba