Lower Ego

[Anonymous]

Work Without Motive

Thus it is seen that some evil clings to work. Those who work without any consciousness of their lower ego are not affected with evil, for they work for the good of the world.

What is the meaning of term “LOWER EGO”
1- self benefit behind the work
OR
2 – mindset of I am doing the work..??

[Anonymous]

Ego : Sri Ramakrishna Speaks of Two Types of Ego – “unripe” or “green” ego and “ripe ego” .The ego of the bound soul identifies itself with the body, relatives, possessions, and the world; the “ripe ego” illumined by Divine Knowledge knows these to be unreal and establishes a relationship of love with God alone. He would refer to trace of ego left in him as per various moods – “ego of Knowledge”, the “ego of Devotion”, the “ego of a child”, or the “ego of a servant”

Lower Ego : Suppose I see some nails on a road. I try to get away from side to save tyre of “my” bike from getting punctured. You think that someone who may come after may perhaps run over the nails and surely their tyre will get punctured. But still you don’t get down and remove the nail. This is listening to ‘Lower Ego” – “my” body “my” bike is safe ” I” saved “myself” from effort of putting away the nails. How will one with “Higher Ego” behave. He will think and feel like this. Those who come after “me” will suffer. Getting down from bike, putting away the nail will be extra effort for “me” (my Lower Ego), it will make “my” hand ( my lower ego) , dirty. But “I” ( My lower ego) , am NOT alone in this world. This world has place for “You” as well. “You” are not “my” relative, but if the tyre punctures “you” might suffer. “You” might meet an accident and injure “yourself” . “You” might have to waste time and money in getting the repair done.
Thinking thus and feeling thus if ” I ” also feel for “You” and if I sacrifice the trouble of getting down of bike and making hand dirty , sparing time effort and energy of “myself” and Still have a space for preventing the suffering of “yourself” .. then “My Self ” and “Your Self ” have come together in “my” considerations. I no longer take care of “me” “I” and “myself only” which is limited by my Little Physical Body – I am no more taking decisions based on Lower Ego , My EGO has expanded . It has become Higher. Not Just ” I ” but ” You” too.
I and You and You + Others = Expanded Self. So now I am Less limited by “my” physical body. Just like a child of 2 years will eat that mango himself only. When it grows up and marries it will share the mango with spouse . So Now I and My Spouse. Then when it has a baby , it will share the mango with baby and spouse. So now I alone has grown up to : I, My Spouse and my baby. Lowest Ego has grown up a bit to level of Higher Ego. But it is still Low Ego. Thinking of Me, My relatives. Then One also starts to think and feel for one’s nation. and We call such person a Patriot. This is Still Higher Ego . Still Higher is when One Feels for the Whole Humanity.When I feel pain in their suffering / or feel happy in their happiness for people even if he is not of “my” country. So This Ego is still higher. But it is still “my” species” i.e Human Beings. Then The EGO expands further . ” I ” care for also the Joy and sorrows of animal and plant species . Then Further , I feel for the Environment, For the Whole Universe ‘ This Lower Ego has Expanded and transformed to a Very Higher Kind of Ego. Their is then an Ego beyond all these that one reaches in state of Samadhi or in the Superconscious state.” I ” become One with ” Brahman” . This is a state difficult to describe. But we can get an idea. Suppose you are watching the movie Sholay. Gabbar Singh and other Dacoits Kill Jay( Amitabh) and you feel sad , Veeru captures Gabbar and You feel Happy, You will notice that during those moments you almost forgot about ” I” consciousness. You got absorbed in the Movie and became one with Jay Veeru and Gabbar feeling their love , hate , pain , happiness. Now This ” I” was lost in Movie due to state of ” Concentration” . Usually this happens to many people when they Like a thing, or when they are very used to doing that thing, eg A cook who is cooking concentrates on cooking process and forgets that “he” is there Some one calls him and he may not be able to listen. Similarly when you are absorbed in singing , or in deep study. For most people such concentration is possible in matters in which they are habituated. The Gita teaches that all works should be done thus. He who is one with the Lord through Yoga performs all his works by becoming immersed in concentration, and does not seek any personal benefit. This is what is meant by Giving up LOWER EGO , and This is what is also a motto of Ramakrishna Math & Mission – Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya cha (आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च) (for one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the World).

So Yes One can say Lower EGO cares only of Self -Benefit Behind the Work
And Higher Ego Has also motive of SELF Benefit but the HIGHER EGO has its SELF become larger, greater , expanded and it includes others ..Me My Relatives and Others also … And It is also Mindset of Work . When I think or feel along narrow circle of  by my Own Limited self , It is Lower Ego and When I think and feel and include more entities beyond my narrow – I , Mine, Myself ,Me , My family .- then it’s a Higher Ego. It is a matter of Degree – Very Low Ego , Higher Ego , Still Higher Ego and so on.

Now lets again look at What Arjuna Does. He Killed Bhishma , Drona. He thus killed His beloved relative and beloved Guru. Arjuna realised this ” I” have to kill those whom “I” Hold dear – “my” relatives and “my” guru . This is Lower Ego. I will kill those who belong to my Lower EGO . Why Will I kill them ? So that Those who belong to my HIGHER EGO , The Humanity , The Eternal Principal i.e DHARMA may prevail can get Protected. धर्म संस्थापनार्थाय (for the establishment of Dharma ) . If ” I” don’t kill  those people whom ” I ” consider “my” “own” , then Duryodhan will win. He has shown त्याग here. त्याग of Lower Ego and ग्रहण of Higher Ego. Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona in battle, but along with that, he sacrificed all his self-interest and desires and his lower self millions of times. ” … Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona; if this had not been done Duryodhana could not have been conquered, the force of evil would have triumphed over the force of good, and thus a great calamity would have fallen on the country. The government of the country would have been usurped (हड़प लिए जाते ) by a body of proud unrighteous kings ( अभिमानी अधर्मी, दम्भी , घमंडी राजाओं द्वारा ) , to the great misfortune (दुर्भाग्य) of the people.

In Truth I and You are one. Advaita informs us : तत् त्वम् असि ( You are THAT) , सो अहम् , सः अहम् ( I am THAT ) ; अहम् ब्रह्म अस्मि ( I am BRAHMA ) .
So Brahma ब्रह्म & अहम् are ONE and SAME . When One reaches that stage , This is the highest level of Self -Realizatdion. Just like when a thorn pricks a sole of my foot, my eyes Cry and has tears, My throat expresses the pain though Shriek , My hand comes and removes that thorn . Does the hand remain Unconcerned. No! Why ? Because its the same body. All parts of body are mine. Similarly when ” I and You and all become one ” in the sense that Advaita Informs us , ONENESS , SOLIDARITY Comes , and Then आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च becomes natural and spontaneous ( सहज ).

Even Then EVIL still clings to work : If I had left the nail in place. Tyre would have punctured.Some Poor Mechanic would have earned some extra money and fed his hungry child.
So When I put away that nail, I have prevented that poor man from earning that extra money. Also suppose the next man on bike was a chain snatcher and so he reached that lady ahead of you , snatched her chain and when she resisted , hit her so hard that she fell down and was run over by a truck and died. So If you had NOT removed that NAIL , his tyre would have Punctured. He could NOT snatch her chain . She would Not have resisted and fallen and she would not have died.
So Even If You may be feeling happy that you saved others from suffering due to tyre puncture, this “work” led to ” Killing ” of innocent”

That’s why Swamiji says : The result of every work is mixed with good and evil. There is no good work that has not a touch of evil in it.
So what’s the way out. He later says and Gita says Be “Unattached” अनासक्त / निस्संगत्वं

Shankaracharya in Bhaja Govindam :
सत्संगत्वे निस्संगत्वं,
निस्संगत्वे निर्मोहत्वं।
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं
निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः ॥९॥
संतों के संग से वैराग्य की प्राप्ति होती है, वैराग्य से विवेक की प्राप्ति होती है, विवेक से स्थिर तत्त्वज्ञान की प्राप्ति होती है और तत्त्वज्ञान से मोक्ष की प्राप्ति होती है ॥९॥
Association with saints brings non-attachment, non-attachment leads to right knowledge, right knowledge leads us to permanent awareness,to which liberation follows.

——————
KEY Learnings :
EGO : अहँकार
अहँकार अहम् करोमि, अहम् कर्त्ता – – मैं कर रहा हूँ , मैंने किया है का भाव
Learn to Grow an outgrow the Lower EGO
Evil and Good Both Cling to Work
Work without Attachment

Reference :
THE “EGO” OF THE MASTER
WORK WITHOUT MOTIVE :

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