DO NOT DESTROY THE EGO
It is an illusion when we regard ourselves separate from Divinity. By meditation, by the things that happen within yourself, you start knowing of that power that is greater than the gross little ego. For the ego is only an idea. One has to go beyond that idea.
Do not try to destroy the ego, for by trying to destroy the ego you are strengthening it.
But expand it – stretch it. And in this very stretching, greater and greater clarity comes. And how do you stretch it? By meditation and spiritual practices. It is so, so simple.
It is so simple because it is not far from you. There is nowhere to go to seek. It is just there, here, all the time. Closer to you than your very heartbeat, for it is the cause of your heartbeat. Do you see how close it is? And when man can reach that perspective, then everything changes.
DO NOT CHANGE THE WORLD; MAN CHANGE THYSELF
Don’t change the world. I don’t want to change the world, but I ask man to change himself, that’s all. And the world will take care of itself. For my interpretation of the world can only be judgmental according to my mind.
You could look at an object, and it could be very ugly. Some years later, when you have developed a greater awareness, that very object can seem very beautiful. The object has not changed; you have changed; your perspective has changed. You have taken off the rose coloured glasses, or the yellow glasses that made everything seem so yellow and jaundiced. So, the saying “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” how true it is. The simple sayings, so true – but we fail to understand.
We fail to understand because we are using only the processes of the ever, ever-changing mind; the various combinations of these brain cells that are in this three and a half pound thing inside here, forever changing there. Brain cells destroying itself and recreating itself and preserving itself and going through this perpetual motion. But to have real understanding is to find that stillness within oneself, and that can be gained through meditation. That stillness that makes you know, and where you find the peace that passes all understanding. For if I am at peace within myself, I will find that peace with you. But if I try to understand you, I will fail because my view of you will only be partial. It will be partial and not impartial. You see.
I am looking at you through my eyes, and if my eyes are jaundiced, then I will see yellow. The fault is never in the object. The fault is in the subject. Someone does me down in some way or the other; someone blasphemes me – who’s blaspheming who? Not me. It is just a reflection of your mind. Isn’t it so in daily relationships, in our family relationships? If you blame your wife or husband or children or boss or whatever for a certain thing happening, no, you are the cause of it. You are responsible for it. There’s no one else that could assume your responsibility. Not even your guru. He can’t.
……… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1980 – 21