For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Ego and Mahatma Gandhi

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail- dr.yadav.yogendra@gandhifoundation.net;

dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com

Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

Ego and Mahatma Gandhi

I was by the side of that saintly politician to the end of his life and I found no ego in him. I ask you, members of the Social Service League, if there is no ego in you. If he wanted to shine, he wanted to shine in the political field of his country; he did so not in order that he might gain public applause, but in order that his country might gain. He developed every particular faculty in him, not in order to win the praise of the world for himself, but in order that his country might gain. He did not seek public applause, but they were showered upon him, they were thrust upon him; he wanted that his country might gain and that was his great inspiration. 1 I do not know anything about Shri Shukla’s resignation. I know Manilal has a hot temper. I have been taking all possible measures in regard to such things. This is a grim struggle. I have plunged into it in the hope that in the end the people will become religious-minded. I feel immense joy when I see the beautiful transformation in the lives of many. At the same time, I am grieved to see that many have joined the fight just to feed their ego. But who am I to judge others? I am not at all worried, for I am carrying on the fight with a detached mind and trust that God will save me from all sins. 2

The wonderful implication of the great truth Brahma satyam jaganmithya grows on me from day to day. We should therefore be always patient. This will purge us of harshness and make us more tolerant. Our lapses will then appear as mountains and those of others as small as mole-hills. The body exists because of our ego. The utter extinction of the body is moksha. He who has achieved such extinction of the ego becomes the very image of Truth; he may well be called the Brahman. Hence it is that a loving name of God is Dasanudasa. 3 Even the ripe fruit that falls to the ground has life in it and, therefore, eating it should also be regarded as a sin. The fact of our having a body is itself an evil, and wherever there is evil there is suffering. Hence the imperative need for moksha. One cannot, however, be rid of the body by destroying it. Our association with the body can be totally ended only through complete freedom from desire, indifference to material happiness and renunciation. Desire or the ego is the root cause of the body. Once they have vanished, the body cannot but cease to exit. But while the body continues to exist, one must have the minimum quantity of food necessary to keep it functioning. Man’s essential requirements of nutrition are met by fruits and foods obtained from plants. Anyone who subsists on the smallest quantity of these, obtaining them with the least violence to ethical principles may be said to be free from sin though living on impure food. Such a person eats not in order to satisfy his palate but to keep himself alive, to keep the body functioning. It will now be seen that a ripe fruit which has fallen off the tree, if eaten to gratify one’s palate will be tainted food while a cooked meal of vegetables and cereals, prepared and served in the normal course, will be pure food if eaten to satisfy one’s hunger and without any thought of gratifying the palate. 4

There is violence always in the attachment to one’s ego. When doing anything, one must ask oneself this question: “Is my action inspired by egoistic attachment?” If there is no such attachment, then there is no violence. 5 Shri Krishna tells Arjuna that he is talking specious wisdom. The Gita does not teach the path of action, nor of knowledge, nor of devotion. No matter how well one cultivates vairagya or how diligent one is in performing good actions or what measure of bhakti one practises, one will not shed the sense of “I” and “mine” till one has attained knowledge. One can attain self-realization only if one sheds this attachment to the ego. It is possible only for a person who has succeeded in doing so. In English, ‘i’ is a vertical line with a dot above it. Only when this ‘I’ is done away with can one attain self-realization. A man’s devotion to God is to be judged from the extent to which he gives up his stiffness and bends low in humility. Only then will he be, not an impostor, but a truly illumined man, a man of genuine knowledge. The Gita does not advocate any one of the three paths; I have from my experience come to the conclusion that it has been composed to teach this one truth which I have explained. We can follow truth only in the measure that we shed our attachment to the ego. It is to teach this that Shri Krishna has advanced the beautiful argument of the Gita. 6

A man does not become a yogi because he is known to have performed a thousand yajna or made huge gifts. We have to take into account whether he was free from attachment to the ego, whether he willingly turned in Mira’s words as God pulled him with a slender thread, whether he worked accordingly, and so on. Vyasa wants to tell us that a yogi should offer up to God everything he does, whether it is good or indifferent, should look upon Him as the sole author of everything. 7 The verses here have different meanings, but it is not that one verse applies to the enlightened man and the other to the man yet striving for enlightenment. One and the same verse can be understood to apply to both, in the same way that the Gita as a whole can be interpreted to refer to the types of war, the outer and the inner. This verse, therefore, means that we may say of a person whose attachment to the ego has disappeared that there is no karma for him, that he may do something and yet do nothing. 8

The work done by a person without much ability but also without attachment to his ego will produce better results than that done by another who is attached to his ego. Take the example of a state ruled by a king and his minister. The latter works was within the framework of the administrative setup. In just the same way, we are pilgrims in this world and obey the laws of the world. If we lay claim to what we are prompted by our nature to do, we sow confusion in the minds of the ignorant. We should realize that we are no more than servants bound to carry out another’s orders, and should voluntarily act as if we were slaves. Mira described herself as being a slender thread, because she submitted to her nature. She used the phrase “slender thread” because she had submitted herself to God’s will so completely that there was no question of her resisting. He who eats simply to give the body its hire will not think of pleasing his palate. Anyone who lives in accordance with this law will forget his ego completely; surrender to Krishna everything he does. 9

You should, Shri Krishna says, shed your attachment to the ego and work that is, work with the thought that you are not the doer of the karma and its fruit is not meant for you to enjoy, acting as if you were a piece of inert matter like the spindle of the spinning-wheel and like the wick of a lamp which goes on burning by itself. If I did not bring into existence all the factors necessary for the burning of the lamp, how would the wick burn? The wick was shut up within the cotton pad. How did that cotton know that it would one day be made into a wick? It was spun and twisted and then made into a wick. If Arjuna wanted to be like the wick, to think of himself as the atman within and not his body, he must learn to shed his attachment to the ego and empty himself of all desires. By first choosing well against evil and then becoming unattached to either, one can transcend both. So long as we dwell in the body, it functions according to its nature. We should live in accordance with this truth; otherwise we shall invite moral ruin. We should, therefore, aim at the highest. The same is true about our aspiration for moksha. One who is already in water no longer desires to jump into it. If it were true that in water we melt away, we would not at all want to jump into it. Just then, however, moksha was not Arjuna’s goal, nor did he aspire after it or hope for it. We should have as our ideal a state unaffected by hope or desire though, of course, our present state is that of human beings full of desires.

Being in a state unaffected by desire is the same as having the absolute conviction that we shall attain moksha. This idea of a state unaffected by desire is to be understood both in regard to our spiritual aspiration and the needs of the body, that is, both in regard to the ultimate goal and practical concerns. In regard to the former, there is no question of being affected by desire. The man who is incapable of doing evil, what interest can he have in good and evil? It is not true that, after the evil in one is completely destroyed, one is able to do well. We only imagine that it is so. When a person never feels the urge to use a sword, how can we attribute non-violence to him? This is a scientific truth, and not poetry; it states a principle concerning the atman. Be in such a state, Shri Krishna tells Arjuna, that is, be perfectly still in your mind, and fight. This idea that one should learn to act like inert matter occurs at many places in the Mahabharata. Why did Shri Krishna ask them to place an iron image of Bhima before Dhritarashtra? He made everyone his instrument, and then asked them to place an iron image of Bhima what does all this mean? He asked Arjuna to become passion-free and fight, that is, to banish all impatience and anxiety from his mind and then fight. I would kill a snake or flea or bug only if I am angry or annoyed. 10

That person who is described as doing shariram karma does not have to suffer the fruits of karma. This does not mean that his karma bears no fruit, but only that he seeks none. In other words, he does not attribute the karma to his atman. For instance, I listen to the Gita being read out. I should do so with humility, for listening to it is my duty; the fruit of listening to it will follow of itself, whether we think of it or not, in the same way that a seed which has been sown grows by itself into a tree. This seed has no ego. We are animals to the extent that we have some needs in common with them, but in certain respects we are different from them. The consciousness that we do things should disappear from us. A person who writes his diary every day does not think about how much his hand worked during the day; in that way all our work should be done mechanically. 11

The sinful man, so long as he is conscious of his ego, describes himself as the wicked of men. Tulsidas says, on the one hand, that there could be none as lustful, lecherous, degraded and adulterous as he was and, on the other hand, attributes all his sins to God, for, since he had no ego in him, how could he have committed those sins? The river Ganga washes away all kinds of sins, but she receives no stain. Likewise, the timeless body in Rama is sinless. The physical Rama, of course, is subject to sin. If we pervert this idea and start committing sins and then say that sins cannot touch us, we shall be like the frog in the fable who tried to blow his body into the size of an ox and so burst. A bhakta will say: “I am a sinful man, but I am in your hands.” Beyond this, our reason does not work. “Do not describe man as God; he is not God, but he is not different from the light of God.” 12

The body cannot do karma without the ego. Without the atman, the body itself can do nothing. This is one more problem. This makes the atman a doer. It means, then, that the atman, joined to the ego, dwells in the body and does things. What we should do then was explained in Chapter III.“Service of others brings holy merit to one, and through harassment of others one incurs sin.” We may unhesitatingly do what is most for the benefit of others. We shall, of course, assume that the person doing that will be as detached from it as he can be. When we take the least credit for such work, it will be done with the most efficiency. A person walking with his natural speed of a mile an hour will outdistance another running at a speed of sixty miles, for the former will have his joy in his atman, whereas the latter will be full of doubts. His running will on the whole serve no purpose. If our work is free from egotism, though our speed may be slow, we are certain to reach the goal. Let us by all means work in the spirit of yajna and for the benefit of others. All that we should concern ourselves with is whether it is the body or the atman that we serve. To say that man is born for service of others is true in one sense only, because all his work is prompted by self-interest. If this self-interest is the interest of the atman, then one’s work is for the benefit of others. All the activities of such a person will be prompted by the motive of service. 13 A supposedly uncultured peasant can, on occasion, quote verses from Tulsidas which fill one with the joy of knowledge and devotion, and another, a great poet, forgets his ego though he is a man of profound knowledge and seeks the company of saintly men. If the reader reflects over both these instances in a detached spirit, leaving out the reference to me, he will realize what our culture is and how we can make ourselves worthy of it. 14

So long as we are unable to see through the wall of the body, the qualities of truth and non-violence will not become fully manifest in us. When we think of pursuing truth, we must stop mistaking the body for ourselves, for we shall have to die in the pursuit of truth. The same is true of non-violence. The body is the root of ego. One who has attachment to the body cannot free himself of the ego. I cannot become wholly free of violence so long as I have the feeling that this body is mine. One who desires to have vision of God will have to transcend the body, to despise it, to court death. For when a man is secure in the faith that Right always prevails, he never swerves there from, pursuing to the bitterest end and against serious odds, and as no part of the effort proceeds from his ego, but all is dedicated to Him, being ever one with Him, he is released from birth and death. 15 But to those who are full of anger and pride and whose ego is very strong, who cannot think clearly because of excitement, I will definitely say “Please wait”. If they take a hasty step even unintentionally, its result is bound to be bitter. Whatever self-restraint is observed now will also disappear and the future generations which will suffer from the tyranny of false Satyagraha will curse us and blame Satyagraha itself. Hence every thoughtful person should know the limits of Satyagraha. Those who do not do so should stop using the name of Satyagraha and then act as they wish. The world will know where they stand. But the things which are done in the name of Satyagraha and which are unworthy of it will confuse and perplex the people and they will not know what path to follow. 16

This is also true about spiritual maladies. The cause is always one, and that is the ego. The remedy also is one giving up the ego that is, reducing oneself to a cipher. How will one who is a cipher steal? How will he tell a lie or commit adultery? The very questions you have asked spring from ignorance. Let us take just one example. Of course you do not steal in the ordinary sense, but you are right in thinking that your lack of control in eating is a form of stealing. The remedy for this kind of stealing and the ordinary kind must be the same, that is, to give up the habit, to stop eating what you should not. But who is it that eats such food? The ego-self. Once that has vanished, the other self, though eating, will not be eating and will only give the body its wages. There will be no more questions, then, of indulging the palate. Probably you will accept all this with your reason, but it will have meaning only if it sinks into the heart. We live in the Ashram and seek good company, sing bhajans, etc., daily, in order that this truth may sink into the heart. Some day we shall find what we are seeking. In other words, our malady in the form of the ego will be cured. From this you should be able to deduce all the answers, and if you cannot, no matter how much I write and explain, you will not feel satisfied. Ask me again and again till your doubts are resolved. 17

The seed of ego is destroyed only when one feels oneself to be a cipher. If anyone looks inward and ponders deeply over the matter, he cannot but realize his total insignificance. As we count an insect insignificant relatively to the earth, so is an insignificant in relation to this universe which is millions of times faster than the earth. That he is endowed with reason makes no difference to this fact. His greatness lies in realizing his insignificance, for simultaneously with such realization, he realizes that, insignificant in himself, he is an insignificant aspect of God and that, when he merges in Him, he becomes God, that this microscopic atom which he is contains the infinite power of God. 18 What one hears may be only a semblance of the inner voice or in fact the voice of the ego. The ego means Satan, Ravana, Ahriman or the Demon. We cannot always recognize whether it is the voice of Rama or Ravana. Very often, Ravana appears in the garb of a sadhu and he looks like Rama. We should, therefore, consult a person of more experience if such a one is available. I intended to write a short letter, but I have written a long one. Show this to all. 19 Today they are kept separate and that is why we kill each other. When we are tired of religion, we become atheists and then our ego alone is left and nothing else, not even God. But when we acquire true understanding, the ego perishes and God alone remains. Rama then is and is not the son of Dasharatha, the Lord of Sita, the brother of Bharata and Lakshmana, All honour then to those who not believing in Rama, the son of Dasharatha, still join the prayers. This is not rationalism. I have merely outlined what I do and what I believe. 20

Faith means belief in something which we cannot prove to others or in something that others cannot prove (to us). I have faith in both these senses. Once we fully believe that faith can do everything, we have no place anywhere, or being in it, our place is everywhere. It is absolutely true that I wanted to live. It was out of pride that I had a yearning that my body still had a function to perform. It is still there. Even while knowing that every disease lies there, it is not destroyed. My physical senses are pulling me perforce and do not let me give up my ego. The greatest endeavour is endeavour for moksha. Moksha means elimination of ego. I prevail into everybody. The first step is the intense experience that I am unhappy when others are unhappy and I am happy when others are happy. When that happens, the ego can hardly persist. In the midst of disturbances I find and experience peace. How can there be peace when there is misery everywhere? But if that misery has to be eliminated, I have got to be calm, and therefore, I remain calm. If I do something grievously wrong for the sake of swaraj, Swami Ramatirtha’s description of it as a night would be correct. Swami Vivekananads's view is also correct that our rise with the help of the world implies the welfare of the world. 21

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