How can we overcome our false ego and rise from our material identity to our spiritual identity?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So our false ego is very strong and we get caught in our material identity and we don’t focus on our spiritual identity so much. See sometimes we just get too caught in the dialectic of the material and the spiritual.
More important than material and spiritual is whether it takes me towards Krishna or it takes me away from Krishna. Ultimately how do we define what is materialism? My health is it a material thing? It is material but then I need my health to serve Krishna and the food that I eat is it material? It’s material what is prasad? I need food for serving Krishna. So rather than focusing too much on material or spiritual we focus on how can I serve Krishna? How can I engage in Krishna’s service? There is a class and in the class there is a joke.
Now by laughing at the joke is this material pleasure or spiritual pleasure? I’ll become paralyzed if I start thinking like this. It’s an ambit of discussing a Krishna conscious philosophy. That’s good enough.
So basically as long as we are doing the basic practice of sadhana vakti as long as life is devoted to Krishna we don’t have to worry so much about material or spiritual. Focus on whether it is whether it is helpful for us going towards Krishna or whether it is taking us away from Krishna. So sometimes material things are also important for our going towards Krishna.
So Krishna and the whole principle of varanashram Varanashram essence is not rejecting our mental identity it is connecting our mental identity. Now brahmana he is not in the soul like a brahmana. naaham vipronu chinnarupati naapi vaishyonu chittinam I will categorically say that the soul level there is no varanashram essence is what? Our material identity is to be used for a spiritual purpose.
So rather than thinking of oh I have got so much of false ego whatever I have how can I use it in Krishna service and as I use it in Krishna service I become purified. But the false ego will not go away simply by intellection. Intellection is intellectual analysis.
Yes to the extent we can do that kind of analysis that is good but ultimately the false ego will go away by purification and purification will happen when there is connection when we connect with Krishna we serve Krishna so whatever we are right now we just serve Krishna so if I have the nature of intellectual then naturally I will want to serve Krishna through studying through reading through speaking through writing that’s what I am and I will identify myself as a writer as a speaker whatever it is that’s okay but that is in service to Krishna somebody else has a tendency to expertise in singing will identify himself as a singer is that false ego yes soul where soul may not have that sweet singing ability may not you don’t know it’s that singing ability is from the body it’s false ego