How can we avoid ego while doing what we like to do?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So if we do services which we like to do, then it may lead to false ego. Well, it is also false ego to think that I don’t have false ego right now. So, the fact is, we all have pride.
We all have pride right now. But right now, many of us don’t have any reason to express that pride. So that means, see, there is internally pride, just like there is lust internally.
And if there is some stimulus which provokes the lust, then the lust comes out. It is not that that object causes lust. Again, the same point earlier I talked about.
See, it is not that woman is the cause of lust. When Krishna tells Arjuna, where is lust situated? He says, in the senses, mind and intelligence, lust is situated. Krishna doesn’t say lust is situated in the sense objects.
He said, in our own senses, mind and intelligence. So, what the perception of the sense objects does is, it triggers the dormant lust. The lust is there, that becomes activated on the perception of the sense objects.
Sense objects are not the source of lust. They are the trigger of lust. So like that, similarly, now for us, pride is already there in our heart, but presently it is dormant.
So when we do something praiseworthy, when we do something special, something glorious, at that time pride becomes activated. But pride, whether it is active or dormant, it is pride and it is still there. So it is, the cure for pride is not suppression of talent.
The cure for pride is purification of intent. The cure for pride is not suppression of talent. That means, if I am talented at doing something, say if I can sing nicely, and if I think, if I sing nicely, I will become proud, so I will not sing nicely.
By that the pride is not going to go away. Because the pride is still there in the heart. All that will happen by that is, when somebody else sings nicely, that pride will become active in an ugly way as envy.
When somebody sings nicely, you say, see how proud he is. So by suppressing talent, we will not be able to remove pride. What removes pride is the connection with Krishna.
Now when we get connected with Krishna, that connection with Krishna gives us higher happiness. When we get higher happiness, then by that higher happiness, we ourselves understand, okay, if I become proud, I may get some pleasure in basking in my glory, and everybody else praises me, and I bask in my glory, I get some pleasure. But how much pleasure is in that? How much pleasure? You know, people are going to praise me for a few minutes, and then after that, there is nothing left for me.
But on the other hand, if I absorb myself in Krishna, so I will get much more happiness. So if I am singing for Krishna, and I am singing nicely, if I am thinking, after my singing, how many people are going to praise me? Then if nobody praises me, I will be frustrated. Even if somebody praises me, I will say, aniyor, aniyor, praise me more, praise me more.
We will never be satisfied with that. But on the other hand, if I can sing nicely about Krishna, let me think about Krishna, let me absorb myself in Krishna, then gradually we will ourselves realize that whatever pleasure comes from the gratification of pride, that is much lesser than the pleasure that comes from absorption in Krishna. And then slowly, what will happen is, we will start doing that, not so much for being praised by others, but we will start doing it to absorb ourselves in Krishna, to please Krishna.
And that way, the purification of intent will happen. So the cure for pride is not suppression of talent, but purification of intent. And the purification of intent can happen only when we experience higher happiness.
So, when we experience higher happiness, then we will be able to give up the intention for lower happiness. That’s why, even if there is a possibility that by doing what we like to do, we may become proud, still we should do what we like to. And also, we can strive to cultivate humility.
That means, if somebody praises us, we can tell, yes, it is Krishna’s mercy. It is Krishna who has given me these abilities. And we can strive for humility, but striving for humility doesn’t mean suppressing our ability.
It means channelizing our ability. It means enhancing our purity. It is not suppressing our ability.
Does it answer your question? Thank you.