Abandoning the Ego: Two Paths to Liberation

Day 155

Abandoning the Ego: Two Paths to Liberation

Rama questions Vasistha on abandoning the ego. If he lets go of ego, wouldn't that mean giving up his body and everything associated with it?

Two Kinds of Ego Abandonment

Vasistha explains two approaches to abandoning the ego-sense and its associated cravings:

• Contemplative Egolessness: This involves recognizing the deluded notion that we belong to objects and depend on them. Through deep contemplation, one realizes this is not true and detaches from the ego while playfully engaging in natural actions with a tranquil mind.

• Direct Realization of Egolessness: This involves direct experience of the non-dual truth, where one sees no separation between oneself and the world. There's no feeling of "mine" even towards the body.

Liberation Through Both Paths

Vasistha explains that both contemplative and direct realization lead to liberation. Those who playfully abandon the ego through contemplation are liberated while living. Those who directly experience egolessness are established in equanimity and also liberated. Examples include Janaka (contemplative path) and others who transcended body-consciousness (direct realization). Ultimately, both paths lead to a state of being untouched by the world, like someone in deep sleep.

The Nature of the Liberated Sage

Vasistha describes the characteristics of a liberated sage while living:

• Natural Desires: They experience desires that arise naturally during essential functions, without craving for external objects.
• Detached Attention: Their attention is naturally directed without being swayed by external objects.
• Unattached to Objects: They are not affected by contact with the world and experience true liberation.
• Unconditional Desire: They may have a natural desire that existed before contact with objects, but it's free from impurity and sorrow.

Giving Up Craving

Vasistha emphasizes abandoning craving, which arises when the ego seeks to possess things. He advises giving up both desires for worldly objects and liberation itself. One should remain still and unbothered by mortality, knowing the Self is beyond such limitations. When the entire universe is seen as an illusion, craving loses its meaning.

Four Modes of Self-Identification

Vasistha outlines four ways humans identify themselves:

1. Body Identity: This leads to bondage.
2. Subtle Body Identity: This is more liberating than the first.
3. Eternal Self in All: This is even more liberating.
4. Void and Unmanifested: This is the most liberating.

Desires and Liberation

Desires related to the body cause bondage, while those arising from the other three modes of self-identification do not. Once one realizes the Self as everything, there's no more falling into error or sorrow. This Self is the ultimate reality, described as the void, nature, Maya, Brahman, etc.

Duality and Non-Duality

Vasistha acknowledges the paradox of duality and non-duality. While the truth is non-dual, actions happen in apparent duality. Therefore, one should embrace both. Ultimately, when duality and non-duality concepts cease, only infinite consciousness remains as the true reality.