Q. Wherefrom does the ego rise?
A. Soul, mind, ego are mere words. There are no true entities of the kind. Consciousness is the only truth.
Forgetfulness of your real nature is the real death; remembrance of it is the true birth. It puts an end to successive births. Yours is then eternal life: How does the desire for eternal life arise? Because the present state is unbearable. Why? Because, it is not your true nature. Had it been your real nature, there would be no desire to agitate you. How does the present state differ from your real nature? You are spirit in truth.
Man considers himself limited; there arises the trouble. The idea is wrong. In sleep there was no world, no ego and no trouble. Something wakes up from that happy state and says 'I'. To that ego the world appears. It is the rise of the ego that is the cause of the trouble. Let him trace the ego to its source and he will reach that undifferentiated happy source, a state which is sleepless sleep. The Self is ever there; wisdom only appears to dawn, though it is natural.
Q. Are ego and the Self the same?
A. Self can be without the ego, but the ego cannot be without the Self. Egos are like bubbles in the ocean.
Impurities and worldly attachments affect only the ego; the Self remains pure and unaffected.
All these are only mental concepts. You are now identifying yourself with a wrong which is the 'I' thought. This I-thought rises and sinks whereas the true significance of cannot do so. There cannot be a break in your being.
The father of your personal 'I' is the real I-God. Try to find out the source of the individual I and then you will reach the other 'I'.
When the individual goes, the desires also go.
Conscious Immortality
Conversations with Ramana Maharshi
by Paul Brunton
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