What is the ego?

[forestofsouls]

There are some interesting interviews here.

 

I think the most interesting was Amrit Desai. He was the founder of Kripalu Yoga and was known for his intense shaktipat abilities. This is before he was exposed having an affair with one of his disciples (he was supposed to be celibate). He makes an interesting point about how energy work does not necessarily decrease the ego tendencies.

[rookie]

A collection of beliefs that one identifies with, completely fabricated, quite often unconciously.

[rookie]

He makes an interesting point about how energy work does not necessarily decrease the ego tendencies.

 

It can more easily inflate it. When one gets good at anything it is easy to let the ego take over with its "see how great I am" feeling.

[Teddy]

How come so many great yoga gurus turn out to be corrupt? (bikram, mansukh patel, sivananda...)

[Lightbringer]

How does sleeping with a disciple end up making him corrupt? Maybe he simply had seen that he needed to explore his karma with a sexual relationship. I think it's a sign that growth was needed simply because he was not honest about his choice, but corrupt? Just because it's your personal taboo (or more likely a socially imposed one you subscribe to), doesn't matter. We all have our karma that no one else can fully comprehend.

 

Me, I may end up in a relationship with a couple women because that's where my and my girlfriend's karma seems to lie. It's not something people like, but good for them. It's not their karma. In the end, I may go "This isn't for me anymore" or "There really is something good about this" but I'll never know unless I do it. And my karma will not be resolved until I put myself in that situation.

[rookie]

How does sleeping with a disciple end up making him corrupt? Maybe he simply had seen that he needed to explore his karma with a sexual relationship. I think it's a sign that growth was needed simply because he was not honest about his choice, but corrupt? Just because it's your personal taboo (or more likely a socially imposed one you subscribe to), doesn't matter. We all have our karma that no one else can fully comprehend.

 

Me, I may end up in a relationship with a couple women because that's where my and my girlfriend's karma seems to lie. It's not something people like, but good for them. It's not their karma. In the end, I may go "This isn't for me anymore" or "There really is something good about this" but I'll never know unless I do it. And my karma will not be resolved until I put myself in that situation.

 

you go dude, explore that three way karma I mean ROFL

 

sorry I couldn't resist

 

Hope it works out for you and all involved

 

Personally, I could not even date two at the same time when I was single.

[deci belle]

It can more easily inflate it. When one gets good at anything it is easy to let the ego take over with its "see how great I am" feeling.

It's not so much feeling great about yourself, but not noticing the feeling and getting carried away with the state that produces it and separates us from the moment.

 

Of course, I'm not refering to one who is actually driven to "feel great" about oneself, but to those who practice meditation in action, and temporarily get carried away with conditions.

[deci belle]

What is ego is what thinks about ego. Actually it is thought that creats ego. That's why any kind of practice is designed to negate the production and influence of thought in our lives. Opinions and feelings are ego's lifeblood. Ego really isn't a thing at all. Ego is just a function. Not a bad thing such as it is- but it forgets that function and takes on identity just because it can. The problem with this scenario is the forgetting part. That and the bundle of neurosis that sticks to everything it can just to validate itself because it knows something ain't right- but it doesn't intend to give it up or let it go.

[dwai]

There are some interesting interviews here.

 

I think the most interesting was Amrit Desai. He was the founder of Kripalu Yoga and was known for his intense shaktipat abilities. This is before he was exposed having an affair with one of his disciples (he was supposed to be celibate). He makes an interesting point about how energy work does not necessarily decrease the ego tendencies.

 

Been wrestling with that for a long time.

 

In Sanskrit, Ego is called Ahamkara (Aham -- I or me and Kara -- sense of or feel of). Ahamkara therefore stands for the Feel for or the Sense of I.

 

It is also known as the "I"-maker. It's role is to reinforce regular mundane reality and is part of the social immune system, without which a human being would be completely dysfunctional and incompatible with the rest of "society".

 

As a result one will see, that those who live closer to nature (Hermits, renunciates, animals, etc) have no sense of Ego or perhaps a limited sense.

[Lightbringer]

Personally, I could not even date two at the same time when I was single.

 

Never could either, but it's the dishonesty of that situation that I don't like. Now when my girlfriend is interested in expressing her bisexuality and women are throwing themselves at us rather than just her or me...Well, we'll see.

[rookie]

Never could either, but it's the dishonesty of that situation that I don't like. Now when my girlfriend is interested in expressing her bisexuality and women are throwing themselves at us rather than just her or me...Well, we'll see.

 

Just be careful.

[p1g3on]

What is ego is what thinks about ego. Actually it is thought that creats ego. That's why any kind of practice is designed to negate the production and influence of thought in our lives. Opinions and feelings are ego's lifeblood. Ego really isn't a thing at all. Ego is just a function. Not a bad thing such as it is- but it forgets that function and takes on identity just because it can. The problem with this scenario is the forgetting part. That and the bundle of neurosis that sticks to everything it can just to validate itself because it knows something ain't right- but it doesn't intend to give it up or let it go.

 

This seems pretty good to me. The 'I' which narrates your daily events, which brings 'you' back into the past through the stories you tell yourself and memories you hold onto, and the 'you' which is projected into an ideal future are all marks of the ego. Common buddhist and taoist philosophy would say that you are not you, so to speak. which is really to say that you are not a cohesive entity. the ego is muddled and loose network of memories, internal personas, patterns, voices, projections, and internationalizations of other people which 'you' (referring to ego) frantically hold together as an image of yourself while repressing the negative desires and patterns of your unconscious self.

I think you are right on to say that the ego has its place especially in social relations, without an ego, or without a healthy ego one easily slips into madness. The true task is to recognize that you are something more than your ego, more than the 'you' which you have built up over the past...however many years. The difficult task is to patiently work at moving towards a place where you can cognitively watch the ego without being affected by its (your) stories and movements.