One of the wildest manifestations of ego is in the form of insecurity. People often say that ego makes you more powerful, but the truth is it makes you weaker.
Think of Duryodhana from Mahabharata, who despite having legendary warriors like Bheeshma, Dronacharya, Karna and Ashwatthama by his side, still felt fear.
In the Bhagavad Gita, when Shri Krishna and Pandavas blew their conches, Sanjay says “the hearts of Kauravas shattered by that sound”. (1.19) While Duryodhana had deep-rooted ego in him that made him feel like the Lord of the world, it also made him weaker than anybody on that battlefield.
Ego arises from ownership and ownership itself is delusion, therefore the root of ego is delusion. Deluded by the false nature of ego, man thinks of himself to be the doer, but the truth is far from this. You are not the doer. There is nothing you can truly control, so why bother controlling?
We try to control things because we think we have any power over external reality, but we don’t.
Why are you insecure? What will you lose? What do you own?
Do you own your body? No. Your parents created it.
Do you own your mind? No. You learned everything from this world.
Do you own your car or house? No. Every inch of it was made using natural materials. Prakriti owns it.
Do you own your partner? No. Somebody created them, somebody nourished them and now you’re with them. You don’t own them; you just experience them.
Don’t fear for what you may lose for you own nothing to begin with. You don’t even own yourself.
The only thing you own and you are, is the eternal Soul. And if you are that Soul, what are you afraid of? Temporary ups and downs? Some sadness and tears? Just like seasons change, so do situations. Shri Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita states ” of the transient, there is no endurance and of the eternal there is no cessation.”
Let your transient problems come and go like seasons, and stay established in the Soul.
