अहंकार (The Ego)

How to annihilate the ego? 

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The very concept of ego is alien / foreign to the Abrahmic religions, while in psychology, it refers to the psyche, the individual consciousness, and the personal identity.

However in Veda, Vedanta and the related texts, it is defined very clearly, and the removal of ego is equated with the liberation, enlightenment and dissolution of ignorance. The annihilation of ego in the Buddhist texts is 'nirvana'.

We can see the same 'nirvana' finds place in Gita also and is referred to as 'Brahma-nirvana'.

We may also note that historically the birth of  Buddha was much later than Krishna, and the war of MAHABHARATA, where-in is the Gita narrated.

Tirthankar Bhagavan Mahavira is contemporary of Buddha and while in the Jain-texts, the self (Atman) is immortal reality, the Atman, which is attainment of Moksh of the self.

Jain however insist that every individual has to work for one's own Moksh / liberation, attain the (state of) Atman, which is freedom eternal from  the cycle of repeated births and deaths.  

Whatever be the different rationales, the three religions of the East agree that the ego is the only obstacle in the way to realization.

If the ego is / has a hypothetical existence only,  a notion only, how it becomes such a formidable obstacle to Realization or the Supreme wisdom, (which is just another name of this enlighten-ment, and is not a state of the individual mind), and here arises a legitimate question :

Exactly "who" is caught in the trap of this ego?

Is the individual, -the 'self' is yet another entity which is being neither the ego nor the Atman? 

Let us see what is ego. 

Ego is a confederation of the four functions of the mind, and this mind is not one or many but a quality of consciousness only, not to be viewed in terms of one or many. We can liken this with the example of water which is kept in different vessels. As such water couldn't be said to be as one or many. As water it is the same, though appears in many vessels.

Exactly so, the mind that is consciousness only, when is thought of being associated with a living being (say a human), appears to be the individual mind. 

Again this individual mind comprises of the four major traits, and could be named / enumerated according to their respective roles as under:

1.The (sense of) doer-ship, the assumption 'I do' or 'I don't do', associated with the idea that I am an independent entity  --thus associating oneself with, and defining oneself in terms of ego. 

2.The (sense of) enjoyment, the assumption 'I experience' -- variously different kinds of many  pleasures and pains.

3.The (sense of) ownership, the assumption 'I am the owner of so many things' 

--either of the material kind, or in the form of abstract notion. 

So I possess these things in this way. 

No doubt this is only a thought and not a reality that could be verified physically. 

Like saying : 

"I am the owner of this house, car or money, land, property, ..."

This is really and solely supported by and depends on conventions only.

4.The (sense of) knowledge --

"I know this and that"

All this knowledge is but stored in the memory, and the memory itself keeps removing part of the old, and adding on new knowledge, moment to moment.

These four are the very foundational blocks or the pillars upon which this building, the edifice, the ego, stands proudly.

As such, really there is no such an entity which may exist as ego. Understanding this whole network of thought results in the realization  at once, that this assumed ego is but a false notion acquired in the mind because of in-attention.

The 'attention' on the other hand, is verily the consciousness itself and conversely the consciousness itself is attention. 

The two can't exist apart from one-another.

Awakening to this fact is the only clue to end this trap, "in-attention".

This is how this conceptual ego is eradicated.

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अहंकार, अहंवृत्ति अर्थात् अहं-प्रत्यय है। 

विवेक-चूडामणि :

अस्ति कश्चित् स्वयं नित्यं अहं-प्रत्ययलम्बनः।

अवस्थात्रयसाक्षी सन् पञ्चकोष विलक्षणः ।।१२५

के अनुसार अहंकार, अहं-प्रत्यय या अहंवृत्ति वृत्ति ही है और वृत्तिमात्र चित्तवृत्ति ही होती है। 

"योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः"

इसी का द्योतक है कि दृष्टा के स्वरूप में अवस्थित होने हेतु वृत्तिमात्र का निरोध हो जाना आवश्यक है। 

निरोध और निरसन का तात्पर्य भिन्न भिन्न है। 

निरोध एक निश्चित और सीमित समय के लिए होता अथवा किया जा सकता है, जबकि निरसन का अर्थ है, वृत्तिमात्र का नष्ट हो जाना। मनोलय और मनोनाश का क्रमशः यही तात्पर्य है।

वायुरोधनाल्लीयते मनः।

जालपक्षिवद्रोधसाधनम्।। ११

प्राण और चित्त एक ही शक्ति (चेतना) के वैसे ही दो प्रकार हैं,

जैसे किसी एक ही वृक्ष की दो शाखाएँ होती हैं।

चित्तवायव श्चित्क्रियायुताः।

शाखयोर्द्वयी शक्तिमूलका।। १२

लयविनाशने उभयरोधने।

लयगतं पुनर्भवति नो मृतम्।। १३

प्राणबन्धनाल्लीन मानसम्।

एकचिन्तनान्नाशमेत्यदः।। १४

(श्रीरमण महर्षि विरचित 'उपदेश-सार')

यह एकचिन्तन पुनः ईश्वर के प्रति समर्पण के अर्थ में हो सकता है,  जैसा कि :

ईश्वरप्रणिधानाद्वा ।। २३

(पातञ्जल योगसूत्र समाधिपाद)

इस प्रकार ईश्वर के ध्यान, भक्ति अथवा स्मरण-चिन्तन आदि से भी समाधिलाभ हो सकता है किन्तु इसके बाद भी यह समाधि यदि मनोलय मात्र है तो अहंकार, अहं-प्रत्यय या अहं-वृत्ति का तात्कालिक लय / निरोध मात्र है, न कि अहंकार का निरसन। 

इसलिए अहंकार का नाश अर्थात् मनोनाश, ईश्वर की मान्यता रखते हुए या ऐसी मान्यता से रहित मनुष्य की स्थिति में उसके लिए भी संभव है।

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