In our pursuit of happiness and to achieve a feeling of well being there are are just three letters – EGO! The second obstacle being our Wants and desires. To reduce our ego we need to be be aware constantly on how we react to situations. Our ego has deep roots and just when we think we have risen above our ego it springs up silently. And our mind gets disturbed and uneasy.
If only we can surrender our ego all other weaknesses disappear effortlessly. Surrendering ego does not make us timid and meek on the other hand it makes us invincible. So to be joyful and tranquil in our mind we need to test our capacity to remain unaffected and peacful whatever be the situation 🙂
Lets get inspired by Lord Buddha’s wisdom:
My good friend Biswadip in his comment below added this video in which the Holy Panchen Lama explains “Beyond Ego”! I have uploaded it in the post itself as it is indeed very powerful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA-2_W7GrL4
A special thanks to Biswadip.
Cheers 🙂
Breath of Joy 
🙂 🙂
LikeLike
🙂 🙂
LikeLike
Wonder why most of choose to be unhappy while we ourselves possess the key to happiness. Strange!
LikeLike
Personally I believe overcoming our ‘ego’ is huge challenge as it is deep rooted. So it comes down to practice – practice 🙂
LikeLike
A beautiful message there, first you be one with everything around and the change you so longed for will come to you..it is the greed and insecurity which keeps us slave to ‘I’..
loved the way you have woven the thoughts
LikeLike
Delighted and welcome! You are so right we need to focus on improving ourselves and everything else fits in 🙂
Cheers & be well!
LikeLike
I connected with this especially: If only we can surrender our ego all other weaknesses disappear effortlessly. Do you think this is truly ALL weakness? Even physical weakness?
It seems surely, if we surrender our ego, all other emotional or mental weakness would disappear, but I am not understanding how physical weakness might disappear. Would you mind explaining a little? 🙂
LikeLike
That’s a question which is quite complex. I am not sure if I can yet I’d love to share my thoughts for whatever they may be worth 🙂
When we practice living by our virtues – like being ego-less, humility, kindness and calmness etc we are sure to experience a feeling of well-being. And well-being brings us in a state of balance. Thus when we are centered and in balance there can be ‘no place’ for excess or insufficiency. So not only are we in a peaceful mental state but our physical weaknesses too start losing power and gradually fade away.
It means we need to ‘focus on our positives’ and the negatives start disappearing with minimal effort. In a friends words “It’s just like when sometimes our hanky falls off we do not even realize it and we lose it”.
Thank you for your question as it does help me in many ways too 🙂
With kind regards. Cheers!
LikeLike
Thank you Dilip! I am going to share your blog with a reader and blogger who I know will appreciate your writing too. 🙂
LikeLike
Bethany I am so happy! Thank you and best regards.
LikeLike
Great thoughts, thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
Hey Nandini nice of you to stop by and appreciate! Cheers!
LikeLike
i wish, we could follow that…but again this is what makes us different from someone like great Buddha……..
LikeLike
Hi Irfan .. you are right it is difficult but still worth the try 🙂
Cheers!
LikeLike
Happiness is such a subject which whole humanity is looking for but only a few are really happy as happiness is short lived for majority. we are repeating the same mistakes as daksha wrote. On this great master OSHO said” your own heart is the living place the universe!s essence”. unless you do something with great love,with great involvement,with great committment,with authenticity, with your total being,nothing is going to happen. Zindagi men achhe logon ki talash mat karo. KHUD ACHHE BAN JAO. AAP se mil kar shyad kisi ki talash puri ho jae. so let us start from ourself. with warm regards and love.ajay
LikeLike
Oh ho Ajay you have written in a free flow which very few can capture. Your thoughts “Zindagi men achhe logon ki talash mat karo. KHUD ACHHE BAN JAO. AAP se mil kar shyad kisi ki talash puri ho jae. so let us start from our self’ are the essence of life.
May I translate in English for our global friends “In our life we need not search for ‘good people’ but all that we need to do is become ‘good ourselves’. May be someone in search of good people may Meet You”!
Thank you my friend!
LikeLike
I like this! Happiness is so important. Thank-you.
LikeLike
Thanks Christy I am so glad you liked it! Best wishes 🙂
LikeLike
Hi Dilip,
Loved your post. Interestingly, I had also explored the aspect of Happiness awhile back and had incorporated a story involving Buddha in that post. I take this opportunity to point you and other readers there:
“Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.”
– Buddha
Cheers and God Bless.
Shakti
LikeLike
Welcome Shakti I am honored. Yes I read that lovely article in your blog and found it enlightening. Consider me your regular visitor.
Regards.
LikeLike
Hello Dilip : )
I have nominated you for an award.
You deserve it.
Greetings, Summer
LikeLike
Its indeed very gracious of you Summer! Your blog too is lovely. An appreciation coming from you means a lot!
With kind regards and best wishes.
Dilip
LikeLike
Answer a question in ways, more than ever,
And each better than the other;
Even find and call one, the best!
Don’t stop but make another better than the best!
I go or may not,
But with ego, we all go,
Just a little lower,
lower than the lowest!
Of going, think again, it is,
Only to come back,
So deep and with low on rope,
To catch a hope to climb up!
Search for losses,
Sure, I see, many tosses,
Heads, lodged way above, with no care for crown,
Tails, tagged with ego, ever haunted by frown!
p.s: a smile to the quote, post on the quote, comments on the post and more.
LikeLike
Stupendous creativity Sash my friend. You poetic response captures the essence of ‘ego’ beautifully.
Particularly the second stanza:
“I go or may not,
But with ego, we all go,
Just a little lower,
lower than the lowest!”
Thanks Sash for adding this lovely response!
Cheers back to you 🙂
LikeLike
I propose, a small modification if you can edit my earlier comment, sir –
Heads, lodged way above, with no care for crown,
Tails, tagged with ego, ever haunted by frown!
LikeLike
Hey Sash hope I got it right? 🙂
These two lines are perfect.
Many thanks to you.
Cheers
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
Thank you very much Sash for your appreciation.hats off to you.the way you expressed “Ego” in a few lines simply amazing.
“I go or may not,
But with ego, we all go,
Just a little lower,
lower than the lowest!”
Please keep posting yours magnificent work!
Greetings 🙂
LikeLike
SIMPLE TRUTH, YET AMONG THE HARDEST TO IMPLEMENT…
LikeLike
Hello friend so nice of you stop by. Yes removing our Ego is indeed very hard yet the journey itself will make us fell better and better. Cheers 🙂
LikeLike
Who does not have an ego? Ego is a symbol of life, of the fire in you, of the force that keeps you going.
The difficulty arises with “I”.
“I am an engineer; a doctor; a double graduate” etc are the starting points of ego.
Just look around and find a dozen at least who are same if not better. So if you are qualified, rich and capable; remain calm, collected, do not show off. Help others and forget what you did for them.
This will drop the “I”to some extent. It may be difficult but try it and see for yourself.
You will be a person to be admired, wanted and recognized.
LikeLike
Suhas yes your last line brings out the essence. Thanks.
LikeLike
wudn’t life be so beautiful if we followed this …
LikeLike
Yes Bikram I do agree 🙂
LikeLike
An excellent lesson indeed but practically and critically speaking is it possible to“Banish Ego” entirely in real life? As Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche says that Id, ego and super-ego are the three integral parts of our personality. We more or less hold all three elements in our personality. These are the three elements which makes our behavior complex. The ego is the mediator between the id and the super-ego, which ensures that the needs of both the id and the super-ego are satisfied. The id stands in just direct opposition to the super-ego and essentially strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. Whereas EGO develops from the id which strives to satisfy the id’s desires and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. Also Freud mentioned that the ego functions in the Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious mind. Finally the Super-Ego is our sense of right and wrong (Morality). It strives to act in a socially appropriate manner.
So according to me the Major challenge is not banishing the EGO rather balancing and managing our ID, EGO and Super-Ego.
The biggest question is how to live a meaningful life. We have seen the transformation of Intelligent quotient (IQ) to Emotional quotient (EQ) and finally the Spiritual Quotient (SQ). SQ related to our ability to understand and comprehend the spiritual aspects of life (Not Religion). SQ has multi dimensional aspects-Compassion, Gratitude, Self-esteem, Spirit of confession and the Ego. Handling the Ego is one of the critical dimensions of enhancing SQ. If we can’t manage Ego properly it can cause problems in our personal, social and professional lives. Hence for better relationships, it is very important to understand and handle the ego – both of self and others. Managing Ego becomes easier if we can instill a Spirit of surrender. Compassion is the prerequisite for spiritual attainment. Without compassion life can be selfish, destructive and meaningless too.
“We are formed and molded by our thoughts.
Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts
Give joy when they speak or act.
Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.”
– Lord Buddha!
LikeLike
Nice response! I like the video it is powerful. Your take on balancing and managing our ID, EGO and Super-Ego is an interesting view point from a psychology perspective. Lord Buddha wisdom lies in removing Ego unconditionally and rooted in deep spirituality – it is beyond the science of Psychology.
LikeLike
Thank you sir.Yes I also believe Lord Buuddha’s wisdom can’t be confined to Psychology.
Regards
LikeLike
B, i liked your comments – one with a definite external view and your belief in the next, which is very internal! 🙂
i mean it. Your efforts of expression mean something to me.
LikeLike
“The foundation of the Buddha’s teachings lies in compassion (The meaning of compassion is to recognize the suffering of others, then take action to help), and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the number-one enemy of compassion.”
LikeLike
Its, strange that, even though we know about these things, within no time it fades from people’s mind and you are back to square one and do the same mistakes you did previously and keep finding solution.
LikeLike
Hi Daksha what you say does happen often. I too face this in my own attempts to cast away my ego. But whenever I do succeed I feel so peaceful 🙂
All best wishes to you and your near and dear one.
Cheers!
LikeLike
Dear Sir,
Thank you so much for sharing Lord Buddha’s precious nuggets of wisdom with us.
And I like this in the Gita:
duhkheshwanudwignamanaah sukheshu vigatasprihah
veetaraagabhayakrodhah sthitadheer munir uchyate // 2.56 //
One whose mind is not agitated by sorrow nor excited by joy, who is free from desire, fear and anger is called a sage of steady wisdom.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2 (Part-5) Saankhya Yogah: Yoga Of Knowledge.
And though not really relevant here, I used this quote just a couple of days ago in one of my pieces:
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Then why do we say sorry? Even where the mind is without fear and more importantly, the conscience is clear?
Is this why I wonder?
“Apologizing does not mean that you are wrong and the other person is right…
It simply means that you value the relationship much more than your ego…”
Regards,
Geetha
LikeLike
Geetha it is always nice of you to add valuable insights into such inspiring quotes. I particularly liked the perspective on ‘apologizing’. Thank you & regards.
LikeLike
take a token of my agreements with what you wrote here – a smile 🙂
LikeLike
Smiling back with thanks 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
So beautiful, so simple and so true!
LikeLike
Marina glad you liked the simple truth! Regards.
LikeLike