Subdue the Demon Within

Although every living being in his original state of being is a pure devotee of the Supreme Lord, all of the living entities in this material world are covered by varying degrees of demoniac consciousness. After millions of lifetimes of wandering within the cycle of birth and death a fortunate living being who comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master becomes inspired to free himself of the demoniac consciousness by the revival of his original divine consciousness. When he begins the path of spiritual awakening he must battle against the demon within that does not want him to take up Krishna consciousness. In order to be successful on the path of spiritual awakening he must curb and completely subdue this demon within so his original, pure saintly consciousness can become full manifested. This is why Srila Prabhupada explains that taking up Krishna consciousness means to declare war against maya.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Initiation Ceremony in Russia

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How Can I Finish My Ego?

What is ego? How can it be described? Does ego exist in spiritual world too? If yes, then how does it differ from ego in material world? Even after trying hard by chanting the holy names, serving Vaishnavas, and reading scriptures still I get feelings like jealousy in my heart. I feel very guilty about this. What should I do? Is it possible to give up ego completely? How can I finish my ego? Kindly help this fallen soul.

Your servant,

Gunjan

Answer: Don't Finish It. Transform It.

Ego means identity. There are two types of egos: spiritual and material. Spiritual ego or real ego means to understand that you are the eternal servant of Krishna.

Material ego or false ego means to improperly think that you are your material body and that you are the center of existence. It is in the this false ego that the six enemies of lust, greed, anger, madness, illusion, and envy become manifested. In the real ego these six enemies are not present.

The solution lies not in getting rid of your ego, which is technically impossible. Rather the solution is found in activating your real ego. Just as when the sun rises in the morning all the darkness is immediately dissipated, when you fully activate your real ego of devotion to Krishna all the inauspicious false ego disqualifications are immediately destroyed.

To activate our real ego we need to fully absorb ourselves in Krishna consciousness 24 hours daily under the expert guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, the pure devotees, and the revealed scriptures. I see that you are already serving the Vaishnavas and studying the scriptures. This it very nice. But I also see that you have not yet taken shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. This is your difficulty. This is the missing ingredient in your fully conquering over your false ego.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari