Question:

Dear Didi, If the ego is not getting much attention, is it possible that the ego makes the body fall sick to get attention? If yes, how can one get out of this trap?

Answer:

The only way out of the trap is to learn the patterns of the mind, my dear. The mind can be vicious and cunning towards the world and self-destructive, too. It needs to be researched, studied, understood, and then only mastered. How can one master that which one is not familiar with?

Hence, the first attempt must be to familiarize oneself with the recognition that the Ego is nothing but an I-thought. And the I-thought is the mind. Then one must learn the patterns of the mind. E.g., when the mind is bored, what story does it indulge in? When busy, what story does it indulge in? When angry, what story does it indulge in? When happy, what story does it indulge in? Once indulged in craving or aversion, how does it behave? Etc.

You will find common behavioral patterns of the mind in craving & a common pattern in aversion situations. Understand the pattern and have the guts to accept it, however vile or vicious.

Once you learn about the common patterns of the mind and accept them, half the battle is won.

Then the next step is to recognize that you are not the mind but the one studying the mind. You are not the known, you are the knower. That helps you see that you are the Witness of the happy mind or sad mind, angry mind or calm mind, excited mind or bored mind. That is the attainment of the first milestone on this research path.

At the next level, you start recognizing that ‘I am not angry, I am pretending to be angry. The mental wave of anger arises from Me-The-Background and dissolves in Me-The-Background. I am not angry by nature. I am dreamy in my nature. I dream of anger, and the anger wave arises. I dream of the disappearance of anger, and the anger wave dissolves back into Me. Similarly, the dreams of calmness, boredom, excitement, sickness, health, etc, arise and dissolve in me. That is the attainment of the second milestone on this research path.

At the next level, you start naturally turning towards your true Self with the intention to investigate its dreamy nature. Then only on being antarmukhi [inward-turned], does it become evident that you are not the mind, you are the producer of the mind, the projector of the mind, and the perceiver of the mind. You are merely weaving stories out of nothing. Sometimes it is an anger story, sometimes it is a sad story, sometimes it is a thriller, and so on. This revelation is pivotal. It reveals that I am the creator of my sorrow. I am the creator of my happiness. I am ALL! That is the attainment of the third milestone on this research path.

At the highest level, a complete Self-Realization occurs of what I am and what I am not. A complete realization occurs of the mechanism of operation of what I am not. A complete realization occurs of what I truly am. That is sufficient for one to stop pretending to be the story character and identify the original story writer. The false identification [Tadatma] with the stories falls away. Every mental wave is seen for what it truly is. The SEER is freed of the SEEN.

The prison bars of bondage, with their falseness, illusions, and dreams, are broken. The mental waves may still arise due to the residual fuel of past desires, but there is no more room for confusion left. YOU ARE FREE OF THE CUNNINGNESS OF THE MIND! That is how you get out of your own self-trap. You have trapped yourself, so you can certainly get out. The key to the door is in your own hands. Begin your self-research now!

Don’t stop until you get there, dear! Keep chugging! I am right by the side of the earnest spiritualist only to motivate you. I am not your Guru. I am just the external pointer that points towards your internal true Guru. He will shed light on the inner path. P.S. Please don’t imagine a white cloaked, long-bearded, throned Guru inside your heart or your brain. The internal Guru is the same intelligence that laid the trap of story creation. That same intelligence can untrap you.

You must walk the path by yourself. Ekla Chalo re! Walk alone! You trapped yourself, and only you can untrap your Self from yourself!