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Main Index
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Because the 'I' is created from doing. When you do something the 'I' is created.
Now you are asking something new, "How can I destroy this 'I'?" The one who destroys will become the 'I'. You will not be able to escape. This is why a humble man also has an ego -- and sometimes it is bigger than in an egoist.
Have you seen the ego of the humble? He says. "I am just the dust at your feet." But look into his eyes -- what is it he is saying? If you say, "You are absolutely right, I knew already that you are just the dust at my feet," then he will start fighting. He is not saying it for you to agree with it. He is saying it so you will say, "You are such a humble man... you are very kind to give us your darshan." He is saying it so you will refute it saying, "You and dust at my feet? No, you are pure gold. You are the very spire of the temple." The more you say high, he will say no, just the dust. But when he says he is the dust, if you agree, "You are absolutely right, everyone thinks that you are just the dust at their feet," then he will never even look at you again. It was not humility -- it was ego in a new color, ego dressed in new clothes, ego dressed in humility.
So if you try to drop the 'I', the one who is dropping it will create a new 'I'. Man goes on changing costumes. The clothes change but you remain the same.
Try to understand what Ashtavakra is saying. Don't be too quick to ask what to do, how to get rid of this ego. Don't be in a hurry to do. Relax and take a little time to understand. Ashtavakra is saying, "Understand how this 'I' is created -- it is created by doing, it is created from striving and effort, it is created from success. So wherever you make efforts, it will be created. Then one thing becomes clear that if you want to be free of ego, then don't make efforts, don't try. Accept whatever is, just like it is. In this acceptance you will find the ego has disappeared as if it had never existed, because the element that was giving it energy has slipped out, the foundation has fallen down so the house cannot stand long.
And if the feeling of being the doer falls away, then all of life's diseases fall away. Otherwise
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