THE DIFFICULTY OF CONQUERING EGOTISM

The vanities of all others may gradually die out. but the vanity of a saint regarding his sainthood is hard indeed to wear away.

The cup in which garlic juice is kept retains the odour, though washed several times. Egotism is such an obstinate aspect of ignorance that it never disappears completely, however hard you may try to get rid of it.

The dyspeptic knows only too well that sour things are injurious to him, but such is the force of association that the sight of them is enough to make his mouth water. So, even if one tries hard to suppress the idea of I-ness and 'mine-ness , yet when one begins to act, the 'unripe ego asserts itself.

There are few who can attain Samadhi and get rid of the Aham—the feeling of ' I within. Generally it does not go. You may reason and discriminate without end, yet this I comes back again and again. Today you may cut down the Pepul tree, but tomorrow you will see it sprouting again.

Those who seek name and fame are under a delusion. They forget that everything is ordained by the Great Dispenser of all things and that all is due to the Lord and the Lord alone. The wise man says always, " It is Thou, O Lord, It is Thou" ; but the ignorant and the deluded say, " It is I, it is I."