Page 5 - All India Magazine Mar-2026

What is Ego

Q: Ego means what?

I think it is the ego that makes each one a separate being, in
all possible ways. It is the ego which gives the sense of being a
person separate from others. It is certainly the ego which gives
you the sense of the “I”, “I am”, “I want”, “I do”, “I exist”, even
the very famous “I think therefore I am” which is... I am sorry
but I think it is a stupidity — but still it is a celebrated stupidity
— well, this too is the ego. What gives you the impression that
you are Manoj is the ego, and that you are altogether different
from this one and that one; and what prevents your body from
melting away like that, dissolving in a common mass of physical
vibrations, is the ego; what gives you a definite form, a definite
character, a separate consciousness, the sense that you exist in
yourself, independently of all others, indeed, something like
that; if one does not reflect, spontaneously one has the sense
that even if the world disappeared, one would be there, one
would remain what one is. This of course is the super-ego.
Certainly, if one were to lose one’s ego too soon, from the
vital and mental point of view one would again become an
amorphous mass. The ego is surely the instrument for individ-
ualisation, that is, until one is an individualised being, consti-
tuted in himself, the ego is an absolutely necessary factor. If
one had the power of abolishing the ego ahead of time, one
would lose one’s individuality. But once the individuality has
been formed, the ego becomes not only useless but harmful.
And only then comes the time when it must be abolished. But
naturally, as it has taken so much trouble to build you, it does
not give up its work so easily, and it asks for the reward of its
efforts, that is, to enjoy the individuality.
CWM 7: 11-12

All India Magazine, March 2026 5