# Sikh And Ego



## rosethorne (Oct 13, 2005)

WJKK WJKF.
A great question for Sikhs. But a few know the answer. Knowledge of Gurbani doesn't make a person to avoid Ego. What does make us to remove Ego within. Kindly share your knowledge here, I'll Be thankful.

This Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib Said:
Men who possess mighty elephants become kings and rule over the whole world. Men who take numerous ritual baths and give in charity elephants and other animals, and marry at special savambers. All these and even Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Indra shall at the end fall into the noose of Death. But those who fall at the feet of God and seek his protection shall not go through the cycle of transmigration. 

Were emperors to possess tall and noble elephants painted in beautiful colours and adorned with golden trappings. Were emperors to possess millions of horses galloping at speeds faster then that of the wind and racing like the deer. If other kings having powerful and long arms were to visit these emperors and bow their heads to them in submission. It matters not if such powerful emperors existed because at the end they all left this world barefooted and empty handed. 

Sikh philosophy overlaps with Hindu philosophy on many points, one being the concept of transmigration of the soul and the circle of Chaurasi Lakh, the 8.4 million life forms. 
Chaurasi Lakh means 8,400,000. This is the number of different joons (lifeforms) that constitute the circle of transmigration. Why 8,400,000 , surely scientists have categorised and classified species which vastly differs from this number?
There are different ways to categorise amd classify, and why should the ancient way to group lifeforms match that with present day scientists. For example, there are many ways to classify Raags (Classical Indian musical modes). One way is to classify them according to their thaat or parent scale, another way to categorise the same raags by looking at their Jaati or number of swars (notes) in the raag scale. In ancient times as stated in the manual Sangeet Ratnakar raags were classified according to whether they were male of female, as can be seen there are many ways to classify the same thing, so to question the figure of 8,400,000 seems pointless, especially since the figure appears in Guru Granth Sahib Ji many times over. 


Man suffers. He seeks to escape suffering, but he does this by following the worldly way of pursuing the path of ego, wealth, power and worldly knowledge. Engrossed in worldly pleasures he feels no interest in the divine light that lies within him. He is bewitched by the beauty of earthly things and gets entangled in them. He does not search for the Truth, the realisation of which could make him eternal, holy and blissful, ending all his sufferings. So absorbing and deluding are the worldly pleasures that they leave man with no time to think of higher aspirations. They detract him from his age long quest to unveil the hidden Reality within. Guru Ji says " Madmen, you remain sleep ! Intoxicated with the pleasure of worldlyness and love for your family, you waste your life in fleeting delights."
While a man sleeps in sin and worldlyness, no understanding of truth comes to him. When death grabs him by his hair and strikes, only then does he awaken. Infatuated by the glamour of worldlyness, mortal man toils day after day for possessions, power and pleasures. All the time he looks away from the truth. His stay in this world is like a dream, and that his earthly relationships and possessions are momentary and of no avail. As long as man is tied up in passions, pleasures and desires for earthly things, so long he falls, age after age in the circle of birth and death and indures the sorrows and sufferings of one life after another. 
Says the Guru "Clinging to his ego, man falls into a trap. Bound by the love of self, he is bound by death, and he comes and goes." There can be no rest or peace, no happiness in this slavery. There is only suffering. After wondering for ages in suffering one obtains the priceless gift of human life, but again he sinks deep into worldliness, pleasures and ego pursuits. He never realises that the real joy and peace can only be found in union with God, the source of bliss. Missing the opportunity to unite with God, he falls back into the circle of birth and death. Every one that comes into this world must depart. Life is like an overnight guest, man arises and leave at dawn. Death is always on man's doorstep. It gives no warning. Mans possessions, his wealth, his land, his house remain behind and pass into other hands. Even his learning, wisdom, beauty and power do not accompany him. Man blossoms for a day or two and then fades and falls. When death calls he must leave all behind and pass into the unseen world. 
There is no fear of death of body if the love of God dwells in the bosom. Real death is the forgetting of the Lord. Those who in their hearts have desires for the pleasures of gold, silver, women, perfumes, horses, palaces and meat, how can the love of the Lord dwell in their hearts ? Forgetfulness of the Lord is the snare that chains man to earthly things and sends him to the city of death. Those who fill their hearts with the love of God find eternal life in God.
The Guru is the Light and God is the source of Light. Thus God is the Primal Guru. And the one in whom the Primal Guru reveals His Light is also the Guru, the Enlightened. In essence, there is no difference between the Light of the Primal Guru and the Divine Guru in body. Says the Guru, the Guru is in God, and God in the Guru, and the two are but One. Those who have seen the Light of God within have no eyes for any other, no ears for any lesser truth, there whole being is absorbed in the Light that have realised.


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