Question 1

DURING ONE OF YOUR LECTURES WE LEARNED THAT IF WE TRY TO LEAVE OUR EGO JUST BY TRYING TO BE HUMBLE FOR EXAMPLE, THEN THE EGO COMES THROUGH HUMILITY. WE ALSO LEARNED THAT THE ONLY WAY TO GET RID OF THE EGO IS MEDITATION. BUT DOESN'T THE EGO COME THROUGH THAT ALSO? I ASK THIS BECAUSE I'VE SEEN LIVE EXAMPLES IN THE ASHRAM.

LET me answer you through an anecdote:

"A psychologist was giving a young man some personality tests. He drew a vertical line and asked, 'What does this make you think of?'

'Sex,' said the young man.

Next the psychologist drew a circle. 'and what does this make you think of?'

'Sex,' said the young man again.

The psychologist drew a star. 'and this?' he asked.

'Why, sex of course,' the young man said.

The psychologist put down his pencil. 'In my opinion,' he said, 'you have an obsession about sex.'

'I have an obsession!' protested the young man. 'for goodness' sake, who's been drawing all those off-colour pictures?'"

If you are obsessed with the ego, wherever you go you will find live examples of it, and you will think others are being egoistic -- it is your projection. Once you become humble, the whole world becomes humble. Suddenly, the ego not only disappears from you, it disappears simultaneously from the whole world.

To a non-egoistic person, the ego never comes across. Not that others become egoless because he has become egoless, but because he is egoless, he cannot see the egos of others. It simply disappears for him. It is your attitude.

So the first thing to remember is, whatsoever you come across, first try to find the causes within you. Don't be worried why others are egoistic. Let them be if they are. They will have enough punishments for their egos; their own egos will be punishing them enough. You need not be worried.

Whenever you see that somebody is egoistic, immediately turn within, close your eyes, and try to find out the cause in you. That is going to help. If you find a cause within yourself, it can be dropped, it can be transformed. And if you become egoless, suddenly you become tremendously blissful.

Why be worried about others? Just think of you. Be a little more selfish. You are trying to be too unselfish, too altruistic. Be a little more selfish. Think of your own being and of your own wastage of life.

Whatsoever you come across, the more the possibility is that somewhere, deep hidden, that is your problem.

Watch it in this way. Whenever you become angry, it is not because the others have created anger in you. It was already there; it may have been in a dormant state. The others can only provoke that which is already there. Their insults cannot create anger in you. If it is not there, insults cannot create it. Insults can only bring it out if it is there already. Anger is not created by anybody else; it is there or it is not there. And if nobody is going to create the anger, then you will start trying to find some excuse.

I have seen people angry with their shoes, throwing them in anger. I have seen people angry with the doors, slamming them in anger. What has the door done to you? What can the shoe do to you? But you cannot find human objects. Nobody has insulted you, nobody has become an excuse for you, and you are bubbling with anger. You are already on the verge of explosion -- anything will do.

Everything that you come across in others is more or less a projection of your own mind. This is the basic religious attitude. If you think it is coming from the other, that is the political attitude. That's why a politician goes on changing others. A revolution is needed -- in the society, not in himself. The world has to be changed, only then can he live peacefully.

The politician can never live peacefully; it is impossible. The world is not going to be changed. It is not that easy. Your life is short, and the world has remained almost the same and it is going to remain almost the same. Only you can change, because only you can become conscious.

Consciousness is revolution. Consciousness is transformation. So become conscious within yourself.