Question: Does a spiritual Master have any ego?

Sri Chinmoy: To be very frank with you, to be a true spiritual Master of a high calibre one has to transcend the ego. Once one is truly realised, the ego is bound to disappear and be divinely transformed. The ego is always in the world of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, the world of possession. This is a limitation. Only when he transcends this limited consciousness can he embody Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure in his inner being.

When a spiritual Master says, “I am God’s son; Him to realise, Him to reveal, Him to manifest, I came into the world,” this is not ego. True spiritual Masters are fully conscious of the fact that we are all God’s children. They have this inner knowledge, and they tell others how they can also attain it. At that time some people misunderstand. They feel that the Masters are exercising their ego-power. But I wish to tell you that with real spiritual Masters, it is not ego but oneness that they are offering. When they try to illumine others with their oneness, people feel that they are imposing or thrusting their ideas, emotions or idiosyncrasies upon them. But spiritual Masters know that they are not only God’s children, but His conscious, chosen children; therefore, they cannot make friends with ignorance. They feel God’s Love and Presence in all their multifarious activities so consciously and so vividly that they feel whatever He does they themselves are doing.

Spiritual Masters have something called divine authority. When a Master says something forcefully to his disciples, when he tells them that they have to do this or that, it is not the human ego that is operating; it is the feeling of oneness. The Master feels that they are a part of him, a part that is unlit or obscure; so he exercises his conscious will power to perfect that part. The part that is perfect tries to perfect the part that is imperfect. Spiritual Masters are very often misunderstood because of this. Ordinary people think, “If he is a Master, then how is it that he has so much ego?” But his ego, fortunately, is of a different type. His ego is not crying to show its superiority and lord it over others, or trying to separate him from others. No! His ego is expressing the feeling of divine oneness.