Question: Does a God-realised person use the mind and the ego?

Sri Chinmoy: He does not use the mind as an ordinary human being knows it. When realisation takes place, the seeker's mind automatically becomes illumined. This illumined mind is not the same as the physical mind or intellectual mind, which are unconscious, unlit and confused. The realised soul does not use the mind at all when he has to do something serious or sublime, and when he does use the mind, it is the illumined mind that he uses.

When an ordinary man uses the term 'I', he is referring to his ego, his little self. But a God-realised soul regards himself either as the most faithful servant of the Supreme, or as entirely one with the Supreme. He has no ego. An instrument can never be as important as the doer. A God-realised soul knows that he is at one with the Divine, and he says 'I' merely because it is the simplest manner of expression in this world of duality and multiplicity.

Some Indian Yogis sometimes advocate using a word which means 'Thou'. One great Indian saint always used to say about himself, "He did it", "He ate it." 'He', in this case, meant the Brahman, the Absolute. But these verbal distinctions are not really necessary. One who has realisation knows that when he says 'I', he is not referring to the ego. Rather, through him the self-revealing Truth is being expressed at the Will of God.