Part II — Questions and answers on ego

Question: I sometimes feel that we suffer because we are at the mercy of our ego. How can we end this suffering?

Sri Chinmoy: We have to pray to God constantly to come to the fore in us. Let Him guide us and mould us in His own Way, into His very image. We are not the doers. We have to feel that we are the instruments and He is the player. If we have that kind of feeling, then we can always be happy. If we feel that we are God’s instruments and that we are helpless unless God acts in and through us, naturally He will do the right thing in and through us. The right thing for whom? For us. But we consciously have to give Him the chance. We shall give Him this chance soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally. We will say to God, “Take care of us. We came from You. We want You to look after us now.”

Why do we enter into the spiritual life? We enter into the spiritual life in order to give God what we have and to become what He is. What we have is ignorance. If we can gladly give it to Him, then He can deal with our ignorance. If we try to deal with our ignorance ourselves, then we will have no chance of coming out of ignorance.

Let us all try to feel that He is the eternal Doer, the supreme Doer, and we are the instruments. In us the Infinite plays through the finite. Here we have the greatest opportunity. He is infinite in every way. He acts through us, the finite individuals, although He has the capacity, being infinite, to play His cosmic Game in any way He wants.

God is really great. He can do the greatest things and He can do the smallest things. He deals with His omnipotent Power, yet He takes the trouble to create the tiniest insect. He is infinite, yet He is acting through the finite, through imperfect and limited human beings. But He gives the finite the message of salvation, liberation and realisation. He transforms the finite into the Infinite. Because He can do this, He is absolute, He is omnipotent, and He is the only Doer. He compels the Infinite to act in and through the finite, and He transforms the finite into the Infinite.