Ahimsa 13 - Nirahamkar Or Egolessness Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

The Ego was ingrained in man with
Implicit trust by God,
To be handled with caution, lest,
It loses its innate purity! But man!
Is he not tempted to disobey!
God commanded Adam not
To eat from the tree of knowledge of
Good and evil! But alas! Adam and Eve disobeyed!
They touched and tasted the forbidden apple of Eden.
Thereafter, followed a series of consequences!

That's the story of Ego too.
The baby Ego in its pure state represented
The pure awareness of self-existence!
As the baby Ego's awareness of
Its environment developed and strengthened,
The ingenious capacity of the Senses -
To see, to hear, to smell, to taste, and
To touch fully blossomed,
It started to forget its pure self!
The baby Ego transformed into a blown-up Ego!

As the pure self -
The power of consciousness began
To assimilate and identify with
The power of cognition,
The "I" ness developed!
The "I" ness grew and grew until
It became like a balloon filled and bottled up,
That it lost its true identity!
It was no more the baby Ego
But a grown, puffed up Ego!

Ego is possessed not just
By the proud and conceited,
But by the weak and miserable too;
The lazy ones who sink into lethargy,
Always complaining and grumbling,
About what they do not have but others have!
They blame the whole world except their own self!
O! Why does God make me suffer so much?
Look at others how they enjoy their life!
Here again, it is ‘I', ‘Me' or ‘Mine'!

Whether it is a rich man's Ego,
Or a poor man's Ego,
Ego remains an Ego!
The properties of an Ego never changes,
Though its style of rendering may change!
All Egos are blinded by their perception,
Their eyes open to the fault of all others,
But never to their own defects or shortcomings!
Such egoistic people never realise that the real culprit
Resides within their own self!

Man spends his whole lifetime
Studying and pursuing a materialistic goal!
During this period,
He goes through a world of experiences,
Ridden by pain and miseries!
Yet, he is unable to chuck out his Ego.
He holds on to his ‘I'ness,
Stubborn and tight-fisted!
Ego, now, assumes the shape of a big boulder,
Refusing even to budge an inch!

If Ego in man grew into a huge size,
Disproportionate,
Disconcerting,
Then a question may be asked:
Why did Mother Nature invent Ego at all?
Well! When the divine Mother
Breathed life into man,
Mother also endowed each man with
Intellect, Ego and Mind with
A special and definite purpose!

The special purpose was to make man
An individual!
An individual who can work his way up -
To learn, to imbibe,
To grow, to progress
Through his own experience!
To be able to take a decision,
To win over the opposites,
To discern the truth,
To become the master of the mind!

An attitude of 'Nirahamkar' or
Egolessness can be cultivated only
When the mind gets attuned
With the inner spirit!
The realisation that each and every human being,
Living on this earth has
The same pure consciousness within him,
A part of one another,
Serving the same Godhead -
The Omnipotent-the Omniscient-the Omnipresent!

To know the all powerful-the Almighty
One should mingle and merge with the whole world,
Like a dust particle with the earth,
Uniting each atomic particle with the other,
Selfless, like the free breeze that blows
A personification of humility!
The ‘I'ness wiped out,
A soul full of love and gratitude,
Thanking the all pervading Nature
For her benevolence and grace!