I, the root of all misery
A soul is bodyless, timeless and dimensionless. All souls are part of the Divine and shine in His light and glory. Without the Divine, a soul is incapable of enjoying even a sip of water.
So why do souls take bodies? Ignorance or avidya is the root cause of birth and the experiences associated with it. As the soul takes a body, it forgets its true swaroop (identity) and identifies itself with the physical, i.e. its body and surroundings. Aham, asmita, ego or, in short, “I” is the basis of manifested creation of which the manifested soul is a part.
The seeds of ego are sown right from the moment of conception. A sperm competes with other sperms to fertilise the ovum, as if saying, “I will come first.” Only one sperm out of millions manages to reach and fertilise the egg. With this, the foundations of ego are laid. This trait to outperform others continues throughout the lifespan of a human. It does not even leave at the time of death. That “I” and “me” reappear with the next birth and so on.
The dissolution of this “I” is only possible with the blessings of the guru. The beginning and culmination of yog is the process of the dissolution of the “I”.
It is interesting to see that people try to improve their physical looks through all kinds of artificial and chemical means, at times even risking serious diseases, like cancer. A majority of the beauty products of many well-known brands have dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde, oxybenzone, parabens etc. All these chemicals no doubt give an instant glow to the skin but, on the flip side, they are also known carcinogens and hormone disruptors and can cause serious diseases.
The “I look better than you” syndrome again stems from ignorance and only gyaan of our true non-destructive self can take one beyond it. Similarly, people hoard and collect wealth by unfair means just to prove that they have more than others. The result is the collection of negative karmas — it accumulates because of the use of unfair means to collect wealth, which leads to the destruction of the soul resulting in lower and more painful births.
Thus, the “I” is the cause of all births and all the pain a soul goes through. It is the dissolution of aham that leads to ananda or pure pleasure.
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