Ego

"The ego creates division. It can be compared to the walls that delineate the divisions of a house. If you demolish the walls, the house disappears and again you have only space. Remove the ego and you will again become space."

"The shell around the seed has to break before the tree can emerge. You have to get rid of the ego before you gain knowledge."

"When there is a curtain over the window, we cannot see the blue sky. If we remove the sense of 'I' from our mind, we will be able to see the light within us."

"It is no use pouring water into a dirty bucket; the water will get dirty. In the same way, if you maintain the ego while doing sadhana, you cannot take total refuge in God. You cannot experience and enjoy the benefits of sadhana."

"By flowing into a river, the water from a pond is cleaned; by flowing into a gutter it only gets dirtier. The gutter is the selfish attitude of 'I' and 'mine'. The river is God. Children, let us take refuge in God."

"The real dirt is the attitude 'I am the doer,' which is hard to wash away. All powers are God's. A plant should not say: 'Look at my flower! How beautiful it is!' "

"Suppose there are holes in a pipe leading to a tap. The flow of water from the tap will be weak. If there are selfish desires (ego) in our minds, we won't get total concentration on God."

"How can someone who can't even swim across a small river swim across the ocean? It is not possible to reach the supreme state without removing all small selfishness."

"The river is always flowing, but, having constructed a dam, we complain that we do not get water. We will get the constantly flowing Grace of God if the dam of ignorance and ego built by us is removed."

"The sun gets concealed by the clouds. In a like manner, God is concealed by our ego and vasanas (latent tendencies). He becomes visible when the dirt of those tendencies is removed."

"The weeds should be removed or the seeds will be destroyed. If we do sadhana (spiritual practices) without eradicating the ego, our sadhana is fruitless."