The Blindness Is in Proportion to the Ego

The ego and a blind person are considered equal. The greater a person’s ego is about something, the greater is his blindness towards that.

The blindness is in proportion to the ego. However much ego there is, there is that much blindness. Moreover, the ego has four divisions: anger, pride, deceit, and greed ( krodh-maan-maya-lobh). If one becomes involved in greed, if one becomes involved in money, then he becomes blinded by greed. If one becomes involved in pride, then he becomes blinded by pride. If one becomes involved in anger, then he becomes blinded by anger. Blindness exists in all of these. Ego in any of these is itself blindness. The ego is something that is born out of illusion ( bhranti).

Because the ego is blind, it keeps creating disorder. It is blind by its inherent nature. It can see a little through the eye of the intellect and it is guided by the intellect. The ego approves everything that is suggested by the intellect. The intellect is the prime minister and the ego is the president. Otherwise, on its own it is blind, it cannot see anything at all. The intellect will tell it, ‘Dear fellow, do it this way,’ so it endorses it. But the ego [believes,] ‘I am the one doing this.’ Yes, this is considered the state of ‘I-ness’ ( potapanu, hu pad). Otherwise, once the ego is dissolved, one is able to maintain a state that benefits the self as well as understand the benefits of the self. Otherwise, as long as the ego exists, it is blind.

The ego does everything that is crazy and detrimental; that is known as the ego. One keeps shooting his own foot; that is referred to as the ego. The ego is in darkness and it keeps taking beatings of all kinds!