Patanjali Yoga Sutra — दृग्दर्शनशक्त्योरेकात्मतैवास्मिता॥2.6॥
dṛgdarśanaśaktyorekātmataivāsmitā॥
Egotism (asmitā) is the second obstacle (kleśa) wherein sādhaka erroneously identifies ātman with that of a tool which merely reveals the ātman.
Let us consider an ugly woman, seeing her own face in a mirror. Her face is ‘Sat’; the mirror is the tool; the image in the mirror is ‘asat’, because it is only a reflection of her own face. If she wants to give a face-lift to her face, she has to actually do it on her face, not the mirror. Any amount of beautification done on the mirror would not make her face beautiful, because, a mirror is only a tool by which, the woman is seeing the face (Sat).
In our yogasādhana also, various tools help us to reveal or reflect the ultimate pure ātman (also called Consciousness or Puruṣa or Seer or dṛk or sat). These tools or instruments could be our pañcendriyas (senses), buddhi (intellect), etc. Puruṣa is supreme having infinite powers, infinite knowledge and He is eternal, infinite itself and is always the subject of samādhi. Puruṣa is always a causal aspect and is forever different from buddhi, a medium or asat. In reality Puruṣa is buddhi of buddhi. If buddhi, under the influence of delusion, erroneously thinks it is Puruṣa (or identifies itself with Puruṣa), it is the height of egoism!
Bhagavān beautifully differentiates the Sat with asat:
नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः॥गीता २.१६॥
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ.
ubhayorapi dr̥ṣṭo’ntastvanayostattvadarśibhiḥ॥Gītā 2.16॥
The false (Asat) does not have existence. The Real (Sat) has no dearth (abhāva). Only the tattvajñānis (those who know tattva or highest of the values) have understood the difference.
Bhagavān also says He is not there, wherever egotism is present:
A priest worshiping in a temple was well-read. He was a great saṁskr̥taṁ and Vedic scholar. Devotees visiting the temple were getting solutions for their problems from this priest; and like weed, ego grew along with his scholarly wisdom and fame.
There was a tall pipal tree outside the temple. One day, a monk came and sat under this tree. Gradually, people started assembling around this monk, listening to his spiritual discourse, etc. This resulted in a decrease in the number of people assembling around the priest. The priest got annoyed. He thought, “What this monk knows, he cannot recite a single Vedic verse; he doesn’t even know saṃskṛta. People are being fooled by this monk. Somehow, I should teach a lesson to this monk’’. One understands according to one’s own intellectual level and the prevailing circumstances. Thus, he was waiting for an opportunity. But the monk was as cool as ever and strongly believed that everything has a reason, everything is being carried out by the will of the Supreme (Great feats are achieved by those who think so).
Another interesting thing observed was, whenever the priest enters the temple, the monk would offer sāṣṭāṅga Namaskāra. Whenever the priest comes out of the temple, monk would repeat prostrations. Every time the priest moves in and out, the monk would repeat salutations. This continued for several days. The priest thought “Monk is scared of me and hence, trying to please me by prostrations; he is not aware that this kind of flattering would not work in my case”. However, the priest’s curiosity was growing and he could not resist. One day, priest asked the monk, why he was prostrating him so many times. Monk replied: “My dear priest, I am not saluting you. When you enter the temple, I see God coming out of the temple. I salute Him. When you come out of the temple, I see God entering the temple. I salute Him. God has no place wherever you are present. This is because of your ego.” Eye-opener for Priest!
