We are all slaves to ego. We take pride even in worship. However much we try not to be proud, our ego wins at the end.
A story is told of a king, who was dishonest and wicked. He was deposed by his own people and he wandered from one country to another. He could not settle down in any place for long.
The dethroned king visited five countries and did not like to live in any of them. He was not known to anyone in these countries, and that hurt him. But he liked the sixth country he visited because here people recognised him as the wicked king who was chased out by his own people.
Craving for attention
Though he was recognised only for his wickedness, he was happy. Any recognition was better than no recognition! So he decided to settle down in this country.
Such is the nature of ego that one always craves for attention and recognition, said Suki Sivam.
‘Ego' the cat
One day, a disciple went to his guru and told him that he wanted to have a cat as a pet. He requested the guru to give a name to it, and the latter suggested that it be called ‘Ego.'
Accordingly, the man named the cat as ‘Ego.'
As a kitten, ‘Ego' was cute and not very troublesome. But when it grew up, it began giving the man a lot of trouble. It drank all the milk in the house and cried throughout the night.
Guru's advice
So the man went to the guru and asked him what he should do with it. The guru told him to get rid of it by taking it to the forest and leaving it there.
The man did so as per the guru's advice. But the cat reached the disciple's house before the disciple himself!
The guru then told him that he should put the cat in a sack and take it deeper into the forest and leave the sack there.
The man did so, but was unable to find his way back. So he was forced to let the cat out and follow it home.
The moral of the story is that if we do not curb our ego, we are enslaved by it.
