ego

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

On Sat, 30 Aug 1997 Chelluri at AOL.COM wrote:

>                                                 Om
> Namaste!
>
> The goal is one - the truth is one.   Hope you all agree.
>
> The paths are different.   Dwaita, Visitadvaita,  and Advaita.   Thats fine.
>
> What I dont understand is why the teachers want to be supreme over other two.
>
> Sri Shankara over Buddhism and Sri Madhvacharya over Advaita.

Did the teachers say that they wanted to be supreme over the others? Or is
it their followers who are more intent upon proving the superiority of
their own teachers?

Secondly, do the teachers of the different paths agree that the goal is
one?

Finally, if they agree, do they all point to the same goal, or do they
conceive of their goals differently?

> Why cant these people have their own paths  and reach the goal without trying
> to put   down the other path is not right.   Is it not EGO that is making
> them do that, to establish supremacy?     If Ego is still persisting how can
> these be realized souls?

One must also seek to know what the various teachers say about this ego. A
proper understanding of dvaita, advaita and buddhism will show you three
quite different views on the ego. Dvaita will not accept that the ego-hood
ever completely disappears. That is why dvaita insists upon the eternal
reality of jIvas, distinct from brahman. Buddhism and advaita agree that
the ego gets extinguished, but then, they disagree about how it does so.
For advaita, the goal is the eternal Atman. Buddhism denies that anything
like an eternal Atman exists, because it is a cardinal principle in
Buddhism that everything is kshaNika (momentary).

Vidyasankar