MC 1 l Understanding Ego l P3

0:00 So, how can we get rid of ego? Practice self-awareness, mindfulness. Easily said than done, Rajan. How to practice self-awareness? I don't even know who I am. Okay, if you don't know who who you are, great. Maybe that's where we need to start. You can always learn to say that I don't know who I am, to say I don't know truly who I am, is the first step of humility. It's the first step to face that ego and say that's enough. I'm going to start learning to become self-aware and mindful of my own thoughts because ego stems at the thought level followed by words, followed by actions. Recognize and question ego-driven thoughts.

0:45 How would you recognize and question ego-driven thoughts? You need to learn about ego. This is a foundation. This is a foundation. We're talking about some of the things that we are not We don't easily talk about because this is a taboo topic. We are happy to point out and say his ego's bad and his her ego's great. Like, no, she's got too much ego. But what about the other four fingers that's pointing back at ego, you know? Like, what about this guy? What about this guy's ego? So, this lesson is about that guy. Not the one who's pointing outside, but the one who's actually the pointer. So, you turn back this way and you point all five fingers at you. This guy. Right? You're talking about this guy, the one who's the observer.

1:32 There you try to inquire the self. There you try to recognize, question question the thoughts of this this person, the observer, the one who's watching this lesson, the one who's receiving this lesson. Observe your thoughts. Question your ego-driven thoughts. Am I coming from a place of superiority? Am I coming from a place of know-it-all? Am I coming from a place of Am I coming from a place of arrogance? Or am I coming from a place of humility? Am I coming from a place of gratitude? Am I coming from a place of kindness, compassion, divinity? That separates it and that's how we embody humility. That's how we embody grace by

2:18 letting go of the ego. Focus on the present and the inner growth. What does that mean? Focusing on the present is our mind. Our mind entangles either in the past or in the future that haven't happened. How dare he cheated on me? Then the person in the new relationship, is he going to cheat me like how they did? Into the moment where the guy has brought you fresh flowers and a movie ticket for two to watch Titanic. What about that? Like this right there. But in the mind, what's happening is

3:03 there is this whole movie that's going on between the past and the future. Unable to be present in the present because the ego is running between them. And it's comparing. It's doing its analytics. It's doing comparisons like uh the gratitude is missing that somebody has shown up with flowers and a movie ticket for two to spend the evening together. The kindness and compassion is missing there when they are unable to see that somebody's showing up for me and all I have to do is show up to them. So learn to cultivate this humility. Appreciate. Admire. Be in gratitude. And show that compassion. And all of this is what you is what one needs to become aware and one needs to cultivate of. The awareness works in the other way as well. If you are someone who's getting

3:49 angry, when you whenever it's not someone, we all get angry, right? So when you get angry, become aware that hey, thoughts of anger is coming. What's going on? Switch the switch the board. Like I am judging based on stuff that I know from my past, but this past information might not apply to this person because I don't know this person. I've just met them most recently. You lose in a business and you lost your investments, the future that you're going to invest in or if you do invest in, you will be careful. That does not mean that you do not trust in what you're doing. You do more research. Read up. Calibrate and then invest in that. Instead of being and operating in fear, operate with courage. Operate with awareness. Operate with knowledge.

4:35 So ego is what does all these things. Ego is the one that builds in fear. Ego is the one that also uh builds a arrogance. So both sides of the coin has ego. So become aware of both sides. If you It's not just the success, it's the failure is also ego. Okay? Focus on the present. Practice in the present. And there you are embodying your true nature instead of the false ego, the separated body mind. There's a saying when someone slaps you on one cheek, show the other. It's very confusing when they say that. So if someone gives you betrays you, do you keep opening yourself to betrayal? If someone

5:21 beats you up, then you keep opening yourself to get beaten up. If you lose in your business, do you keep showing up to businesses, your investments, or your entrepreneurship, open up businesses where you're constantly going to be lose? Do you open businesses to lose? If you have gone to the doctors and that doctor did not work for you and your health has not changed, will you continue to keep going to the same doctor? If your family treats you ill with no word whatsoever, would you continue to be a doormat to your family? Think about this. This is a balance. It's as easy as it is said. When you show When you get slapped on one cheek,

6:07 show the other cheek. The slap only happens here in the world of chaos and confusion, in the world of betrayal and belittlement, in the world of cheats and lies. But the other cheek is the cheek that you show to yourself. >> [snorts] >> The divine self. When you learn from a practice and you identify your own ego, the other cheek that you're showing up is not to the other, it is to yourself. It's the lesson. You get slapped once hard and then you slap yourself saying that wake up, it's time to not fall back in that same pattern of relationship, in the same pattern of the business, in the same

6:52 pattern of the ill health I've been suffering for decades, in the same pattern of the family, the way they treat me. Wake up. Wake up. And that is your practice to wake up. Drink porridge as if it is courage. So, let's quickly recap what we've spoken so far. We've spoken a lot about ego, but let's just quickly recap and uh we This part of the presentation we divided into four uh modules, so it's easy to access the module at any point. You can even print it out and keep it as a little card in your wallet or handbag or wherever. Uh so, you can remind yourself what is ego? Ego is the identity that you have created, the masks, the several masks that you're wearing to to showcase

7:38 yourself as a certain way. How ego affects mental clarity. When you have too many masks, you don't know who you truly are. It affects your mental health. It affects your clarity because you don't know how to be you because you're constantly being the other as a mother, as a father, as a employee, as a manager, as a son, but you are unable to show up as you for yourself, the true you. That's how it affects. Identifying your ego patterns. How are you showing up? How are you showing up with these different masks, with these different identities? Are you showing up as a badass man or as a someone who feels like as a victim or someone who's over inflated with their success of uh wealth

8:24 or command or pride or prestige or status. Identify the way that your ego patterns are showing up. Learn more about ego research. Start looking into what this ego means for you. In module two, we are talking about the impact of ego. How self-awareness is impacted by ego. The one who is walking in self-awareness or one who is actually embodying self-awareness is aware of that ego and is slowly dissolving that ego. Ego is not something that you can shock. It's not a one-time solution. It's fragile. It's It's soft. It's It's like a a glass vase

9:10 that can shatter in any moment when it's identified. So, you need to be gentle with ego, but at the same time be stern and firm. How ego creates mental noise. How breaking free from ego driven thoughts can free you. The The noise that the constant chatter in the back. So, you're listening to this video, you're listening to this lesson, and in the back you're thinking about the appointments that you've got going, the other things that is more important to you, and how this person's volume sounds so monotone, and it's not exciting enough to, you know, be present here. That is ego's noise. That's the mental noise. Then there's a back chatter going on when there's something that's happening in the present. That is the ego chatter that's going on in the back. Breaking free from the thoughts of

9:58 the ego, like how am I going to over how I'm I'm better than that person. Look at them, how shabby they look. Oh, look at them, how amazing are they looking? All of these comparison and division and separation and judgement of all of that is the thoughts of ego. There's always an alternative going on. Become aware Becoming aware of that breaks your thoughts free from the ego. So, your thoughts can become pure and more divine and more centered, more established, more impactful. You show up as a confident, courageous person. You show up as a true person. In module three, we're looking at shifting the perspectives, observing your ego without attachment. How attachment embodies ego 100% 100% my

10:46 car. I drive a Mercedes. I drive a Ferrari. I drive a Volvo. I drive whatever uh brand. You're identifying with that brand as if that brand is you. I wear Armani. I wear I'm a bhakta of Lord Shiva. Ego. That's ego. Right? Really, I didn't have any idea I was supposed to wear a white t-shirt, and this is the white t-shirt I first picked. So, pardon me if this came across as ego, but this is also spiritual ego. Like, "Hey, I'm a bhakta. I'm a devotee of Shiva." And Shambo Mahadevo, Shambo Mahadevo. That's also ego. Unaware of what spirituality means, and we are bouncing around in the name of God thinking that we are God. Like we are we are representing Shiva,

11:32 and we are thinking that we are Shiva himself. But Shiva is all humility. Is that how we are showing up in life? Is that how we showing up to the people? Think about that, right? So, observing ego without attachment. Attachment, start identifying all the attachments. I cannot live without my cat. I cannot live without my um daughter, son. All the attachments that you have, observe and start seeing how your ego is showing up in each of these attachments. Cultivating self-awareness. How do you How does one cultivate self-awareness? With this core concern. Practical tips to quieten the ego. What are the practical tips to quieten the ego? How can we address? So, in this part, shifting perspective is to really address step

12:17 three in module three. Really sharpen that mind to address where all is the ego showing up in your relationships, in your financial or in your wealth, in your health, in your family, in your work spaces, and in public, of course, everywhere you interact. Start addressing them and become aware of them just by acknowledging them. That is 50% of the journey. In module four, we're talking about the mental clarity practices, the healing warrior practices. These guys are fantastic. When you train with them, they are not just training your physical body. It's a mental It's a mind practice. Only the one who has that clear focused mind is able to wield the Kundalini Shakti.

13:03 It tunes in your brain. It tunes in the whole neurology of the body. It tunes in the focus of the mind. The thoughts become centered because if the thoughts go away, you get a whack. You get a whack from this guy. So, the thoughts become centered. The mind becomes centered. Hence, it is a mind practice, not just a body practice. The The is the result of the mental clarity. A clear mind gives clear functional healthy oriented body. Journaling for self-reflection. Maintain a journal. Write your Write all the things you identify about yourself. This is a personal journal

13:49 that you keep for yourself. And write your thoughts, your deepest thoughts. Keep it safe. Write your deepest thoughts. Now, if you're someone who struggles to write on a diary, on a book, or things like that, use your phone. But, prefer to write it because your phone can crash any day. But, all can be hacked, or can whatever. But, your written handwriting in the form of words and letters is personal to you. The letters and words in the phone is not as personal because it's not handwritten by you. Write the thoughts that appear in your mind and how it is coinciding with the words and your actions. Identify. Identify you. Identify yourself. Identify your ego. Start addressing how you're showing up to yourself, how you're showing up to the others.

14:34 Your daily sadhana, your healing or your practices, and mental clarity lessons, your kriyas, will show you the way to balance your ego. Remember, we are not trying to eliminate ego at this point. It's not a one-day workshop. This part of the lesson is an introduction and understanding of ego so that you can become aware and acknowledge your ego. It's an awareness module. It's an awareness lesson. In mental clarity two, we'll dive deeper into how to actually untangle and separate this ego self. It'll happen systematically, automatically as we progress through those lessons. So, don't single-handedly try to eradicate your ego in one day,

15:19 one night. Okay? It'll be hard. The ego will say that you have given up your ego and that you don't have ego, but the one that says that is the ego saying that, okay? So, it's a lot of shades of gray and it has lots of dimensions. It's like walking into a mirrored wall into a mirrored room. The reflection is into the zillion and into the trillions. So, you can't actually see all the facades of the ego. Hence, it's a journey. Hence, it's a healing journey and it takes its own time. Now, I have a interesting practice that I would like to share at this point, which would be um the assignment for this module or this lesson. Take Put your alarm Step one, set your

16:06 timer for 10 minutes. Set your timer for 10 minutes in a quiet space in your personal space, uh preferably indoors where the doors are closed so you're not disturbed by anyone. Take your journal that you are going to write >> [clears throat] >> your self-reflection. And put your date Put today's date, the date that you're sitting on and it's an everyday practice. Everyday spend 10 minutes to do this practice. Write the date, write the time, and start your timer. Sit with your eyes closed and palms clasped like that. Whatever feels comfortable. You don't need to sit in padmasana or some serious yoga posture and do all this, no mudras or anything like this. Just sit relaxed. You can keep your palms wherever, but sit Sit upright. Don't try to lean Lie

16:52 down and try to do this because you'll reach some other dimension where the ego is also sleeping. So, sit up and do this. And observe your thoughts. Let your thoughts flow in and observe your thoughts. As the first thought arrives, write that thought down. Don't attend to it. Don't fiddle with it. Don't fondle with it. Just write it down. Then go back and sit still with yourself.

17:41 And as many thoughts arrive, keep writing them down. The thoughts in the 10 minutes of your sit down. In your focused concentrated self. You want to achieve a state a space where your thoughts are reduced. So, if you in 10 minutes, if you have say 15 or 20 or 25 thoughts or maybe more, 100 thoughts, write them all down. If you're someone who has a lot of thoughts, stay with the 10 minutes. And in the course of a week or a month, notice how many thoughts you're coming down to. Number the thoughts as you're writing the thoughts, okay?

18:27 And if you reach the point where it's 10 thoughts in 10 minutes, increase the time to 15 minutes and see the number of thoughts that's coming. And in a month after that, increase the time to 20. And you can progressively increase the time to observe your own mind how many thoughts come and go in the present in the time that you're sitting up for. That is part one of the exercise. Part two of the exercise is quietly read the humor of your thoughts. When you read the thoughts, the one that is listed, you'll notice that they don't make any sense. One minute you're thinking of one second you're thinking about food, next second you're thinking about uh ice cream, thinking about which bus to catch to get to work, or you're thinking about your ex-boyfriend, thinking about what gift to buy your

19:13 girlfriend. It's random. It's ridiculous. You're thinking about the neighbor's cat. You're thinking about whether it's going to rain or not. And all these are happening within a matter of seconds and minutes. So, time becomes a strange illusion. And observe. This is an observation practice to observe what are all the kind of thoughts that you get. So, part one is listing the thoughts and how many thoughts you're getting in 10 minutes. Part two is to to have a humorous to what are the different thoughts you're getting in that 10 minutes. And try to see if there's any understanding or correlation or any sense to it. Part three of this is how many of these thoughts are actually coming from the ego. And highlight them.

19:59 Because that becomes your tool to address which one I need to address and start using the tools. So, when you're training, you're addressing those thoughts to say, "Okay, I have the tendency to do this thought, so I'm going to train your warding those thoughts off by focusing and rewiring your brain, rewiring the neurological pathways through training with your Adhikadai with the art. The art has a much deeper purpose than just a sport. We do not teach Kalarippayattu. We use Kalarippayattu build our mental clarity. That's the purpose of this art. Otherwise, we would be building more

20:45 muscle and showing off how sexy we look and feeding more to that ego. That's not what we do, right? Maybe Maybe sometimes a little bit, but that's okay. A little bit is all right because we are still learning. We're still going over that bridge to understand and become self-aware. With this, I conclude this part of the lesson. If you have any questions, reach out in the community, reach out in the tribe, share your thoughts, share your feedback in the community, so we can all learn from each other and brainstorm and navigate through deeper pastures of the reality of this truth and this knowledge. Nandri. Namaskaram.