As human beings, we are multi-dimensional creatures. We have a mind, the ego and the soul. Of these, the soul is your pure identity and the ego is the outermost shell. And the fundamental property of the ego is to 'react'. And the nature of reaction is that it is sharp and hurts more. The Egoic layer is a hard and brittle layer. It also makes egoic relationships fragile and broken egos are hard to mend. Unless the identification with the ego is broken nothing meaningful can be achieved in life.
This is the esoteric meaning behind breaking of the coconut when you go into a temple or when you begin a new project. The coconut is a perfect example. The outermost shell is hard and represents the ego. It must first be broken. The shell is made up of a hard substance which contains a great deal of heat. A single lit coconut shell can heat up 2 or 3 gallons of water. It contains that much heat. It can be used to create a fire and when thrown into an existing fire, burns blazingly. The softer edible portion within the shell is the natural human self. It is soft, white and nourishing to the body. It also contains fire, but in a different form. When dried, it can be pressed to obtain an oil. And this oil can be utilised to light a lamp. This is the oil of human life. The tender coconut water represents the soul. It gives vital nutrients for the human body and is a water form – the universal solvent. When you break the coconut shell, you break your ego; you surrender the white insides - your natural human self; and allow the water to flow out – allow your individual soul to merge with the universe.
Thus the ego must be broken all the time. Or else it forms a thicker and harder shell and it will be painful when it will have to be forced open at a later stage. Sometimes we recognise that the so-called law of karma works in this layer and feel that we have gained some great insight. It is no insight at all. It is no knowledge at all. It is merely an acknowledgement that within the egoic layer, Newtonian laws apply. And its sphere of operation is limited. And this law cannot be used by human beings. You cannot use it to wish someone ill and to wish yourself well. There is no place for a wish in the middle of enforcement of this law. When you wish something, you are trying to interfere with the laws in operation – you are trying to speed up or slow down a reaction. And this will also create another reaction. Therefore the wise never wish – either for good or for bad; either for themselves or for others. They go on working. Eventually the fruits will show up.
The egoic shell is also flammable as mentioned earlier. This is why all fights, wars, curses and violent struggles are products of Egoic actions. All these violent flames arise from the egoic shell. When it takes over, it destroys – not only the ones that it fights, but also the host. Many are driven to suicide by it. How foolish it is to commit suicide, isn’t it? How foolish to fancy that your soul can be destroyed. Suicide and murder are just the same. Both bodies are not you. Whether you kill yours or another’s, it makes no difference. It is all the same. The Ego makes some believe that by killing themselves other people are learning some lesson through suffering. While in fact, he is only killing his own options of learning from life. It is quite unbelievable how the reactive Ego makes a person quite stupid and foolish.
No doubt the Ego must be broken but it is also that the outer protective shell cannot be broken everywhere. When we meet a stranger, we do not divulge everything that we know or feel. We give some limited information and protect our identity. We retain our shell, a bit of our ego, for the purposes of a limited interaction with strangers. When we meet family, friends and well wishers, there is no need to pretend much about who we are. They already know a lot about us and our egoic identity is not of much use. We must fall back to our natural human identity, leaving aside the identities imposed by our possessions and worldly qualifications. We interact as human beings. When we meet the Lord, we have to shift to a further layer of internal truth, to our divine layer. In this identity we are just a part of the same divine self that is the source and substratum of all creation. With God, we cannot retain our Ego, we cannot hang on to any limited idea of our selves. We must let go carefully so that we can savour His embrace, his unconditional love for us. We must break the coconut. We must break the Ego, let go of our worldly identities and let our inner self merge with Him.
We must not retain the egoic shell when we go to a temple to meet the Lord. And even in many worldly situations, we must not let the Ego dictate our actions. We can use the egoic external identity to shield ourselves, to protect those whom we love, to protect the principles of truth. But we should not use it to hurt others or to accumulate hurt within ourselves by inviting an internal reaction that creates dark spots in our subtle body. When you are in two minds about what to do, resist the temptation of the ego to react. Break the coconut and be patient. And wisdom will show you in time the course of action that is best suited to all parties concerned.
..........shree gurubhyo namah.........
1Conversation between Sriranga Mahaaguru and his disciple
Sri Varada Deshikachar that occurred some 50 years ago and
are published in a book called 'Vichara Sumanomaala'.
Sri Varada Desikachar is now known as Sri Sri Rangapriya Swamiji
apt example... Thanks
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