Page 221 - Wisdom Unfurled

The Master talks about the 11 rings of egoism which have been dealt with in detail in ‘Path of Grace’ and here the attempt is only to give an overall idea of the same for the sake of completeness. The ego we talk about here is not the conventional one which is used alternately for ‘pride’ and ‘arrogance’ but that which is related to the realm of possessiveness involving ‘me’, ‘mine’, ‘we’ and ‘our’. One moves on from these states of possessiveness to discover that it is all ‘His’ in every sense of the term. The problem continues even in the higher stages and so long as the Jiva is there some residual ego will be there. The rings of egoism span the heart and mind regions and the last ring is very near the Central Region. The basic problem of the egoistic consciousness is associated with the ‘doership’, ‘knowership’ and ‘enjoyership’. The ego goes through various stages of evolution from the crude identification with the body to the very fine stage where the person performs all work as if automatically without awareness of the work before or after the event. It is a state of total unawareness wherein higher type of work is allotted and this is the condition of the ego in one at the Prapanna Prabhu level (beyond Brahmanda and Parabrahmanda levels but still in the Heart Region).
We may consider that the rings of ego have almost ended here. In the Mind Region the ego undergoes a transformation and the feeling that one is a subject of Master or God disappears here. Though the ‘doer’ is gone, ‘knower’ and ‘enjoyer’ continues in the individuality. It is to be noted that it is the Mind of God which rules here and not the individual mind of the aspirant which is gone in the beginnings of Brahmand if he has been keen on reaching the Goal. One needs a very strong determination to move on and he should yield totally to the work of the master who is giving the push. All the shades of egoism may still be extant here and a slip is possible from this condition if any or some of them take a grosser turn. The movement further on can take place only in the case of the blessed souls chosen by the Divine (Master) who enjoy His grace and which can be deserved only through service to His cause and mission.
The ego continues in the rings of splendour as mere identity being barely conscious and it continues in the Central Region till it reaches the Centre undergoing further refinement with the Identity remaining naked before the Master. The Master states that the state of humanity remains nominally even after laya in the Absolute and this does raise questions of serious philosophical concern. The system of the Master being entirely new and since the possibility has been opened for the first time before the seeker to have the imperience of entering into the Central Region even while living in the body all due to the boundless grace of the Great Master, we can not adopt the definitions of laya given in the scriptures or vedantic texts but have to go by the anubhava pramana substantiated by the imperience itself.