Ego

Vihaya kaman yah sarvan pumams carati nihsprhah, nirmamo nirahankarah sa shantim adhigacchati

That person who gives up all material desires and lives free from a sense of possessiveness, proprietorship, and egotism, attains perfect peace.

Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvashah, ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate

The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.

Ye tv etad abhyasuyanto nanutishthanti me matam, sarva-jnana-vimudhams tan viddhi nashtan acetasah

But those who, out of envy, disregard and do not follow these teachings — know them to be deluded in all knowledge, mindless, and lost.

Maha-bhutany ahankaro buddhir avyaktam eva cha, indriyani dashaikam cha panca chendriya-gocharah

The field (kshetra) consists of the five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses, the mind, and the five sense objects. These twenty-four elements comprise the totality of material existence.

Asau maya hatah shatrun hanishye caparan api, ishvaro 'ham aham bhogi siddho 'ham balavan sukhi

That enemy has been slain by me, and I shall slay others too. I am the lord. I am the enjoyer. I am perfect, powerful, and happy. This internal boast of the demoniac reveals their core delusion: they mistake themselves for the supreme controller, the ultimate enjoyer, and the independent cause of their own success.

Adhyo 'bhijanavan asmi ko 'nyo 'sti sadrisho maya, yakshye dasyami modishya ity ajnana-vimohitah

I am the wealthiest man, surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is none so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform sacrifices, I shall give charity, and I shall rejoice — thus they are deluded by ignorance. Even religious acts like sacrifice and charity become tainted when performed from a place of ego and pride rather than devotion and surrender.

asastra-vihitam ghoram tapyante ye tapo janah, dambhahankara-samyuktah kama-raga-balanvitah

Those who perform severe austerities not prescribed by scripture, driven by hypocrisy, ego, desire, and passion, are described here as acting against divine wisdom.

abhisandhaya tu phalam dambhartham api caiva yat, ijyate bharata-sreshtha tam yajnam viddhi rajasam

Sacrifice performed with an eye to reward, or for the sake of show and pride, is to be known as rajasic, O best of the Bharatas.

satkara-mana-pujartham tapo dambhena caiva yat, kriyate tad iha proktam rajasam calam adhruvam

Austerity performed with hypocrisy for the sake of honor, respect, and reverence is called rajasic — it is unstable and impermanent.

tatraivam sati kartaram atmanam kevalam tu yah pasyaty akrita-buddhitvan na sa pasyati durmatih

One who, despite this fivefold causation, sees the pure Self alone as the doer, that person, of impure understanding, does not truly see. Claiming sole personal agency ignores the full reality of how action operates.

yat tu kamepsuna karma sahankarena va punah kriyate bahulayasam tad rajasam udahritam

Action that is performed with great effort by one who seeks to gratify desires or who is driven by a sense of ego is declared to be rajasic. The straining quality of such action reveals its root in the restless, desire-driven nature of rajas.

ahankaram balam darpam kamam krodham parigraham vimucya nirmamah santo brahma-bhuyaya kalpate

Having relinquished egotism, force, arrogance, desire, anger, and possessiveness, freed from the sense of 'mine' and at peace — one becomes fit for becoming Brahman. These are the final obstacles that must be transcended before liberation.

Mac-chittah sarva-durgani mat-prasadat tarishyasi, atha cet tvam ahankaran na shroshyasi vinankshyasi

If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace. But if you do not work in such consciousness, but act through ego, you will be lost.

yad ahankaram asritya na yotsya iti manyase mithyaisa vyavasayas te prakritis tvam niyoksyati

If, taking refuge in ego, you think 'I will not fight,' this resolve of yours is false. Your nature will compel you. The ego's decision to withdraw from duty is ultimately overridden by one's own deeper svabhava.