A question about the self

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question (Q): Dear Sir, my first question is: What is Ego?

My second question is about those who lose their ‘selves’ to alcohol. Is it a neuronic activity? Can one compare this to a no-self state?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Ego is the false separation of the Self from the Whole.

In fact, the ego itself leads to the creation of the self. There is no self without the ego, and vice versa.

The various forms of the ego include:

-self-consciousness-self-esteem-self-respect-attachment-desire-possession– mineness (‘my baby’)-goals/targets– fear/insecurity– ideals– hatred/veneration etc.

Liquor helps in the sense that it quietens the mind. But then the mind is quiet in stones, trees, and worms also. Their mind is a-vichaar, it is incapable of thinking. This is a state of low consciousness. The mind is not alert at all, so thoughts cannot come.

Contrasted to this is the state of being thought-free (nirvichar). Here the mind is so alert that it can watch its own thoughts. So the thoughts don’t come.

No-self might be a misleading word. It denotes two very different things.