What is the ego tendency?

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

Acharya Prashant (AP): You see, we often say that suffering is when things start cluttering the mind. Kabir Sahab says, “Maya is that which occupies your mind.” We need to ask, “To whom is the occupation?” Let’s say a girl keeps dancing in your mind, to whom is she dancing? Who is watching her? To whom has she come? Has she come to nobody? Has she come to an empty house? She is dancing in your mind. To whom has she come? Had he not been there, would she have come?

Questioner (Q): No.

AP: That’s the ego tendency. Whenever you see something, you must see, that which you are seeing, is for you, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been there. Your universe is for you, otherwise, it is not there. That girl has come to your mind for you. You go away from yourself, the girl too won’t be there.

Q: What is this going away from yourself?

AP: First of all, you are attached to the brain. The “I” tendency attached to the brain is called the mind, and therefore she comes to the mind. To merely the brain, she will not be big trouble, but to the mind, she is a big attraction or distraction. A male dog does not keep dreaming of a female dog, that does not happen, but a man can keep dreaming of a woman for 50 years, you are so attached to the brain that now there is all kinds of mischief.

So, when things start appearing to you, when things start becoming important to you, when things start occupying you, you must ask “To whom have they come?” You must ask “So many unwelcome guests have arrived, but Who is the host?” So many unwelcome guests have arrived at the mind, the mind is the house. So many unwelcome guests have arrived at the house, but “who is the host”, and then you will hear a resounding order, ‘I am ’, that’s what Nisargadatta teaches.

The guests are surely all bogus, but who is the host? I am. Had I not been the host, the guests would not have arrived. So, don’t blame the guests, don’t chase away the guests because even if you are chasing away the guests, you are still there. You go away from the house, the guests too would go away, which is the house? To which firstly you came, and then the guests came — The body. First of all, you are very attached to the…