"Spirituality" and the Rise and Rise of the Ego.

renuka · Sep 2, 2015

I wonder how many people would have noted this fact..many a time when a person gets more spiritual and more organized in his/her quest for some Jnaana or even Bhakti why is it the person's ego starts to hit the roof top?

I find it strange or is there a reason behind this.

Personally I have known many people who have this Spiritual-Ego syndrome.

Their new found spiritual life makes them view others with very little respect and they become highly judgmental.

What actually goes wrong??? Or is this a process that anyone who embarks on a spiritual journey goes through?

For the Ego to be shed..does it have to reach maximum level and only then a person is rid of it?

But on the other hand there are others who totally become more humble instead of becoming egoistic and almost withdraw themselves from others.

But these types are very few ..mostly we see the types who become puffed up with some good amount of pride.

Why does "spirituality" cause such a shift in human behavior?

I have known perfectly normal individuals who once started a spiritual journey have totally transformed into individuals that most people can not stand..they even develop anger..something they would not have displayed before.

Any reasons why this actually happens?

a-TB · Sep 2, 2015

Dear Renuka Madam:

Never understood the word spirituality!
I think we all need ego to live and survive. There is not any human being without ego.

Religiosity can cause bloated ego because one may think they are closer to their god.

I know you may not like this, but noticing other people's ego and commenting on it could itself be considered egotistical because the comments are usually made as "I am OK, all these people are not" spirit

Vanaja Mani · Sep 2, 2015

I have come across many such people. They are not really looking to advance themselves but just to show off to people that they are in the spiritual path. In most cases they are doing this to escape from serious issues in their lives. Putting on a show about their spiritual practices gives them the superiority feeling over others.

a-TB · Sep 2, 2015

Vanaja Mani said:
I have come across many such people. They are not really looking to advance themselves but just to show off to people that they are in the spiritual path. In most cases they are doing this to escape from serious issues in their lives. Putting on a show about their spiritual practices gives them the superiority feeling over others.

Since you have made that negative judgement of those people, do you therefore feel you are better than them?
I think why judge - let those people go on feeling great. I would just smile at their show without ill will.

renuka · Sep 2, 2015

a-TB said:
I know you may not like this, but noticing other people's ego and commenting on it could itself be considered egotistical because the comments are usually made as "I am OK, all these people are not" spirit

Why shouldn't I like it? In fact its good you brought up this point.It would keep everyone's ego under check including mine.

In fact if you read my post again you would see that I wrote that only very few people become humble when they become more 'spiritual" but no where I mention that who are those very few and never implied that I am "Ok" and others are not.

I surely do not consider myself any better than anyone.

I accept myself with all my flaws and plus points if any..that is how I view life.

But the reason I started this topic becos it is really worrisome sometimes.

I have seen many people ruin all relationships even with family becos of the Spiritual Ego Syndrome...I would not be wrong to say that at times even the sanity of these types is questionable

So I really want to know why this actually happens.

So does Spirituality become a bane or a boon?

Hope to get more answers.

I dont really think its all about feeling closer to God.

There could be some dynamics in the mind that we are not too sure about.

Just wondering if we could get more answers.

Even those we get their Kundalini awakened by intensive meditation display similar behavior.

I remember reading that an unregulated Kundalini can cause negative behavior patterns..so I was just wondering is intense spiritual practices have the same effect?

If so..then what is the remedy?

Any idea?

renuka · Sep 2, 2015

This makes a good read..it gives some insight about the spiritual ego...which seems very possible for one on the spiritual path.The link gives a good article about misconceptions about spiritual awakening.

http://www.energygrid.com/spirit/2012/07ap-spiritualawakening.html

It is our ideas about spiritual awakening that block us from realizing authentic awakening. As long as we see awakening as an exhaulted or special state of mind, we will remain asleep in conceptual awakening

This sort of conceptual awakening is actually the birth of a new super-ego or spiritual ego, one so insidious that it hides behind the mask of no-ego. And spiritual egos are notoriously difficult to identify, let alone route out — a trap for almost everyone on a spiritual path.

.

yesmohan · Sep 2, 2015

It is believed that the spiritual practices make a person to have self realisation and thereby enable him to shed away his ego, likes and dislikes,anger etc.. step by step.

If a person still have ego,likes and dislikes,anger etc.. even after spiritual practices for a quite long time, that reveals that the person is still in immature stage in his venture of spiritual practices.

renuka · Sep 2, 2015

yesmohan said:
It is believed that the spiritual practices make a person to have self realisation and thereby enable him to shed away his ego, likes and dislikes,anger etc.. step by step.

If a person still have ego,likes and dislikes,anger etc.. even after spiritual practices for a quite long time, that reveals that the person is still in immature stage in his venture of spiritual practices.

Dear Yesmohan ji,

Is it all about immaturity in spiritual practice?

becos sometimes a person prior to spiritual practice was just a simple,kind hearted..happy go lucky person and Lo Behold! After spiritual practice becomes a total opposite.

So how is this possible?

Does spiritual practice cause all our hidden unknown vasanas(imprints) to reveal itself awaiting for total shedding of the ego? Is it a mental 'detox' that spews out the venom in our mind?

So where does this venom go? Who swallow what is being spewed? Others around the person?

Is this phase just transient? Or can a person be totally trapped in it?

mkrishna100 · Sep 2, 2015

Is this phase just transient? Or can a person be totally trapped in it?

It is all just initial excitement of being exposed to something totally different and being intoxicated with that new experience people behave crazily . The same applies when people go abroad ( say to USA ) for short travel etc .They keep talking about it to everyone , make fun of the roads , grabage etc in India and how USA is far better than India blah blah blah . A person staying 10-15 years in USA will be more mature in his attitude as he knows the plus as well as the minus of USA .
So in my opinion these are just a beginners excitement and nothing else .It happens in every issue and spirituality is also not an exception for the same .

a-TB · Sep 2, 2015

renuka said:
Why shouldn't I like it? In fact its good you brought up this point.It would keep everyone's ego under check including mine.

In fact if you read my post again you would see that I wrote that only very few people become humble when they become more 'spiritual" but no where I mention that who are those very few and never implied that I am "Ok" and others are not.

I surely do not consider myself any better than anyone.

I accept myself with all my flaws and plus points if any..that is how I view life.

But the reason I started this topic becos it is really worrisome sometimes.

I have seen many people ruin all relationships even with family becos of the Spiritual Ego Syndrome...I would not be wrong to say that at times even the sanity of these types is questionable

So I really want to know why this actually happens.

So does Spirituality become a bane or a boon?

Hope to get more answers.

I dont really think its all about feeling closer to God.

There could be some dynamics in the mind that we are not too sure about.

Just wondering if we could get more answers.

Even those we get their Kundalini awakened by intensive meditation display similar behavior.

I remember reading that an unregulated Kundalini can cause negative behavior patterns..so I was just wondering is intense spiritual practices have the same effect?

If so..then what is the remedy?

Any idea?

OK, what is this spiritual practice?

Perhaps the person was already going crazy to begin with.
There are lots of people who are short tempered or not so nice or put others down.

How do you know there is even a connection between what they do 'spiritually' whatever that means and their eventual disposition towards others.

The only thing we can keep in check is our own actions.

zebra16 · Sep 2, 2015

mkrishna100 said:
It is all just initial excitement of being exposed to something totally different and being intoxicated with that new experience people behave crazily . The same applies when people go abroad ( say to USA ) for short travel etc .They keep talking about it to everyone , make fun of the roads , grabage etc in India and how USA is far better than India blah blah blah . A person staying 10-15 years in USA will be more mature in his attitude as he knows the plus as well as the minus of USA .
So in my opinion these are just a beginners excitement and nothing else .It happens in every issue and spirituality is also not an exception for the same .

The high-lighted sentence seems to be at variance with the postings appearing in this forum. Havent seen or observed any mellowing of attitude but have seen only the shrillness increase of the blah blah blah. Undoubtedly there are exceptions. but they are exceptions.

mkrishna100 · Sep 2, 2015

The high-lighted sentence seems to be at variance with the postings appearing in this forum. Havent seen or observed any mellowing of attitude but have seen only the shrillness increase of the blah blah blah. Undoubtedly there are exceptions. but they are exceptions.

I am not aware much about how others here post about USA V/S India etc but I have seen a more mature response from my cousins who have been in USA for more than 15 years . Now they understand the plus and minus of India as well as USA . Anyway the point here is not about USA but how any new experience in anything makes all of us to jump with excietment initially only to soften later and this is very much visible in any person who has had a taste of being part of a new spiritual Guru , spiritual Organization etc .

sangom · Sep 2, 2015

First of all, I have not yet understood the word "spirituality" itself! Does it mean, by any chance, 'being under the influence of spirit"?!

The syndrome which the OP talks about, appears to me as no more than a nautanki; no more. I am able to talk only about hindus, but this "nautanki syndrome" may or may not exist in other religions. I have found people acquiring this infection when they have nothing else to boast about in their life. Pretending oneself to be extremely religious and devoted to god always etc., opens up a new path for the person within our hindu fold.

I know of a person who was a compulsive womanizer with hardly any religious inclination. Towards his old age (and due to a certain crisis which arose out of his congenital weakness of womanizing) he suddenly turns to be the so-called "spiritual", wearing panchakachham, learning mantras from joining mantra-learning groups, taking active part in the building of a new temple near his housing colony, becoming a sishya of a comparatively less known but very rich and shrewd business oriented guruji, donating moneys to that guruji's outfit, etc., he earned recognition within the short time of one or two years as a very respected religious "tAthA"!

The best part was that he would make a big show off of every one of his religious activities like sandhyAvandanam, tarpanam, reading of religious books, evening chanting of sahasranamam and sooktams, why even the "fruitarian diet" he used to take at night on certain religious days!
Poor man, he passed away suddenly due to complications in the heart by-pass surgery.

I think most of the people putting on such a religiosity show (nothing spiritual, either the alcoholic or any other variety) will have something to hide or cover up from themselves even, or from new people they meet; or else, they may have great drawbacks like infertility, untrustworthy spouse, children with black track records or even a very high doubting Tom syndrome. They will not like their so-called religiosity, knowledge of religion and/or philosophy etc., being questioned by anyone and will flare up. (Does this ring any bells?!) That is so because this religiosity is a mask with which those people believe they are fooling people.

auh · Sep 2, 2015

yesmohan said:
It is believed that the spiritual practices make a person to have self realisation and thereby enable him to shed away his ego, likes and dislikes,anger etc.. step by step.

If a person still have ego,likes and dislikes,anger etc.. even after spiritual practices for a quite long time, that reveals that the person is still in immature stage in his venture of spiritual practices.

Very true of bottled "spiritual" practices also

auh · Sep 2, 2015

sangom said:
I think most of the people putting on such a religiosity show (nothing spiritual, either the alcoholic or any other variety) will have something to hide or cover up from themselves even, or from new people they meet; or else, they may have great drawbacks like infertility, untrustworthy spouse, children with black track records or even a very high doubting Tom syndrome.

I take strong objection to your remark that the spirituality of alcoholics is a show. It is most definitely not.

It is a natural consequence of imbibing the spirit in both body and mind. Of any other spirituality, I do not know.

sangom · Sep 2, 2015

auh said:
I take strong objection to your remark that the spirituality of alcoholics is a show. It is most definitely not.

It is a natural consequence of imbibing the spirit in both body and mind. Of any other spirituality, I do not know.

Sorry, sir, for the error!

Dr.Dinesh · Sep 2, 2015

Hi Ms.Renuka
from my own life's observation i am saying this...Before practicing spiritual side,the person has gone through so many kinds of actions(anger,ego,desires,bound,hurted,etc) in their life,from childhood till ,B4 has started to practice spiritual side...all these actions are stored in the subconscious/unconscious mind...the spiritual side is what out spirit/soul normally wants...but in this reality we have to undergo these phases...wen a person practice spirituality,their stored memories comes to the surface...if the person knows how to tackle these kinds of memories, he/she wont be immature...but if he doesn't know na...he will start to chase the rabbit...at one point if it gets empty another one will surface up...
From my personal experience i went through first ANGER,EGO and now i am trapped in lowering down myself to level of my friends...and having difficulty in maintaining my spiritual level as it is fluctuating.

..Not will have to undergo these phases...it depends on depth of wound they had in the past...
if i am wrong plz do correct me guys...

renuka · Sep 3, 2015

Dr.Dinesh said:
Hi Ms.Renuka
from my own life's observation i am saying this...Before practicing spiritual side,the person has gone through so many kinds of actions(anger,ego,desires,bound,hurted,etc) in their life,from childhood till ,B4 has started to practice spiritual side...all these actions are stored in the subconscious/unconscious mind...the spiritual side is what out spirit/soul normally wants...but in this reality we have to undergo these phases...wen a person practice spirituality,their stored memories comes to the surface...if the person knows how to tackle these kinds of memories, he/she wont be immature...but if he doesn't know na...he will start to chase the rabbit...at one point if it gets empty another one will surface up...
From my personal experience i went through first ANGER,EGO and now i am trapped in lowering down myself to level of my friends...and having difficulty in maintaining my spiritual level as it is fluctuating. ..Not will have to undergo these phases...it depends on depth of wound they had in the past...
if i am wrong plz do correct me guys...

Dear Dr Dinesh,

I agree with you..in fact in one of my earlier post I wrote about "detox" of the mind where there is a possibility that all stored vasanas(imprints)/anger,ego,pride etc us churned out of the mind and the venom is spewed out and hence we see a drastic change in behavior.

I have no evidence for this but I get a feeling it could be a process that occurs as you correctly said about stored data in our subconscious.

BTW why do you say that you are trapped in lowering yourself to the level of your friends?

They are your buddies yaar...you must have something in common with them to hang out with them na?

I personally feel there is nothing in the world that does not fluctuate.

Name me anything that does not fluctuate..everything comes with a range..Frankly speaking there is no real Gold Standard anymore.

Even in the medical field these days precision medicine is the new school of thought that is each person reacts differently to a medication itself and even for vital signs like Blood Pressure there is no more a gold standard of just one reading to be the normal and also there is not only one target.

So I guess the same with our mind and understanding..its going to change and that my dear I feel is the name of the game.

biswa · Sep 3, 2015

Sangomji, very hard hitting posts. But surely there are counter-examples to the pseudo serious person you describe?

sangom · Sep 3, 2015

Dr.Dinesh said:
Hi Ms.Renuka
from my own life's observation i am saying this...Before practicing spiritual side,the person has gone through so many kinds of actions(anger,ego,desires,bound,hurted,etc) in their life,from childhood till ,B4 has started to practice spiritual side...all these actions are stored in the subconscious/unconscious mind...the spiritual side is what out spirit/soul normally wants...but in this reality we have to undergo these phases...wen a person practice spirituality,their stored memories comes to the surface...if the person knows how to tackle these kinds of memories, he/she wont be immature...but if he doesn't know na...he will start to chase the rabbit...at one point if it gets empty another one will surface up...
From my personal experience i went through first ANGER,EGO and now i am trapped in lowering down myself to level of my friends...and having difficulty in maintaining my spiritual level as it is fluctuating. ..Not will have to undergo these phases...it depends on depth of wound they had in the past...
if i am wrong plz do correct me guys...

If one feels that he/she is having difficulty in maintaining the spiritual level as it is fluctuating, because it has to be brought down to the level of that (spirituality) of one's friends, I feel there is something really wrong with that person's psyche. It could be termed the spirituality delusion, unless the friends in question are the fallen, most debauched types.

The virus causing this disease is the erroneous notion of "spirituality", imho. The spirit or power which grants us our life, leads us through the predestined life path and finally departs from the physical body to make that body a perishable bundle, can never be realized with the help of ordinary human mind and/or intellect. But our mind/intellect may be able to get a knowledge about that spirit and this is what our spiritual texts call brahmajnaana.

A person who has got such brahmajnaana will be a "samadarsin" as spoken in the BG sloka,
'विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणो गविहस्तिनी। शुनी चैव श्वपाके च पन्डिताः समदर्शिनः।।' (गीता 5-18), meaning such a person views a brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, a chandaala - all as equal to himself and as manifestations of the same spirit as himself.

I suppose that is the kind of spirituality to be sought after, not the pseudo kind of spirituality supposed to be obtained by constant chanting of some name, some so-called spirituality practices and so on, by which the person gets into a delusional feeling of being "spiritual".

Dr.Dinesh · Sep 5, 2015

Hi Mr sangom
Tq so much for the reply.If I tell the reason of my fluctuation...the threads topic will be diverted...i'll say in precise...I need everyone whom I c everyday to be with me as a frnd & happy always.not all appreciate spiritual path...so there s an act in my character for their happiness...but I more intrsted in energy medicine....so I created split behavior...leads to fluctuation...found a way...will recover soon...

Dr.Dinesh · Sep 5, 2015

Hi Ms.Renuka
create ur own evidence mam.I have created mine...everyday progress

renuka · Sep 7, 2015

Dr.Dinesh said:
.but I more intrsted in energy medicine....so I created split behavior...leads to fluctuation...found a way...will recover soon...

As long one is Ambi or Remo its still acceptable...do not create Anniyan!

Believe me sometimes "creating" more than one personality to cope with day to day changes can eventually lead to dissociative identity disorder.

Another possible explanation for fluctuations of the split behavior kind is Bipolar type 2.This is often mistaken as a spiritual awakening.

Its during the phase of hypomania in Bipolar type 2 that one feels "spiritually high" and start viewing others as not their spiritual equal.

When the hypomania phase is over one is back to normal or even dips into a slight depressive mood.

So never take fluctuations that create a new persona too lightly...sometimes a little counselling helps.

This is just my general statement..not being specific about you or anyone else.

sravna · Sep 9, 2015

Dear Renuka,

Anyone who considers himself superior to others in anyway still has not shed his ego. As you rightly say, this also applies to a person who considers himself spiritually superior to others. It only shows that he has not evolved completely though that attitude is far less dangerous to others than those which are not based on spiritual superiority. But everyone passes through various stages before complete maturity happens. People think what comes naturally to them depending on their maturity. Reactions to others thoughts also depends on one's maturity. In my opinion a fully mature person, never reacts .He only acts. At that stage a person doesn't possess ego. Anyway the physical world will be the way it is and evolve the way it should and it is the mix of variation that makes physical world interesting and also a ground for learning.

"Spirituality" and the Rise and Rise of the Ego.

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