Mercy and Ego

 

Photo Credit: Radhanath Swami Quotes

Mercy and Ego

Mercy can be of two kinds. It can be very egoistic, then it only appears as mercy but is not; unless mercy is absolutely egoless it is not authentic. And the difference is very subtle: from the outside there is no difference at all, but one can feel the difference inside.

If mercy arises out of one’s bliss, then it can never be an ego trip. If we share our bliss, we feel thankful to the person who receives it, we feel humble. Bliss never makes anybody egoistic; on the contrary, dropping of the ego is the basic requirement of being blissful. Unless one drops the ego, one is never blissful. Bliss happens within us like a flame of light and mercy is the radiation of it. When our bliss starts reaching to others it is mercy, compassion.

The person who is merciful towards the poor, the starving, the ill, and is using it as a means of attaining heaven, of attaining God’s grace, is exploiting these people. In fact, this type of man will never like the world without the poor, without the ill, without the starved, because how will mercy be displayed then?

So, these people who go on serving the poor and the ill are the people who would like the poor and the ill to remain thus forever. They would not like the world to be really happy because the happy person does not need our mercy. They would not like the pain to disappear totally, the suffering to be gone forever — then who will need us? Then we will feel absolutely futile. That was the meaning of our life; we were dependent on those people.

If the world is happy and people are enjoying themselves and are blissful, who cares about the other world and heaven? — we can make heaven here. When we start serving people out of bliss, then that is spontaneous; there is no goal to it, it is unmotivated. And when it is unmotivated it is beautiful.

There are many saints and ascetics who have served humanity selflessly but have never got the Nobel prize – Ramana Maharshi, Shirdi Sai Baba, Osho, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Gurdieff and so on. But Mother Teresa go the Nobel prize for serving the poor. Why? How has she contributed to world peace? By serving the poor of Kolkata, the beggars, the widows, and the orphans, how has she served world peace, the cause of peace? By serving them, by helping them to continue to live, poverty has not been eradicated. 

In fact, these are the people who function as agents of the status quo, of the vested interest. Console the poor, serve the poor, give them little bits and they remain as they are. Tell them “You are suffering because of your past karmas,” tell them “You are suffering because God is testing you,” tell them “You are suffering because God is purifying you.” These are beautiful strategies to keep the poor poor and to keep the rich rich.