A Cognitive Understanding - 03.22.10

Student Question: You mentioned earlier acquiring an understanding for how our egos operate—the games, the defense mechanisms, etc. Does one really need to understand all of this?

“It helps a lot for the modern Western intellect,” explains Shunyamurti, the founder of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. But it was not always necessary. One can even see this in the story of Nisargadatta Maharaj. However, in modern culture, no one will believe a holy scripture or a guru, so “you better understand it for yourself that this makes rational sense. Once you have understood this in a deep way so that you can refute your ego’s own self-deceptions, then you can liberate yourself.” Recorded on the evening of Monday, March 22, 2010.