[Baba continued]
Deshmukh, if I say: “You are a wonderful person,” you will be at once tickled. But you will express it by saying: “Baba, I am just your slave.” This apparent humble statement may imply anything but humility.
The next moment, if I were to point out one of your weaknesses, you would at once feel depressed, but you would not express it. You will say: “Baba, after all, I am a human being.” By this statement, you try to conceal what you feel within you, for ego assumes false appearance. It is very difficult to be natural and to express what you feel within. The false ego is the stumbling block.
What is meant by annihilation of the ego? It means to be fully conscious in sound sleep: fully conscious in the fully unconscious state! Until the Sadguru bestows his grace, this is not possible.
-www.lordmeher.org, p4685
May, 1960; Guruprasad