Our ego keeps us aloof from our own Real Self. Ego is so mighty that it makes us deceive our own Self. It has been attached to one’s Self from the very beginning. It appears to be so natural a part of our very self that, under the pretext of our understanding, this ego gets tickled instantaneously and the very next moment gets depressed.
If I say, “You are a wonderful person,” you will at once be tickled, but you will express it by saying, “Baba, I am just your slave.” This apparently 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 wouldn’t express it. You would 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 appearances. 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 the 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.
-Darshan Hours, p51