It is an impediment to spiritual growth and harmony

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live…. Oscar Wilde. There is a strong belief among some religious sects that all of us are a small part of a big ONE who is Supreme & Super Natural and who is known by different names & forms in different religions. However, looking at the current scenario, where we all are living an individualistic life to achieve our individual goals, one might easily argue against the belief of oneness between One Supreme & One Self. Also, each one of us is so hard-pressed & desperate to fulfil our infinite wishes that we hardly spare a moment to even think about that ONE Supreme who happens to be our mother, father, guide & saviour.

As individuals, we all expect that others should give us respect & love which we consider to be our human right/birthright. Sounds silly !! doesn't it? But it’s a fact that nobody from us wishes to be totally neglected or completely deprived of his so-called human right. One may tolerate certain acts of others that go against his/her rights up to a certain limit only but not beyond all limits. This is because none of us can totally and absolutely dissociate ourselves from this feeling of individuality. It is this individual approach that hinders our growth as a human being & prevents us from imbibing treasures of knowledge from the Supreme.

Hence, we need to get rid of it at any cost, but practically speaking it is impossible to lift the chair on which one is sitting so also one cannot rise from individuality; which has become our true nature & hence one cannot get rid of this individuality by mere wishful thinking. So what is the solution then? To start with, we need to concentrate on liberating ourselves from the negative traits of our body-consciousness. YES!!, we should remember that when we become too narrow in outlook, we become selfish & after some time then this selfishness takes the form of jealousy, hatred, greed, etc. In an actual sense, these negative traits sum up as the real causes of almost all the problems in the world.

It is said that selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race. So how can we get over this curse & save ourselves? Well, experience says that one can get rid of selfishness greatly by a simple thought, belief & feeling that we are all children of One Supreme and are, therefore, brothers among ourselves and should, therefore, work for each other's well-being and should cooperate with each other to remove each other's sufferings.

Apart from selfishness, it has been also observed that the feeling of individual self also, at times, takes the form of ego or pride which drives us into destructive mode. However, when we get enlightened by spiritual knowledge, we realise how wrong were our feelings of false pride or ego, which in turn brings humility and introversion within us.

Regular practice of meditation further makes us realise that there is a great difference between HIM and us and how we have many shortcomings, weaknesses and bad qualities that need to be eliminated. So, let us all connect our minds to Him and restore all our spiritual relationships with Him to remove all the negative traits of our individual selves & re-emerge positive traits within ourselves. 

(Writer is a spiritual educator & popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal & UK)