Can you please expand on how to raise beyond individuality and ego? Sri Aurobindo has written “When we have passed beyond individuality then we shall be the real persons. Ego was the helper; Ego is the bar” Mother expanded on this in Nov 1956 – her response was upto the point of how one can know that one is conscious and that to become a spiritual being one should give all that up but doesn’t expand on how or what it means to do it. (Can you please expand on what/how to do, apart from surrendering and aspiring for help and cultivating a strong will and strong body and offering it to Mother🤔?)

Yes the way is a conscious surrender of one’s individuality with an aspiration. The nature of the aspiration then determines what way this individuality will be taken up by the Divine. If the aspiration is for serving the Divine then it will be used as an instrument of the Divine. If the aspiration is for a complete merger in the Divine then it is gradually devoured and annihilated. If the aspiration is for transformation then all the elements of the individual personality are taken up and moulded. Of course these are not mutually exclusive but the path takes differs according to the core aspiration. Work for the Mother is one of the simplest and most natural way to go beyond the ego provided one safeguards against the egoism of the instrument. The way of the Gita is the best in this regard, that is to say nishkama karma, equanimity, offering all we think and do to Her.

Another way of getting rid of the ego, in fact the fastest way, is true bhakti, psychic devotion for the Mother. But bhakti, especially of the nature of self giving is a gift of Her Grace. One can develop it to a certain extent by reading their books, meditating upon Her and of course through service.  

Affectionately,

Alok Da