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Supposing you go to university and you have to learn something from your professor, and as soon as you see the professor you start criticizing his suit, or his nose. Children also understand the joke. So, that is not a sign of intelligence, of pure intelligence. It’s a sign of ego, and ego makes a person stupid.

Is a nice story written about this in the Ramayana by Valmiki. It’s Narada, once got into the realm of ego, and he started saying that, “What do I care for anyone? I am such a great celibate person. I have never married. Even Shiva had to marry, imagine. I have never married. I’m such a great brahmachari.” And, when he was walking on the road, he met two people who were sent by Shri Krishna to befool him. And Vishnu had sent him to befool this fellow, his ego. So, these two persons came and started telling him, “You are such a handsome man. You are such a great person, greater than Shiva, greater than any of the Gods.” So he became a greater stupid fool. His ego, you see, swells up like this, start floating in the air. It’s like a plastic. You can’t see the reality. You think no end of yourself. “Ah, I am so great.” But that’s not reality.

Now this fellow believed that he was the most handsome man going. Then they said, “We have come to tell you that there is a beautiful woman. She’s a princess and her svyamvara [marriage] is going to be performed, for which you are the most suitable man because she said she will marry the most handsome and the most intelligent, and you are the most intelligent and the most handsome man.” So he said, “Where is the wedding?” He said, “In Maya Nagari;” actually means a city of illusion. So they took him there, and he saw a big pendal, and every arrangement made, big. A music was on, and all that. And then they all sat in line, you see, waiting for the princess to come in. When the princess came out with her garland, and she went round, and which she was, I mean very shy. And when she faced Narada she just laughed, she forgot everything. Laughed aloud, you see. Not only giggled but laughed, you see. And then she went ahead.

So, he asked them, “What’s the matter?” They said, “We don’t know. She might come back. Let us wait. She must have been very happy to see such a handsome man.” But she never came back. So they went to the—they went out and he said, “Now let me go and now rest for a while.” So he wanted to wash his face in the lake. When he looked into the water, he was amazed he was looking like a monkey. So he got very angry with these two persons, and he said, “Why did you befool me like this?” They said, “Sir, we did not befool. It’s your ego which makes you out into a stupid personality. You were sitting there and criticizing everybody, saying he’s ugly looking, he’s useless, he’s good for nothing. You were the one looking like a monkey. And you were such a stupid fool, even when we told you this is Maya Nagari you did not think that Maya Nagari’s just an illusion. So you lived in an illusion about yourself, and there was no princess. There was nothing of the kind. Only your illusion created all those things.” So this is what ego is. And this ego cannot give you anything but illusion and stupidity.

Now this has to be understood very clearly, that you have to be prepared to face yourself. You are people if you are really French, and if you really love your country and your countrymen, you have to become something special. Those people who are getting drowned, if you have to save them, you must know how to swim.

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Now, we are here to judge ourselves and not to judge others. I know the French are very individualistic, but all the individuals now have to enter into my being. You have to all become part and parcel of the Virat. The microcosm has to become the macrocosm. For that, you have to give up your small, limited personalities. You have to become very large, big, but what do you have to surrender is your ego. That’s the stupid thing which covers you up completely in the head here and doesn’t allow you to grow. So, if you fight with it, it will exhaust you. For example, your ego is here and you are here, so light falls and you fight with your own image or your shadow. Then, you’re exhausted, then you say, “Mother, I’ve been fighting with my ego, but the ego doesn’t go.” It’s an illusion.

The thing is to stand under the light—under the light of enlightenment, so no shadow. You don’t fight yourself. So you don’t fight your ego. You must only know that it exists. You stand before the mirror and say, “Now, how do you do, Mr. Ego?” Now a stupid idea comes, you say, “Oh, Mr. Ego, now don’t tell me anything. I know it’s all right, it’s all right.”

So, you start detaching yourself, like we say, “All right, I forgive, I forgive, I forgive. I forgive you. You get out. You get out.” Best thing is to shoebeat yourself. Then this ego business goes away. Now any idea comes into your head that, “This is very wrong. This should not have happened.” It’s all right, forget it. Like, you see, supposing I see anything black on my sari, I won’t have it there. I’ll wash it off. Supposing I think this: “My sari is me and this, whatever is dirt on that, is also me.” Then I won’t leave it there.

But ego is even worse that dirt and filth, because it attacks others. Also, it attacks you. It comes from over-activity of the brain. First thing is attacked is your liver, by which you sometimes get bilious, you don’t feel like eating food, you go on throwing food, you become very fussy. You don’t like this, it should not be kept like that; should be kept like that. Your attention becomes all the time mad.

Especially food; you don’t like English food, you don’t like Indian food, you don’t like Russian food. You just like French food, and then you don’t even like French food. Then you go to somebody’s, “Oh, I didn’t like that. All very bad. This should not have been there. This carpet was really bad, that one was not all right, this one was not all right.” And that you don’t like anything. You see, you have no taste buds left in your mind, you don’t like anything. How can you enjoy anything? It’s like a tongue which has no taste buds, you see, doesn’t like anything. And such a waste of energy I tell you.

Same with dress. “I don’t like this. I don’t like that.” You’ll get to ten storerooms, stores. You won’t like this. You won’t like that. You won’t like that. Then you’ll be exhausted and then you’ll buy something stupid, a hippie thing and come out with all your hair standing up like that. Absolutely that, like I saw today one. Hairdressing; you’ll go to the hairdresser, he’ll be fed up. He’ll just shave you off.

Your attention becomes extremely disturbed.

Today we went to the stores. Every, say, I was talking, say, to him but he was looking at another thing. “Govinda, I’m talking to you.” Looking here, there, there and the person to whom I’m talking also looking all over. The attention becomes so funny that you tell them something, they do another thing.

Like in America you ask him, “What’s your name?” Simple question. That person’s looking somewhere else. They’ll say, “Did you say what’s my name?” Then we’ll look at another thing. I’ll say, “Yes, yes. I want—just wanted to know your name.” Then he’ll turn another, “Did you ask for my name?”

He’ll go on for five minutes. Then I would say, “All right, I don’t ask you anything, I’ll stop.”