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to be fed on vanity; flattery is grist to its mill. The soul is self-sufficient. The ego is a shackle; the soul seeks to make you free. The ego wants to announce itself with a fanfare; the soul is quietly self-effacing.
Once three friends went together to a sage wanting to be his disciples and to imbibe his wisdom and holiness. The sage asked them: “Who are you?" The first replied: “I? I am a prince. I am the overlord of twenty towns.” “Enough,” said the wise man, and then turning to the second asked: “Pray, who are you?” The second replied: "I: I am the son of the richest man in this town. My father is a millionaire and I am his only son. My position in my home is incomparable.” The holy man turned to the third friend and said: “And you? Who are you?” The young man humbly folded his hands and said: “My lord, if I knew who I was, would I have come to you? Won't you show me who I am. In my life of thoughtless pleasure, somewhere along the way I forgot who I really am.” :
Need I tell you the holy man's choice?
True character leads not to the aggrandisement of material possessions, but to inner fulfilment. When Bhagwan Mahavir was preparing to renounce the
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