From the Index of Management Areas

The 41 verses the book gathers under Ego

Chapter and verse, as listed in the Index of Management Areas, each with The Meaning as it appears in the book. The Teaching and the Reflect question for every verse are in the book.

1. 2.19A person who thinks the self kills, or that the self can be killed, does not understand the truth. The eternal self neither kills nor is killed.
2. 2.71A person attains peace when he gives up all desires, lives without craving, and becomes free from possessiveness and ego.
3. 3.27Krishna says that actions are carried out by the guṇas of nature, but a person deluded by ego thinks, “I alone am the doer.”
4. 3.30Krishna tells Arjuna to offer all actions to Him, act with spiritual awareness, give up selfish expectation and possessiveness, and do his duty without inner anxiety.
5. 5.8Krishna says that a person united with yoga and knowing the truth understands, 'I am not the real doer,' even while ordinary bodily actions like seeing, hearing, eating, walking, sleeping, and breathing continue.
6. 5.13Krishna says that a self-controlled person mentally gives up egoistic ownership of all actions and lives peacefully in the body, called the city of nine gates, without the false feeling of being the doer or controller.
7. 5.14Krishna says that the Lord does not create our false sense of doership, our actions, or our attachment to results. These arise from our own conditioned nature.
8. 5.29Krishna says that a person attains peace by knowing Him as the true enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, the Lord of all worlds, and the loving friend of all beings.
9. 7.4Krishna says that material nature has eight parts: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego. All of these are His separated energy.
10. 7.15Krishna says that people who are absorbed in harmful actions, foolishness, degraded conduct, knowledge stolen by maya, and an asuric attitude do not surrender to Him.
11. 9.9Krishna says that the acts of creating and sustaining the universe do not bind Him, because He remains unattached and untouched by those actions.
12. 9.12Krishna says that those who reject His supreme nature become bewildered. Their hopes, actions, and knowledge become fruitless because they take shelter of a deluding, destructive, and ungodly nature.
13. 9.28Krishna says that by offering all actions to Him, Arjuna will be freed from the bondage of good and bad results. Joined to the yoga of renunciation and liberated, he will come to Krishna.
14. 11.32Krishna says He is Time, the destroyer of worlds, and that the warriors in the opposing armies will be destroyed even without Arjuna.
15. 11.33Krishna tells Arjuna to rise, do his duty, gain glory, defeat the enemies, and become only an instrument because the warriors have already been slain by Krishna.
16. 12.6Krishna says that those who dedicate all their actions to Him, regard Him as their highest goal, meditate on Him, and worship Him with exclusive devotion follow the path of surrendered bhakti.
17. 12.13Krishna says that His dear devotee is free from hatred toward all beings, friendly, compassionate, free from possessiveness and ego, balanced in happiness and sorrow, and forgiving.
18. 12.17Krishna says that His dear devotee neither becomes overly elated, nor hates, nor grieves, nor desires, and gives up attachment to auspicious and inauspicious results.
19. 12.18Krishna says that His dear devotee remains equal toward enemy and friend, honor and dishonor, cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and is free from attachment.
20. 13.6Krishna explains that the field includes the five elements, ego, intelligence, the unmanifest material basis, the ten senses, the mind, and the five objects of the senses.
21. 13.9Krishna says that true knowledge includes detachment from sense pleasures, freedom from ego, and thoughtful awareness of the suffering connected with birth, death, old age, and disease.
22. 13.30Krishna says that one truly sees when one understands that all actions are performed by prakriti, while the self is not the material doer.
23. 14.25Krishna says that one who remains equal in honor and dishonor, equal toward friend and enemy, and gives up ego-driven undertakings is called one who has transcended the gunas.
24. 15.5Krishna says that those who are free from pride, delusion, attachment, selfish desire, and the pull of pleasure and pain reach the imperishable supreme state.
25. 16.4Krishna says that hypocrisy, arrogance, excessive self-importance, anger, harsh speech or behavior, and ignorance are qualities of the demoniac nature.
26. 16.10Krishna says that people of demoniac tendency depend on desires that can never be fully satisfied. Filled with hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance, they accept false ideas due to delusion and follow impure ways of living.
27. 16.13Krishna describes the thought of a desire-driven person: “I got this today; I will fulfill this desire next. This wealth is mine, and even more wealth will come to me again.”
28. 16.14Krishna describes the egoistic thought of a demoniac person: “I have destroyed this enemy, and I will destroy others too. I am the controller, the enjoyer, successful, powerful, and happy.”
29. 16.15Krishna describes the egoistic thinking of a demoniac person: “I am rich and high- born. Who is equal to me? I will perform sacrifice, give charity, and enjoy.” Such people are deluded by ignorance.
30. 16.17Krishna says that self-conceited, stubborn people, filled with pride and arrogance because of wealth, perform sacrifices only in name. They do so for show and without proper discipline or scriptural guidance.
31. 16.18Krishna says that people of demoniac tendency take shelter in ego, power, arrogance, desire, and anger. Being envious, they hate the Divine present in themselves and in others.
32. 17.5Krishna warns against severe austerities that are not approved by scripture and are performed with hypocrisy, ego, desire, attachment, and stubborn force.
33. 17.18Austerity done to gain respect, honour, praise, or public display is rajasic; it is unsteady and does not last.
34. 17.23Om, Tat, and Sat are the three sacred names that indicate Brahman, the Absolute. By them, in ancient times, the brāhmaṇas, the Vedas, and sacrifices were estab- lished.
35. 17.25Those who seek liberation perform sacrifice, austerity, and charity with the spirit of Tat, without attachment to the fruits of action.
36. 18.16Krishna says that after understanding the five causes of action, anyone who still thinks, “I alone am the doer,” lacks developed understanding and does not see correctly.
37. 18.17Krishna says that one who is free from egoistic doership and whose understanding is not tainted, even if he kills these people, does not kill and is not bound by his action.
38. 18.24Krishna says that action done with desire, ego, and excessive restless effort is called rajasic action.
39. 18.53When a person gives up ego, arrogance, selfish desire, anger, and possessiveness, becomes free from the idea of 'mine,' and becomes peaceful, that person becomes fit for Brahman realization.
40. 18.58Keep your mind fixed on Krishna, and by His grace you will cross all difficulties. But if you refuse to listen because of ego, you will be lost.
41. 18.59If Arjuna thinks, because of ego, that he will not fight, Krishna says that this decision is false. Arjuna’s own nature will compel him to act according to his duty.

One verse in full

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः ।

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ |

अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते ॥

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate ||

The Meaning Krishna says that actions are carried out by the guṇas of nature, but a person deluded by ego thinks, “I alone am the doer.”

Ego-driven leaders overclaim doership; wise leaders understand the many causes behind action and lead with humility, responsibility, and systems awareness.

Every verse under this area, with its Teaching and its Reflect question, is in The Ethical Leader’s Gita. For copies for your leadership team, see corporate and bulk gifting.

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