Pacify the ego and peace is yours - Bhagavad Gita ch2:71

As long as we are driven or controlled by the ego, there is going to be war. The ego drives one to seek dominance over another- whether for one's individual self, or one's nation as in the case of kings vying for power on the mighty chessboard of Earth.

Still, people driven by desire to control, dominate or lord it over there small fiefdoms, are driven by instinct and mis-identification with the body and mind, which has no relationship to the real original eternal self.

This ego-driven desire for survival and therefore sometimes the need to compete against other egos for domination of resources, is what fuels the strife and leads to the wars which currently rage, and in fact have always raged since time immemorial here on Earth.

The idea that one might be able to fight one's wars, win battle and treasure and lands, and then sit down and watch one's fields grow in peace, is an illusion, for that piece never arrives.

The more one acquires, for more one needs to fight to protect it against those who wish to compete for it. Therefore, this pursuit is never going to lead to peace.

The real path to peace is one where the aspirant finds themselves free from ego altogether, or the pursuit of selfish profit. Once one has learnt how to overcome ego identification, then peace is within the palm of one's hand.

And one way to rise above ego and the identification with this particular body and mind, is to realise one's original identity as part and parcel of a higher consciousness. It is when one realises that we were never the creators of anything around us; that we can never really be the controllers of it. Once we realise this, we see that all things are originally created and controlled by a higher source that is operating everything around us.

That higher cause, or original cause of all causes, or original absolute truth, is supreme source, the unborn original supreme, as described by various cultures in different ways throughout the ages in their sacred texts and books of wisdom.

When the aspirant realises that they are not the controller, that everything is going on by higher arrangement, according to the will of a higher source, then naturally it becomes easy to perceive oneself as a part of a greater plan that is unfolding.

Also, the power is never really ours completely to control. Whatever power we may have, originally comes from a higher source or from an older source. Much of what we have or aquire, one way or the other in our lives, was already here when we arrived, and may remain once we shuffle off this mortal coil.

Once one perceives reality in this way, it is easy to subdue the ego, perhaps put it in its rightful place in relation to something far greater than all of us put together. Once one is linked up to this higher source it becomes easy, not only to pacify the sometimes childish ego, but also to dilute the desires of the senses for temporary gratification.

An ego humbled by reverence for the divine, or for something greater than oneself, is certainly the fortunate person who's desires also become diluted due to the weakened effects of the pacified ego. With the ego in its rightful place of service to the higher power, simultaneously desires for selfish gain are pacified and lose their sting like a snake whose poisonous fangs have been removed for the safety of the snake charmer.

With the ego being accurately positioned in a relation of service to the Supreme, the ego can be tamed and also harnessed and empowered in that service to the higher course. Any artist knows how the presence of a muse in one form or the other, can certainly inspire new heights of creative expression.

Similarly, the athlete or soldier may also find themselves inspired by some greater cause, be it a defence of the weak or perhaps other national aspirations of service to king and country. That higher cause spurs on the warrior and athlete even into the very jaws of death, if necessary.

One inspired by a transcendent cause is easily able to rise above the desires of the mind and senses. In fact it becomes easy to perform any type of austerities in order to succeed in the service or mission. Once inspired, the senses are pacified and heart purified of any lust for power and control over what, in actuality, belongs to the original source or higher transcendent cause.

All power is borrowed.

The ego is neither source nor controller of power. If the conduit is purified of selfish gain over another, and linked up to the transcendent source, naturally power will flow, beckoned or attracted by love and purity.

Purity is the force.

And this ultimately is a state of real peace. Peace comes when one knows one is not the doer or the controller. One realises that everything is happening by higher arrangement. Therefore one becomes detached from the outcome while still empowered to push on with the service regardless. This is also an expression of something akin to faith. And faith is the foundation of the path or stairway to heaven.

All these things are intertwined and appear through you once you're aligned.

Bhagavad Gita ch2:71

विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः ।
निर्ममो निरहङ्कार स शान्तिमधिगच्छति ॥ ७१ ॥

vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān
pumāṁś carati niḥspṛhaḥ
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
sa śāntim adhigacchati

SYNONYMS
vihāya—after giving up; kāmān—all material desires for sense gratification; yaḥ—the person; sarvān—all; pumān—a person; carati—lives; nihṣpṛhaḥ —desireless; nirmamaḥ—without a sense of proprietorship; nirahaṅkāraḥ—without false ego; saḥ—all; śāntim—perfect peace; adhigacchati—attains.

TRANSLATION
A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego—he alone can attain real peace.

PURPORT
To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious is actually desirelessness. To understand one's actual position as the eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, without falsely claiming this material body to be oneself and without falsely claiming proprietorship over anything in the world, is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of everything, therefore everything must be used for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna did not want to fight for his own sense satisfaction, but when he became fully Kṛṣṇa conscious he fought because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. For himself there was no desire to fight, but for Kṛṣṇa the same Arjuna fought to his best ability. Desire for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa is really desirelessness; it is not an artificial attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the quality of the desires. A materially desireless person certainly knows that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa (īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam), and therefore he does not falsely claim proprietorship over anything. This transcendental knowledge is based on self-realization—namely, knowing perfectly well that every living entity is the eternal part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa in spiritual identity, and therefore the eternal position of the living entity is never on the level of Kṛṣṇa or greater than Him. This understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the basic principle of real peace.

Ref: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition.

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