The construction of a new ego which is entirely subservient to the Master is indispensable in the dynamics of spiritual advancement.

The spiritual seeker has been accustomed to derive his zest in life from his limited ego; and an immediate transition from the life of egotistic action to that of egoless action is, for him, at once impossible and uninspiring. If the aspirant were to be required to avoid all forms of ego-consciousness immediately, he would have to revert to a state of negative passivity, where there is no room for the joy of expression. Or he would have to seek expression through activity which is merely automatic, like that of a lifeless machine, so that he couldn't derive any sense of fulfillment from it. The real problem before the seeker is that he has to abandon his life of the limited ego and enter into the limitlessness of the ego-less life, without entering into a coma, where there would be an ebbing-down of all life. Such a coma may give temporary relief from the limitation of the ego-life, but it cannot, by itself, initiate the aspirant into the infinity of ego-less activity. It suffocates the limited life, without bringing the fulfillment of the ego-less life.

This is the reason why, in most cases, the spiritual advancement of an aspirant has to be very gradual and often takes several lives. In those cases where a person seems to have taken long strides in his spiritual advance­ment, the aspirant either has recapitulated the advancement he has made in previous lives, or he has won the special intervention of the Master. But in normal cases, the progress of the aspirant has to be gradual. The distance between the limited life of the ego and the limitlessness of the ego-less life has to be covered by gradual stages of ego-transformation, so that egoism is replaced by humility, surging desires are replaced by steadily growing contentment, and selfishness is replaced by selfless love.

The ego which is entirely subservient to the Master, is not only indis­pensable and spiritually harmless, but contributes directly to the spiritual advancement of the aspirant, because it brings him closer and closer to the Master, through the life of selfless service and love. The constant inward contact with the Master which it fosters, makes him particularly amenable to the special help which the Master alone can give. The aspirant who renounces the life of an uncurbed and separative ego in favor of a life of self-surrender to the Master, is, through this new subservient ego, operating as an instrument in the hands of the Master. It is, in reality,