Is Ego good or bad?

"Is EGO Good or Bad? Is it possible to be free of EGO and still function in the world?

It is a common question in our mind that without Ego it is impossible to survive in this so called modern world. This question was put to Sri Bhagavan, the spiritual Avataar and the founder of the Oneness Movement.

Question to Sri Bhagavan: “Sometimes when we are speaking to people in the Corporate Sector or elsewhere Bhagavan, when we talk about the ego – they often have this condition/view, they say ‘without the ego, it is very difficult for us to survive. If we are not egoistic, the world will dominate us, we would be finished.'
Is it really possible Bhagavan, to be really free of the ego and still function in the world; still be successful in the world; still be a part of this competitive life, Bhagavan?

Answer by Sri Bhagavan: “Yes! In fact if you are free of the ego, you would be extremely successful. What we have to distinguish between is, The Self and The Ego. Self is an ambition -the Will to fight it out or the Will to achieve. Now, we are not talking of those things here. The Ego on the other hand makes you positional. When you become positional, you don’t understand what the other person is talking. There is no listening. Hence, there is no learning. Therefore you have every chance of losing. You have every chance of losing a business order. You have every chance of losing a good employee. You have every chance of losing a good insight. That way the ego proves to be very harmful for corporate success.

Here, you must know we are not talking of the self. The Self must very much be there; if you want to achieve success in the world. We are not talking about that. We are talking of the Ego and its games, which is harmful in the process of achieving success. So, you must learn to distinguish between the two”.