Lower self, higher self

Within each one of us, there are two selves: the lower and the higher self.The lower self is the self of passion and pride, lust and hatred, greed, resentment and ill-will, jealousy and envy. Many of us identify ourselves with this lower self of passions. It is also called the ego-self, which sits on the threshold of our consciousness. It easily catches us, captures our attention, and leads us astray on the path of evil and negativity. Trapped in its power, we are struggling in the darkness that is our own shadow.This lower self may dominate us often; but it is a tiny pathetic thing. When we sit in meditation or enter into the depths within ourselves, we will realise that this lower self is nothing but the speck of the speck of a speck. We follow its impulses like obedient servants.But within each one of us is a higher self - the true self that the Gita refers to as the atman. Each one of us is the atman - the indestructible, eternal self, the self of utter truth and bliss that we call sat chit ananda.There have been, there are, and there will continue to be amongst us, realised souls who will always show us the way forward, the way Godward. These are the people who have realised their Oneness with the Supreme Self. This is what we are in reality, the highest self, which is a spark of the Supreme Self.