"The first thing to be understood is: what is ego. The ego is not very substantial. In fact it is not. It is just an idea, a substitute without which it will be difficult for you to live. Because you don’t know who you are, you have to create a certain idea about yourself; otherwise you will simply go mad. You have to fix some indicators so that you can know, ‘Yes, this is me.’

"I have heard, once a fool came to a big city. He stayed in a dharmshala. There were many people there; he had never slept before with so many people. He was a little worried and scared. The fear was that when he will fall asleep, in the morning when he will be awake again, how will he recognize that he is really himself. So many people. He had always slept in his room, alone, so there was no problem because there was no possibility. Of course, he was always himself, but here with so many people sleeping around, a crowd, he may get lost. It’s okay while you are awake, you can continue remembering yourself, but while asleep you may miss; you may forget. By the morning you may get confused; you may be lost in the crowd.

"Seeing him so worried and sitting in his bed, somebody asked, ‘What is the matter with you? Why don’t you go to sleep?’ He explained his problem. The man laughed; he told him, ‘This is very simple. Look in that comer; some child has left his balloon. Bring it and tie it to your feet so by the morning you will perfectly know that it is you if the balloon is there.’

"The fool said, ‘That’s right.’ And he had to sleep, he was so tired, so he fastened the balloon with a string to his feet and went to sleep.

"The man played a joke. In the night, when the fool was snoring, he took the balloon off his feet and fastened it to his own feet. By the morning, when the fool looked around, he started crying and weeping. A crowd gathered, and they asked, ‘What is the matter?’

"He said, ‘Now I perfectly know that he is me, but who am I?’

"Now this is the problem.

"The ego is because you don’t know who you are. So a name, an address, a certain face that you have seen reflected in the mirror, in the photographs, the album – these all help. They are balloons fastened to you.

"If suddenly one day in the mirror you see that this is not the face you have always been accustomed to seeing, you will go mad – the balloon is missing. The face is constantly changing, but the change is so slow that you never recognize it. Just go back home and see the album of your childhood. You know that it is you, that’s why you don’t see much difference, but just ponder over it. How much you have changed. The face is not you; because deep down something has remained permanent in you. And your name can be changed; I do it every day. I go on changing your names just to give you a feeling that the name is just a balloon fastened to you, it can be changed, so that you get disidentified with the name.

"The ego is nothing but a false substitute for the self. So when you know who you are, there is no possibility of ego arising again." Osho