The purpose of this ego is to individualise our being until the soul is ready to step forward into the forefront of our evolution and give our consciousness to God. The ego is like the shell within which our true self is developing like the bird inside the egg. Any premature rupturing of the ego-shell before the inner being has become ripe and ready and mature for the true spiritual life more often than not leads to imbalances and disturbances making us plaything of dubious cosmic forces.
Paradoxical as it may seem, people with a developed individuality are much more ready for the true spiritual life than those who are weakly individualised and get easily swayed by opinions of others or live as conformists to the social demands and prevalent mass opinions. Society provides stability to the individual but often at the cost of evolution. It is the individuals who progress first and then the rest follows. So, individualising oneself taking help of the ego is the first step before one abandons it. Only one must take care to make the ego individuality more and more Sattwic, moved by dharma and an instrument for a larger selfless good rather than for blind self-affirmation directed towards selfish ends.
The ego is like the womb in which the baby is developing. When the time is ripe it ruptures and the baby soul is ready to walk towards the greater diviner goals that were not evident during a life of ignorance when it was covered inside the womb. It is not to be sacrificed at the altars of ignorant humanity as one does while in ignorance, but at the one true altar of the Divine and His conscious representative as the Guru or the Master. A soul that is ready recognises the Master who can lead it to the goal. Moreover, the genuine seekers are led by God even if they are surrounded by ignorant and self-serving Masters.
