Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj explains how to rid oneself of false ego.
All activity in the illusory environment is done with ego. It is first necessary to avoid ego. Another name for ego is emotion. Sometimes we speak emotionally. That is one kind of ego. It is not so harmful, but our real ego is that we are jiva-souls. “I am a jiva-soul and servant of Krishna.” This is ego, but good ego, because it is our actual position.
jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya—kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita: Madhya-lila: 20.108)
“I am this body. I am the proprietor of this house. I am the proprietor of this business. I am the master of my wife, daughters, and sons.” This type of ego is bad ego. It is illusory. If I see that everyone is a servant of Krishna, that I am also a servant of Krishna, and that Krishna has given me the chance to serve Him in the company of His other servants, then I will have a proper ego. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur very mercifully composed many songs to show us how to serve Krishna, Guru, and Vaishnava.
When Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami started Chaitanya-charitamrita, he wrote,
granthera ārambhe kari ‘maṅgalācharaṇa’
guru, vaiṣṇava, bhagavān—tinera smaraṇa
tinera smaraṇe haya vighna-vināśana
anāyāse haya nija vāñchhita-pūraṇa
(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita: Adi-lila: 1.20–21)
[“At the beginning of this book I made an invocation of auspciousness by remembering Guru, Vaishnava, and Bhagavan. Remembering them destroys all obstacles and easily fulfils one’s desires.”]
If we serve Guru, Vaishnava, and Bhagavan, then all bad ego, illusory ego, will leave us. Then we will be able to see what is what: the position Krishna, maya, myself, and others. That is called sambandha-jnan.
Sriman Mahaprabhu taught sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojan. Sambandha means our relationship with Krishna. Who is Krishna? What is Krishna’s abode? What is His paraphernalia? Who are His associates? Sambandha-jnan explains all these things and how they are connected. Abhidheya is the way in which we can satisfy Krishna and His associates. Prayojan is what we need: Krishna-prem, unalloyed devotion and love for Radha-Krishna. Prayojan is our supreme necessity, our destiny, we can say. How do we reach it? By bhakti, devotional activity. There are many kinds of bhakti, but ananya-bhakti [unalloyed devotion] is necessary to serve in Vrindavan. We can get ananya-bhakti only through the servitors of Radha-Krishna. Radharani is the supreme servitor of Krishna. Her mercy comes down through Gurudev. If we receive Her mercy through Gurudev, then we can go to Goloka Vrindavan to serve Krishna under Her guidance. That is the highest thing.
Still primary education is necessary: we are in the illusory environment, and first of all it is necessary to come out of that. Then secondary education: we must understand our duty and do it properly. Our duty is service to Krishna, but we do not know what Krishna likes and does not like. Thus we need Gurudev’s guidance; Gurudev gives us the guidelines to understand what service is suitable for us to do. In this way we are get all our transcendental food and benefit from Gurudev, who is always distributing mercy.