Tattva 15 — The Ego-Maker (Ahaṃkāra)
The 'I-maker': the faculty that stamps experience as 'mine' and builds the sense of a separate ego.
Ahaṃkāra is the 'I-maker' — the faculty that takes the flow of experience and stamps it as 'I' and 'mine,' producing the feeling of being a distinct ego with its own stake in things. Evolving out of the intellect, it is the hinge of self-centeredness: it is what claims the body as 'me' and the world as 'for me.' From it, in the Sāṃkhya scheme, the mind and the senses further unfold.
How it traveled
- Bhagavad-gītāKuru-Pañcāla region · -150applies
- UpadeśasāhasrīKālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710explains
- TantrasāraŚrīnagara (Srinagar), Kashmir · 1000explains
- Aṣṭāvakra-gītāKāśī (Varanasi) · 1450explains
Key passages(16)
Forsaking egoism, power, pride, lust, wrath and property, freed from the notion of "mine," and tranquil, he is fit for becoming Brahman.
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
"That enemy has been slain by me, and others also shall I slay. I am the lord, I enjoy, I am successful, powerful and happy.
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'The Infinite indeed is below, above, behind, before, right and left—it is indeed alt this. 'Now follows the explanation of the Infinite as the I: I am below, I am above, I am behind, before, right an
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That lower one also, not larger than a thumb, but brilliant like the sun, who is endowed with personality and thoughts, with the quality of mind and the quality of body, is seen small even like the po
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The earth and its subtile elements, the water and its subtile elements, the light and its subtile elements, the air and its subtile elements, the ether and its subtile elements; the eye and what can b
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