Yoga Sutra Reflections Session 5: Ahamkara

Integrating Ancient Wisdom in Modern Life: Ahamkara, Ego and Self-Respect

1. What is Ahamkara? What is Ego? What is Self-Respect? Ahamkara is a sense of identity. Ahamkara is feeling and thinking that I am separate. Ego means the sense of importance I give to myself. Self-Respect means when I consider – myself and others are different as an identity and equal as individuals.
2. Ahamkara is in the middle of Ego and Self-Respect. Ego is lower than Ahamkara and Self-Respect is higher than Ahamkara. Self-respect is simply natural to your individuality and your dignity. It is your acceptance of yourself. The ego is a comparison.
3. When you are aggressive, you are caught by Ego, become alert as your energy of Ahamkara is going to lower. As soon as you become alert towards yourself you become assertive, Self-Respect arises in you, your energy is now moving higher. You have transcended your Ego and became a self-respecting person.
4. We have created the world according to our perception. Perception is a combination of Ahamkara (Identity), Mind (Input from 5 senses) and Chitta (Memory). This combination of looking at people or circumstances will not allow us to be neutral. Because we see things as we are and not as they are.
5. There are three steps towards Be Neutral. 1. Whole View – from judgemental till merging and becoming one. 2. Role View – Am I perfect? Who am I to judge, and let the higher decide. 3. Sole View – don’t interfere in his/her identity. With these three steps if we analyse people and circumstances so that we will move towards neutrality. From neutrality we can choose to leave the lower, the Ego, identity and move towards higher, Self-Respect, individuality. Self is a gift of existence to you. You have not done anything to earn it, you have not achieved it; hence nobody can take it away from you. That is impossible because it is your nature, your very being. Ego is all that you go on accumulating through education, manners, civilization, culture, schools, colleges, universities… You go accumulating it.
6. Energy of Ahamkara is the same with our self-alertness, we leave the lower and move higher so that it merges into AUM. Unless we have a Neutral view towards everything and everybody either by the three steps or by taking the birth again and again till the time we become neutral.
7. Once you become neutral then you will redefine I-Ness, world view, and you will realise yourself. Unless Ahamkara merges into AUM you will come again and again in this world. So that you can see the things as they are.