The Ahankara

"Imagine a game show on television - A host whose hair is prefect, and whose teeth are sparkly white, holds a microphone, and cards with questions to ask. Three contestants standing behind little podiums with buzzers in their hands. They look nervously at the cameras. The prize, they are told, is beyond description, but "it is what everyone wants!" The first question is asked: "Who are you?""

"Let's back track to the game show. In yoga, the only answer that would have been correct to the question, "Who are you?" is that you are a soul. Eternally. You, in your true identity as a soul, have traversed the universe since time in memoriam, and have taken on many different bodies - trees, ants, dogs, men, women, Asian, African, European."

An illustrative game-show scene contrasts superficial labels with the deeper self: contestants answer with name, gender, and profession, but the true identity is the soul. The false ego (ahankara) creates the sense of 'I' and causes identification with transient designations. Yogic psychology describes the mind (citta) as comprising three parts: the lower mind (manos), the area of discernment (buddhi), and the ahankara. Souls incarnate through countless bodies across time, each lifetime receiving the mind's components. The ahankara is where most people habitually dwell, yet it is not the eternal self.

Read at YogaRenew