The Ahankara

"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?" The fastest contestant with the buzzer rings in - "Michelle!" they cry out confidently. BUZZ - the sound for the wrong answer rings out loudly. Another contestant seizes the moment and squeezes their buzzer. "A Man!" he states with utmost confidence. BUZZ - wrong again."

"The Ahankara is the "I" maker Of the three parts of the Mind (in yogic text referred to as The Citta) the Ahankara could be thought to be the trickiest, because it is the place where most of us hang out most of the time, but it's not who we actually are. 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."

A vivid game-show metaphor presents the question "Who are you?" and demonstrates how name, gender, and profession are repeatedly offered as answers and rejected. The correct identity is the eternal soul. The soul repeatedly incarnates into varied bodies across time. Each incarnation receives the Mind (Citta), which comprises three parts: the lower mind (Manas), the faculty of discernment (Buddhi), and the false ego (Ahankara). The Ahankara, the 'I' maker, generates personal labels and identifications and is the place where most consciousness habitually resides; those identifications are possessions, not the true self.

Read at YogaRenew