Ahankara
Ahaṅkāra (IAST)Translation: "Ego / The 'I'-maker"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: अहङकार
Transliteration: Ahaṅkāra
Translation: "'I'-ness; egoism; the concept of individuality (from the verb root kṛ = "action" + aham = "I"); literally = 'I'-maker"
Definition: "In the evolutionary process, Ahaṅkāra is said to evolve from the intellect (Buddhi) and give evolution to the senses (Indriya) and the subtle essence of the elements (Tanmātra) in turn. Its function is self-assertion. It is an aspect of the inner organ (Antaḥ-Karaṇa) and it has the three aspects of Vaikārika or Sattva, Taijasa or Rajas, and Bhūtādi or Tamas."
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Ahaṃkāra (Sanskrit, ‘I-maker’, ‘I-crier’), in Hindu thought, the ego or faculty that gives the sense of ‘I’ or individual personality; by extension, egotism, pride, conceit. In the Sankhya and Yoga systems, it is the third element of ever-changing Nature evolving in creation. From it evolves the remainder of the phenomenal world. Other than Nature, which includes the individual intellect (Buddhi), the faculty of perception (Manas), the organs, and the senses, is the unchanging individual self (Puruṣa, Ātman). The human predicament results from the ignorant identification of oneself with Nature rather than the true self. In earlier texts the cosmic sense of Ahaṃkāra dominates as the means by which the Creator formulates Himself to create the world.
The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)
"Ahaṅkāra the "I-maker" is self-arrogation — that is, the realization of oneself as the personal "I" or self-consciousness of worldly experience in which the Jīva thinks of himself as a particular person who is in relation with the objects of his experience. It is the power of self-arrogation whereby all that constitutes man is welded into one Ego, and the percept or concept is referred to that particular thinking subject and becomes part of its experience. When, therefore, a sensation is perceived by Manas and determined by Buddhi, Ahaṅkāra says: "It is I who perceive it." This is the "I" of phenomenal consciousness as distinguished from "this" the known. Buddhi functions with its support."
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Audi, Robert (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press
- Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p.62.
