Vedanta Verse 301

On EGO

The emphasis of this verse is on the term Ahamkara which is translated as EGO in English. This of course is loaded with meaning implying emotional attitudes such as vanity, pride, a feeling of ‘holier than thou’ or superiority or sometimes even inferiority complexes. The above meaning pertains to (laukika ) ‘this worldly’ interpretation and has nothing to do with the actual textual meaning (shastric meaning).

What is the textual connotation of the term ahamkara?

‘I’ (Aham) is the Truth and it is forever mistaken for what is not ‘I’. The mistaken identities of ‘I’ with the body, mind, intellect, memory, and of course all the worldly possessions and societal labels are the error about the ‘I’ and this very misjudgment about my self is EGO ( aham ‘kara’).

Ahamkara or Ego is a wrong view about oneself and therefore not an emotional attitude. One lives with this view without questioning and feels that abundant wealth or good health will procure my security/happiness. Actually neither shortage nor abundance is the problem, but the view about oneself as the limited body etc is the problem which cannot be solved at all without questioning the true nature of ‘I’.

If vanity is the problem, then humility, its antidote, should solve the problem. One may be humble but that does not erase the view that ‘I am a form’. It is the wrong view about us, the beginning less (anadi) error that is the actual problem and it has to be addressed in a very serious way.

The eternal light of lights, the most self-evident truth, the formless, unlimited ‘I’, views itself as darkness, an object, the disappearing form and limited. This is an erroneous view that we carry and all such wrong views when scrutinized can be corrected.

How can this be done? How can this wrong view be removed?

Discernment is the only solution to discover the original nature of the ‘I’-the light of all lights!

What is this discernment? What is the kind of investigation that has to be carried out for the quest of the ever present, but misjudged Reality, the ‘I’.

The one and only kind of discernment that is possible is that between the subject and the object.

There is actually no use in undertaking the task of discerning between one object and another for it is not going to yield us what we are seeking. Discerning the differences between one physical detail and the other is the within the scope of sciences like physics, chemistry etc. All such studies come under apara vidya- the knowledge about this world. None of this can alter my view that I am a form. None can correct my error that I am limited etc.

The subject viewing itself as the object is the crucial central problem.
The subject has to recognize that It is the ‘seer’ of the object and can never be the object, The seer of the pot can never be the pot, so the seer of the body, the seer of the mind, the seer of the intellect etc is not the body, mind, intellect etc.

The problem is that we do not perceive the problem and therefore do not question it and therefore remain in error. I do not even view it as a topic for deliberation.

The jiva, the apparent individual bound soul, knows and seeks freedom but does not know where to look for? It does not have any pramana or valid means of knowing or questioning. Thus the jiva has no clue to what this ‘I’ is.

No sense perception or sense perception based logic, inductive or deductive can enable one to see the true nature of the ‘I’. The senses neither highlight nor provide a solution; in fact they only presuppose the error that I am the body.

The clue and explanation come from the text that have recorded the valid experiences of the sages and they tell us that
I am the perceiver of the wakeful state, I survive the wakeful
I am the perceiver of the dreamful state and I survive the dream.
I am experience the state free from objects and I survive this too,
I the ever present awareness is has no negation at any state.

Change of states is registered by me the changeless awareness. Discontinuity of the states is registered by me the ever continues Being.

That I am the drshta, the one who is aware of all the three states is my own experience.

Therefore ahamkara, the Ego is not about any attitude but about the view that we carry. Attitudes can change from time to time or even destiny can change my attitude, but the error that ‘I am the body’ cannot go away with time or space, or by destiny or by any other means. Studying/investigating about oneself in the context of the three states alone can remove the error about the ‘I’ and reveal its True eternal nature which light of all lights.