Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 16

Ahamkara

Ahamkara takes on partners: This wave of "I-am-ness" called Ahamkara then aligns itself or forms partnerships with the data or impressions in Chitta, and, in turn, with Manas, which then responds to the desires being sought by this "individuality."

Meanwhile, Buddhi, the deep aspect, which knows, decides, and discriminates, remains clouded. Thus, it is said that purifying (or un-clouding) buddhi is a most important task in the path of meditation and Self-realization.

In the purpose of human birth and also in few other posts, one factor has been emphasized and re-emphasized. If the human, verily divine, had the perfect wisdom, Vidya that he is Divine and merges with Divinity in his first birth, then he has not left any impressions in the memory bank Chitta, he has not developed avidya, asmita and to glorify his asmita (false identity as I ness and not IS ness/Divine), he would not have developed any raga or dvesha.

However, man does leave impressions of his actions in his memory bank Chitta and when the memory is revived/retrieved from the memory bank Chitta, the same is his samskara which manifests into vasanas.

This vasana or inclinations or tendency must have something to cling to, something to fire it up. That something is Raga/ Dvesha most of the times. Thus, the chitta joins with ahamkara (raga, dvesha, abhinivesha , arising out of avidya-asmita), clouds the buddhi and pushes the mind to perform actions.

Witnessing the coloring by Ahamkara: A good way to cultivate the witnessing of Ahamkara is to be aware of the fact that rising thoughts and emotions are often colored with either attraction or aversion. The attraction or aversion may be strong, or it may be so weak that it is barely noticeable. Noticing the weak ones can be very insightful as to the subtlety of Ahamkara's coloring (It's much easier to neutrally witness the weak ones at first).

Love.