Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 7 Contd...

MORE ON ASMITA

AHAMKARA or egoism is the self-arrogating principle in man. Patanjali Maharshi calls this by the name 'Asmita'. The same mind assumes the form of egoism when man self-arrogates himself. Ahamkara manifests first and then comes 'Mamata'. 

It is taught in all the classes in yoga sutras and also in vedanta that “AVIDYA” or Spiritual ignorance is the main breeding factor for all other 4 subsequent coloring/ ego- Asmita, Raga, Dvesha and Abhinivesha.

It is correct, no doubt. But imagine, even after Avidya, even after one gets this Asmita or “I” ness or “Mine” ness, if one is blessed to immediately raise an alarm to himself and straight away gets into contemplation that “oo., this “I” ness is taking me away from God/ divinity that I am, which my master has told me. Let me work on this, let me get into the depth of meditation”, then, believe me, there is a possibility that he may not get to the other 3 ego at all.

Thus, with this knowledge, can we confirm that ASMITA is the breeding factor at a grosser level than AVIDYA, to the other 3 ego?

We say, 'This body is mine.' The vultures, jackals and fishes also say, 'this body is mine.' If you peel off the layers of the onion one by one, the onion dwindles into an airy nothing. So is the 'I'.

Just as the motion of the train or the boat is apparently transferred to the trees, so also 'I' is transferred, through the jugglery of Maya, to the body, mind, Prana, and senses. When you say, 'I am stout, I am lean', the 'I' is transferred to the body and you identify with the body; when you say, 'I am hungry, I am thirsty,' the 'I' is transferred to the Prana, you identify yourself with the Prana; when you say, 'I an angry, I am lustful', 'I' is transferred to the mind. If you identify with the Supreme Self, all false identifications will vanish.

If you kill the commander of an army, you can very easily subdue the soldiers. Even so, if you kill the commander - egoism in the Adhyatmic (SPIRITUAL) battlefield, you can very easily subdue the soldiers, viz., lust, anger, pride, jealousy, greed, delusion, hypocrisy, who fight for their master - egoism.

Does our Sai not take a handkerchief and explains the divine principle by explaining it to be a matter joined by threads, then going to the origin of threads and thus, by enquiring into the origin of each previous cause to the present effect, Sai so easily explains that ultimately, only the ONE CAUSE WITHOUT ANY PRIOR CAUSE, THE   UNMANIFEST GOD WHO IS THE CAUSE FOR THIS APPARENTLY MANIFEST CREATION EXISTS?

An aspirant who treads the path of devotion destroys his egoism through self-surrender or Atma-Nivedana to the Lord.

A Karma Yogin destroys his egoism through self-sacrifice.

A Jnana Yogin kills his egoism through self-denial or self-abnegation, through Vichara and the practice of Neti-Neti - I am not this body, I am not the mind, I am not Prana, I am not the senses, and through identification with the Supreme Self by meditating on the formula, 'I am all-pervading Self or Brahman. (Chidananda Roopam Shivoham Shivoham)

Hari Aum Tatsat

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 7

ASMITA

Yoga sutra 2.6

Drig Darshana Shaktyoh Ekatmata Iva Asmita

The coloring (klesha) of I-ness or egoism (asmita), which arises from the ignorance, occurs due to the mistake of taking the intellect (buddhi, which knows, decides, judges, and discriminates) to itself be pure consciousness (purusha/drig).

The above literal translation may sound difficult.

So,  let us understand in a more simpler way- Asmita occurs when pure non-dual Consciousness (the divinity that we are)  forgets it is non-dual due to avidya or ignorance and  it plays in a human being  as an individual (asmita), this second coloring comes almost simultaneous with avidya, this is a very subtle veil of I-ness, it has not yet have any characteristic, it now appears as an individual entity, that has the four functions of mind; manas, chitta, ahamkara, and buddhi.

Finest form of individuality: Asmita is the finest form of individuality. It is not I-am-ness, as when we say, "I am a man or woman" or "I am a person from this or that country." Rather, it is I-ness that has not taken on any of those identities.

I-ness is necessary for the others: In relation to individual thought patterns, the coloring of I-ness is necessary for attraction, aversion, and fear to have any power. Thus, the I-ness itself is seen as a coloring process of the thoughts. The practice is that of witnessing this Asmita (I-ness), and how it comes into relation with though patterns.

Like the filament confusing itself with the electricity: The klesha of asmita is like the filament of a light bulb confusing itself with electricity. The filament is the finest, most essential part of the light bulb, but it still pales in comparison to the electricity that is the true source of the light coming out of the bulb.

The image in the mind is not neutral: Imagine some thought that it is not colored by I-ness. Such an un-colored thought would have no ability to distract your mind during meditation, nor to control your actions. Actually, there are many such neutral thought patterns.

For example, we encounter many people in daily life whom we may recognize, but have never met, and for whom their memory in our mind is neither colored with attraction nor aversion. It simply means that the image of those people is stored in the mind, but that it is neutral, not colored.

In the post on Avidya, we understood that ignorance of man makes him incapable of knowing that he is SELF/ DIVINE.

From this Avidya, certain other beliefs emerge, as under:-

Ø Instead, man saw himself as his body, mind and intellect and thought, that was his true identity.

Ø Once he believed that his body was his true identity, then obviously, he has to take up all actions to glorify his physical identity which he believes as real.

Ø With this, the second ignorance ASMITA, taking the non-self Body, Mind, Intellect as SELF, all other ignorance flowed in a perfect sequence, as a chain.

An exercise to track our Asmita:

Here is a fun exercise to track down your Ego and make friends with it, so it can soften and quiet down. I like to call it the Labels exercise.

Observe and take note on the following:

Ø  Labels, you tag onto yourself

ØLabels, that your mind tags on to people/ things/ foods/events/ actions/dress codes/behaviors…

Ø Comparative labels (how you compare your labels with those of others)

Take a deep breath.

Settle into your seat and look over the collection of labels you have jotted down.

Recognize the space they hold in your mind.

Keep breathing, and see if you can find a space in your mind that allows you to drop the need to constantly label, tag, judge. Just be for a moment, be here, present in the space where there are no labels.

A label is a judgment. Often we mistake the labels we give ourselves for who we are. This exercise allows us to step out of the small, limited picture, we often get stuck in.

When you take a step back you are able to see the larger picture, and that is when you can find a sense of ease; because it is ok, you are only a small part of a very big picture…

Love.

Swami Vivekananda