Ahamkaara

VivekachuuDaamaNi-verse No.106---ahamkaaraH sa vijneyaH—In his commentary on this verse, H.H. Svaami Chandrasekhara Bhaarati says-ahamkaara, the ego-sense, is the antaHkaraNam (the internal organ or mind) with the reflection of the consciousness of the Self in it. It then identifies itself with the body and senses. This antaHkaraNam considers itself as doer and enjoyer. It acquires the states of waking, dream and deep sleep by conjunction with rajoguNa, sattvaguNa and tamoguNa respectively.    

Sri sures’vara points out in his Naishkarmyasiddhi ,Ch.2, verses 46 to 51 that (1)the internal organ  is the connecting link between the Self and the non-Self (verse 46), (2) it makes the Self which is one appear as many (v.47), (3) it is because of it that the Self, though free from action and attributes, appears to have all of them (v.49), and (4) it makes the non-relational Self relational, as it were (v.51). The internal organ assumes the form of the external object which is presented to it and when this modification of the internal organ (antaHkaraNa-vr.tti) is illumined by the Self which is reflected therein, the internal organ assumes the role of the knower or the seer, though by itself it cannot be the knower since it is insentient. In the absence of the internal organ, as in sushupti, the Self has no relation with anything and does not experience anything, subjective or objective.

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