Ahamkara (Ego
The sense of 'I am' that arises from Mahad, creating a center of identification that forms the border of individual consciousness and differentiates universal intelligence into individual awareness.
Ahamkara — The Formation of Individual Identity
From Mahad's pure intelligence comes Ahamkara, the feeling of I am — the ego. I is the center, and where there is a center there is a radius, and where there is a center and radius there is a circumference. That circumference forms a frontier, the border of consciousness. We all live in the tiny enclosure of consciousness centered upon Ahamkara, the I former.
Ahamkara is a process of identification based upon previous accumulated experience. When you allow your eyes to focus, in that looking there is perception. The moment you identify with an object, there is the birth of I. In Mahad there is no differentiation, but Ahamkara focuses on one thing, making it the center of vision.
Once I is formed — a center created in consciousness — then that creative intelligence (Mahad) becomes Buddhi, the reasoning capacity, intellect, individual awareness. Mahad is the universal principle; Buddhi is the individual principle.
Source: Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles, Chapter One: Shad Darshan (Six Philosophies of Life)
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