Ahamkāra

Sanskrit for self-consciousness, the sense of I, literally “I-making,” suggesting that it is a continuing process, not a static entity. As part of human consciousness, it is the source of egotism, rooted in the illusion of one’s separateness from the universal self.

In Sāńkhya philosophy, it is one of the 23 evolutes of matter (prakṛti), the first of which is mahat (“the great”) or buddhi and the second of which is ahamkāra. From the latter are evolved manas (mind), the five sensory functions (jñānendriyas), the five motor functions (karmendriyas), and the essences (tanmātras) of the five elements. From the essences of the elements are evolved the five gross elements (ākāa or ether, air, fire, water, and earth in that order). The Bhagavad-Gītā also adopts these categories in a general way, preferring the term buddhi to mahat.

As universal self-consciousness, H. P. Blavatsky states that Ahamkāra has three aspects, identified in Sāńkhya philosophy and the Bhagavad-Gītā as the three guṇas: sattva (harmony or purity), rajas (energy, activity, excitability), and tamas (inertia, stagnation, dullness) (cf. SD I:335). As such ahamkāra is said to be capable of qualitative transformation depending on which of the three guŠas is active in any specific incarnation. And since it is an evolute of buddhi, it can also promote a modification of the senses when conditions for such are suitable.

R.W.B.