The Knot of Mineness
The second Klesha is Asmita which mean “Mineness” or egoism. In the Sankhya philosophy on which Rajayoga is based Ego is called Ahamkarathe “I – Maker”. The Ahamkara is a cosmic principle which creates the sense of separative individuality in the unity of Prakrithi and makes each individual being feel that he is distinct and separate from others with a distinct and separate body, life and mind of his own. Here there are some philosophical differences between the vedantic and rajayogic conception of ego and the purusha. The differences are on the points whether the Purusha is one or many and whether the source of unity is in the Purusha or Prakrithi. But these philosophical subtleties are irrelevant to the practical psychology of Yoga. For, whatever may be the differences between the philosophical position of Vedanta and Rajayoga, when it comes to Yoga, both the vedanthic and patanjali’s Yoga agree that Ego is the central knot of bondage which makes the individual forgets his true nature and makes him a limited, conditioned, bound and suffering entity; both of them also agree that the true nature of our self is not the limited ego but the unconditioned freedom of pure being and to realise our true nature we have to dissolve the ego.
The Tangle of Identification
This is the principle of Ego, Ahamkar, Asmita or egoism is the psychological effect of ego on the individual. Ego is the principle which makes us feel “I am a distinct individual separate from others” and egoism is the principle which makes us feel whatever I possess, think, feel enjoy or experience is mine”. Now let us see how Patanjali defines Asmita or egoism. In Yoga suthra Asmita is defined as “seeming identification of the Seer with the Seen”. To get into the meaning of this definition we have to understand clearly the highly technical and specialised terminology of the Yoga suthra.
The philosophy of Raja Yoga resolved the entire subjective and objective existence into a triad of the Seer Dark, the Act of Seeing Darshana and the Seen Drshyan. The Seer is the Purusha in his true highest and essential nature as the pure conscious Being. He is the ultimate, highest and inmost source, ground and essence of our subjective being. He is the supreme knower and seer and the witness of the Dance of Prakrithi. And Prakrithi, who is the source of all objective existence is the Seen Drhsyam. As yoga sura defines: “The seen(drsyam) consists of the elements and sense organs and is of the nature of luminosity (prakasa), activity (kriya) and stability (sthithi) and has for its purpose (providing the Purusha) with enjoyment and Liberation” In the above verse prakasa, kriya and sthithi refers to the nature of the triple qualities of the Prakrithi: satwa, rajas and tamas which according to the philosophy of Rajayoga form the warp and woof of all existence. Darshana “seeing” is the acts which links the Seer and the Seen. It is the act of the instruments of knowledge made of mind, sensations and intelligence, Chitta, Manas and Budhi. The word Darshana means all acts of perception of the senses, mind and the intelligence. The Purusha in his true essential nature needs no instruments of knowledge to know. He knows every modification of the Chitta and every activity of the Prakrithi by his pure actionless, omniscient and self-luminous consciousness inherent in his being, not by an act of reflective knowledge, but by a direct immediate, perception. But the instruments of knowledge like the senses, mind and intelligence are not self-luminous like the Purusha. They are, according to the psycho-philosophical position of Rajayoga are essentially insentient jada. They derive their sentience from the reflection of the light of consciousness of the Purusha.
Asmita is the power bywhich the power of the purusha appears to be as if identified with the reflected light of the instruments of consciousness, that is, with that of the, senses, mind and intelligence and says “I am seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, thinking, feeling and willing enjoying and suffering” . The Purusha in his true and essential nature knows himself as the Seer Dark, distinct, separate and detached from the Seen Drsyan, made of the world made of Mind and Matter and also from the act of seeing Darshana, by which we perceive the world.
We must note here that from the point of the Purusha in his essential spiritual nature, this objective world, the Seen Drshyan is the world of matter as well as the mind. For as we have explained earlier according to the philosophy of Rajayoga, mind is as much material as matter; both matter and mind are the result of the mechanical activity of Prakrithi. The sentience of the Mind is derived from the reflected light of the Purusha. So the Purusha “sees” or in other words, Purusha is the seer and knower of not only the seen, the objects of knowledge, but also the act of seeing darshan, which belongs to the world of mind. But in the state of ignorance Avidya, the Purusha identifies himself with the reflected light of the instruments of knowledge in the mind and the objects of knowledge and the objects of knowledge in matter as well as in the mind. But according to Yoga suthra this identification is not real but only a seeming identification. This means Purusha never forgets or looses his true nature but only appears to be so. The Asmitha is the power or principle which creates this seeming or illusory identification.
Dissolving Asmitha
The inner liberation aimed at yoga comes from dissolving Asmita. This is achieved by Purusha becoming conscious of its illusory entanglement in Prakriti, and disidentifying itself from Nature. The process begins with the awakening of Buddhi, the intelligence in human nature, getting awakened to the distinction between Purusha and Prakriti, which leads to an inner detachment from all objects of the outer world of matter and also from the inner world of mind. We will discuss this process in greater detail in our subsequent articles.
