Asmita: Meeting the ego

Following on from avidya, we now move into the next kleshas. Each of the next 4 are seen as being born out of avidya, avidya being the root of the rest of the kleshas.

The second of the 5 kleshas, is asmita: ego. Out of avidya (ignorance to the nature of reality, identification with the seen rather than the seer), you experience yourself as separate & the ego is born.

Within this context, ego is defined simply as the 'I-thought', ego comes in when your thoughts turn to "I, me, my, mine". Following on from avidya, asmita results from a misidentification; identification with thoughts & emotions but now also confusing the power of the seer (or pure awareness) with the individual body-mind.

This kind of identification creates a state of mind where we believe our perceptions are the ultimate reality rather than projections of our own mind.

This misidentification results in arrogance, a sense of superiority & righteousness or conversely, it can also result in shame & inferiority complexes - either way, the ego rules the day.

A second translation of asmita, comes from looking at its root word, smita. Smita means expansion or blossoming. Now in Sanskrit, when you add an 'a' in front of a word, the meaning changes to its opposite. You could see asmita as a sense of contraction or shrinking.

When you are identified with the ego, your sense of self contracts & shrinks, you become identified with a sense of separation, from others & from God. You lose that expanded sense of self where you feel connected with everything, where you hold compassion for all beings and instead turn to individualism & self-interest.