463. Transcending Asmita and Ahamkara to be a Nirahamkari.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/transcending-asmita-and-ahamkara-to-be-a-nirahamkari-196769

There are two words Asmita and Ahamkara. Asmita is only a sense of “I ness” without the Ego coming into play. It is just identification of the perceiver with the reflections of perception. From this identification there is a feel of “I see” “I hear” etc, this “I ness” is felt as soon as the one is awake in the morning. So Asmita rely on its association to outward appearance for its place in me. This Asmita is one of the affiliations of Mind along with Avidhya, Raga, Devsha and Abhinevesha. 

Avidhya is due to Ignorance, Asmita is erroneous identification of the Self with the intellect, Raga is getting attracted to anything outside me, Dvesha is opposite of Raga it is aversion to anything outside me, Abinivesha is an attitude to cling to life. The amazing thing is these five afflictions of Mind are due to Avidhya (ignorance). So to say if Avidhya is there the other four is also exist.  

Ahamkara refers to a sense of self that is somewhat self-existent and though it is shaped up by the information received from the external environment it does not depend on its association with it for its place in me. It is good to have a little Ahamkara; it is like salt to be added to improve the taste of bland dish, but too much of it will spoil the taste of the dish though. 

To make it even clear Ahamkara is sense of self that is related to internal experiences while Asmita is more self worth when it is related to external experiences; hence we compare ourselves and feel that we are better or worse than others. Again even here this quality is not emphatically bad as it helps us to excel and move forward. Again it should be like a pinch of salt not too much to spoil our dish. 

In deep sleep there is no Asmita hence we are at peace we do not compare our self to anyone there. How is it possible to shun Asmita at deep sleep??? It happens so because we have dropped our identity at sleep. If we are able to do it when awake we can overcome Asmita. Asmita is due to Avidhya (ignorance) as said above and this has to be annihilated and can be done with the thought of non doer-ship. But we are the doers, how can we be non-doers??

There are two ways in which I look at Doer-ship. The doer ego which I can call it as Ahamkara is when I perform a work with a sense of duty which has a tinge of responsibility in it, like suppose I have to dispatch some goods from my factory within a speculated time and I work for it. The same doer ego becomes Asmita when I try to claim the “doer-ship” and start to think that work would not have been successfully completed without me. The same work can be done without the sense of doer-ship and even as sense of duty when I do it with passion and become Nirahamkari (without Ego). To be a Nirahamkari, that is, free from self-esteem and pride I have to be a tool in the hands of the Absolute. Then total surrender is very much necessary.  

In the present day hectic life style we have come across much stress related problems due to this Ahamkara and Asmita attitudes. The doer-ship and ego of a workaholic is very strong and effective that produces more stress and strain. This is basically created by Asmita and well supported by Ahamkara. This stress problem is not in the work that is done by the individual but by the individual who claims to be the doer of the work. Hence the solution is not in giving up the work but in transcending from Ahamkara and Asmita to Nirahamkara. This is done by just thinking that I am only an instrument in the hands of the Absolute and then Ahamkara subsides considerably.