VivekachuuDaamaNi-verse
No.106---ahamkaaraH sa vijneyaH-In his commentary
on this verse, H.H. Svaami Chandrasekhara
Bhaarati says-ahamkaara, the ego-sense,
is the antaHkaraNam (the internal organ or
mind) with the reflection of the consciousness of the Self in it. It then
identifies itself with the body and senses. This antaHkaraNam considers
itself as doer and enjoyer. It acquires the states of waking, dream and
deep
sleep by conjunction with rajoguNa, sattvaguNa
and tamoguNa respectively.
Sri Sures'vara points out
in his Naishkarmyasiddhi ,Ch.2, verses 46 to 51 that
(1) the internal
organ is the connecting link between the Self and the non-Self (verse 46),
(2) it makes the Self which is one appear
as many (v.47), (3) it is because of it that the
Self, though free from action and attributes,
appears to have all of them (v.49); and
(4) it makes the non-relational Self relational,
as it were (v.51).
The internal organ
assumes the form of the external object which
is presented to it and when this modification
of the internal organ (antaHkaraNa-vr.tti) is illumined by the Self which
is reflected therein, the internal organ assumes
the role of the knower or the seer,
though by itself it cannot be the knower since
it is insentient. In the absence of the
internal organ, as in sushupti, the Self has
no relation with anything and does not experience anything, subjective
or objective.