Ahamkar

(“I-making”) In the Samkhya school of
Hindu philosophy, ahamkar is one of
the stages in the evolution of prakrti
(primal matter) away from its initial
undifferentiated unity toward differentiation of the Self and other things.
The final result of this degradation
is the world that we see around us,
in which human souls are subject to
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Ahamkar
reincarnation (samsara). Prakrti evolves
first into mahat (“the great one”) and
then into ahamkar, which is the
first stage in which there is a sense
of self and subjectivity. This
sense of subjectivity colors the entire
devolution after that. Ahamkar
then evolves further, forming the
basis for both the subjective and
objectice world: on one hand, the
individual’s organs of sense
(jnanendriya) and organs of action
(karmendriya) develop, and on the
other hand, the five subtle
elements (tanmatras), which are
the basis of the gross material
elements, evolve. In colloquial speech,
ahamkar is used to mean “self-pride,”
invariably in a pejorative sense.