Existence Of Ego - An appearance

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Q: What is the relation between the pure consciousness realised by the jnani and the ‘I-am’-ness which is accepted as the primary datum of experience? 

M: The undifferentiated consciousness of Pure Being is the heart or hridayam which you really are, as signified by the word itself (hrit + ayam = heart am I). From the heart arises the ‘I-am’-ness as the primary datum of one’s experience. By itself it is suddha-sattva in character. It is in this suddha-sattva svarupa (that is, uncontaminated by rajas and tamas), that the ‘I’ appears to subsist in the jnani.

Q: In the jnani the ego subsists in the sattvic form and therefore it appears as something real. Am I right? 

M: No. The existence of the ego in any form, either in the jnani or ajnani is itself an appearance. But to the ajnani who is deluded into thinking that the waking state and the world are real, the ego also appears to be real. Since he sees the jnani act like other individuals, he feels constrained to posit some notion of individuality with reference to the jnani also.

Q: How then does the aham-vritti function in the jnani?

It does not function in him at all. The jnani's lakshya is the heart itself because he is one and identical with that undifferentiated, Pure consciousness referred to by the Upanishads as the prajnana. Prajnana is verily brahman, the Absolute and there is no brahman other than prajnana.

Q: How then does ignorance of this one and only Reality unhappily arise in the case of the ajnani?

M: The ajnani sees only the mind which is a mere reflection the light of Pure consciousness arising from the heart. Of the heart itself, he is ignorant. Why? Because his mind is extroverted and has never sought its source.